History Main / UtilityPartyMember

* In ''LightNovel/MushokuTenseiJoblessReincarnation'', Gisu is a top-level adventurer but his role is entirely non-combat, instead focusing on support skills and social networking. He comments that in one adventuring party, there must be one person whose role is non-combat. Traveling Merchants, especially in Begaritto and Magic Continent, also fit this trope.
* In ''LightNovel/KonoSuba'', Kazuma is this to compensate his teammates' CripplingOverspecialization. Unique as he is the protagonist in the franchise.
* In ''LightNovel/IsItWrongToTryToPickUpGirlsInADungeon'', supporters are this. They primarily act as HumanPackMule but may also provide additional healing and damage-dealing. So they are sometimes looked down by other adventurers for their non-combat roles.

* ''VideoGame/RagnarokOnline'': The Merchant class tree was this. Although they had skills geared towards fighting melee combat and the use of axes, they are not any more exceptional at fighting than other classes, however, they offer a multitude of bonuses where the market system is concerned, this includes discounts when buying and higher selling cost when in NPC stores and carrying much more items than other classes, which is great for long dungeon crawling, since carrying over 50% of your weight limit will stop your auto heal, and identify unknown items without using a magnifying glass. They're also the only class that can set up a market and sell extremely rare items for over millions, so their presence in a guild's budget is notable. Their derived sub-classes will also become specialists into creating things: Blacksmith will forge weapons and give them bonus while Alchemist will create potions and solutions that can be used for healing or special effects (and later in the class evolution trees, both classes also gain the ability to summon monsters for fighting).

* ''VideoGame/RagnarokOnline'': The Merchant class tree was this. Although they had skills geared towards fighting melee combat and the use of axes, they are not any more exceptional at fighting than other classes, however, they offer a multitude of bonuses where the market system is concerned, this includes discounts when buying and higher selling cost when in NPC stores and carrying much more items than other classes, which is great for long dungeon crawling, since carrying over 50% of your weight limit will stop your auto heal, and identify unknown items without using a magnifying glass. They're also the only class that can set up a market and sell extremely rare items for over millions, so their presence in a guild's budget is notable. Their evolved classes will also become specialists into creating things: Blacksmith will forge weapons and give them bonus while Alchemist will create potions and solutions that can be used for healing or special effects (and later in the class evolution tree, also summon monsters for fighting).

* The third game in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky'' series turns Josette Capua into one of these. In the second, she was a widely-hated TierInducedScrappy for being an [[EleventhHourRanger Eleventh Hour]] MasterOfNone, here the "Remote Ability" mechanic lets non-active members provide passive buffs to the party, and Josette's greatly increases item drop rate and Sepith obtained from battle. She's still the butt of jokes for "the game literally rewarding you for not using her", but at least it's ''something''.

* {{Deconstructed|Trope}} in ''WebAnimation/BidoofsBigStand'', showing a [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Bidoof]] being tired of being an HM slave.

* In ''LightNovel/BanishedFromTheHerosParty'', Gideon played this role for the party prior to being banished. He handled the cooking, tactics, negotiations, and any number of other supporting jobs that his combat-focused companions couldn't. After his departure, the party's morale plummeted and enemies they once easily beat became dangerous obstacles.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Wasteland 2}}'', party members with high Intelligence tend to become this, thanks to getting more skill points per level. The HotScientist Rose stands out in particular among recruitable [=NPCs=] thanks to being the only one with Int 10, thus getting 5 skill points per level and inevitably ending up as the party's skill monkey ([[MutuallyExclusivePartyMembers if you find her in time, that is]]).

** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' and ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'', a character can be designated as a "Rallybot," sacrificing most (if not all) of their skill slots to be able to massively buff their team. Laslow and Shigure in the latter are especially good, as the former's personal skill adds an additional point of Strength and Speed on top of any other Rally boosts, while the latter's personal skill can give some healing.

** In 5e Rogues share the spot with Bards. The difference is that Bards can do a bit of everything (Jack of All Trades: add 1/2 proficiency to all non-proficient ability checks), while Rogues can do ''really'' well in things they already know (Reliable Talent: for all proficient ability checks, treat all d20 result of 9 or lower as 10).

The closest RealLife equivalents are the many support vocations found in most modern military formations. Engineers, signalers, medics, logistical support troops and the like can fight if pressed but they are best employed in their designated roles.

Not to be confused with a SupportPartyMember, who, unlike a UPM, does shine in combat, just not by dishing out or tanking damage. See also MechanicallyUnusualClass (which Utility Party Members may be), UtilityWeapon and AbilityRequiredToProceed (which Utility Party Members may have).

* Ornn in ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' is notable for his utility effect: he can upgrade the equipment of the other players to increase its health bonuses, armour and magical defence ratings, damage output and so on. In combat, meanwhile, what he does offer is more oriented around [[SupportPartyMember disruption and buffing your team's crowd control rather than pure damage]].

* ''VideoGame/RagnarokOnline'': The Merchant class tree was this. Although they had skills geared towards fighting meelee combat and the use of axes, they are not any more exceptional at fighting that other classes, however, they offer a multitude of bonuses where the market system is concerned, this includes discounts when buying and higher selling cost when in NPC stores and carrying much more items than other classes, which is great for long dungeon crawling, since carrying over 50% of your weight limit will stop your auto heal, and identify unknown items without using a magnifying glass. They're also the only class that can set up a market and sell extremely rare items for over millions, so their presence in a guild's budget in notable. Their evolved classes will also become specialists into creating things: Blacksmith will forge weapons and give them bonus while Alchemist will create potions and solutions that can be used for healing or special effects (and later in the class evolution tree, also summon monsters for fighting).

* Thieves in the ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'' series, which is obvious since the games are based on D&D. While they can make powerful combatants, they are primarily used for sneaking around, picking locks and detecting/disarming traps. While a couple of other classes have these abilities, it is to a much lesser degree and never all three together. When one isn't [[SelfImposedChallenge playing solo]], a thief is almost a mandatory party member.

* ''Videogame/JadeEmpire'' has Kang the Mad, who maintains the party's CoolPlane, Henpecked Hou, who gives players wine to practice DrunkenBoxing and Zin Bu the Magic Abacus, who's a shopkeeper that can be accessed anywhere. All the characters have a Support stance where rather than fighting they sit in place and buff or heal you.

* Deckers in ''VideoGame/ShadowrunReturns''. They typically have limited skill with weapons, and can't carry as many, due to needing a inventory slot for their cyberdecks. They're also mandatory if you want to break into a computer system, which are omnipresent in the game's {{Cyberpunk}} setting.

** Throughout all editions of the game, the Rogue/Thief [[CharacterClassSystem core class]] has traditionally been the utility class, with the lion's share of skills and abilities that come into play outside of combat, such as climbing, eliminating traps, opening locks and appraising items. The bulk of these abilities, as you might guess, involving the acquiring of loot.

* While ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' doesn't use classes ''per se'', common archetypes players use are the "Hacker/Decker", who works in the Matrix and security networks, and the "Face", who handles social situations. There's also the "Odd-jobs man/B&E expert", in general the fifth character (after the Samurai/Adept, Mage, Decker and Face have been made) who picks a bunch of BoringButPractical skills like stealth, acrobatics and lockpicking that the more MinMaxing-intensive archetypes above can't afford to take but which come up more often than you'd think.
* ''TabletopGame/BladesInTheDark'' puts an unusual spin on this trope: rather than physical combat, the bulk of its gameplay is dedicated to criminal excursions or "scores", with downtime activities played out in-between. While most playbooks focus on abilities relevant in the course of the scores (e.g. the Cutter's brawling skills, the Lurk's lockpicking, and the Slide's fast talking), the Spider is a DiabolicalMastermind whose abilities almost exclusively come into play during downtime (except for when they pull a retroactive AllAccordingToPlan moment). Thus, while a crew with a Spider in it is somewhat handicapped during scores, they have it a ''lot'' easier in the long run.

* In ''TabletopGame/StarWarsD20'', most of a Noble's combat related talents revolve around buffing the party and they can't take most combat feats, but they have the most starting skills [[note]]Six plus their intelligence modifier while being a class for whom intelligence is their GodStat[[/note]] and can do basically everything that isn't fighting: healing, diplomacy, knowledge checks, etc. Similarly Scouts have only slightly fewer starting skills than Nobles but have a lot of talents based around tracking and wilderness survival.

* In ''WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender'', the blue lion lacks the fire power of the other lions, but posseses more utility options.
* In ''Literature/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'', Naofumi has shades of this. Although he is quite a powerful tank, his Holy Weapon has no attack options. It does however have several MundaneUtility functions (such as the Rope Shield that helps in traversal) and allows Naofumi to craft potions, equipment and alchemical compounds. It also gives XP boosts to the Shield Hero's pets and slaves.

* In ''LightNovel/TheFarawayPaladin'', Will makes friends with a halfling bard, Bee, and a down-on-his-luck traveling merchant, Tonio. Neither are fighters, but they help a lot with smoothing out more prosaic problems, like building a good name for Will and purchasing valuable supplies.

* In ''LightNovel/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'', Naofumi has shades of this. Although he is quite a powerful tank, his Holy Weapon has no attack options. It does however have several MundaneUtility functions (such as the Rope Shield that helps in traversal) and allows Naofumi to craft potions, equipment and alchemical compounds. It also gives XP boosts to the Shield Hero's pets and slaves.

* ''VideoGame/{{Pokemon}}'' titles prior to [[VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon Generation VII]] had certain moves double as [[AbilityRequiredToProceed field moves]] called "Hidden Machines" or "[=HMs=]", and you were required to teach them to a party Pokémon in order to traverse the overworld. Some of them are good moves in their own right, such as Surf, which is the most powerful 100% accuracy Water-type move in the game. Most, however, were only useful as navigation tools and had minimal utility in battle, the most infamous being [[NuclearCandle Flash,]] an accuracy-reducing move...that itself had poor accuracy prior to Gen IV. As a result, many players capture a Mon that can learn most of them, letting their other five monsters keep their movesets completely geared for battle.
** [[{{Deconstruction}} Deconstructed]] in ''WebAnimation/BidoofsBigStand'', showing a Bidoof (the most common example) being tired of being an HM slave.

* ''VideoGame/{{Pokemon}}'' titles prior to [[VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon Generation VII]] had certain moves double as [[AbilityRequiredToProceed field moves]] called "Hidden Machines" or "[=HMs=]", and you were required to teach them to a party Pokémon in order to traverse the overworld. Some of them are good moves in their own right, such as Surf, which is the most powerful 100% accuracy Water-type move in the game. Most, however, were only useful as navigation tools and had minimal utility in battle, the most infamous being [[NuclearCandle Flash,]] an accuracy-reducing move...that itself had poor accuracy prior to Gen IV. As a result, many players capture a Mon that can learn most of them, [[FanNickname generally referred to as]] [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/HM_slave an HM slave".]] letting their other five monsters keep their movesets completely geared for battle.

* In ''TabletopGame/BlackCrusade'', while a heretek can be a "warrior" member in a fully human party, he's clearly the utility member of a party that includes Chaos Space Marines (especially as there is no Chaos Space Marine equivalent to his archetype in the core rulebook, so a full-CSM party would be lacking on this point).

* In ''LightNovel/MushokuTenseiJoblessReincarnation, Gisu is a top-level adventurer but his role is entirely non-combat, instead focusing on support skills and social networking. He comments that in one adventuring party, there must be one person whose role is non-combat. Traveling Merchants, especially in Begaritto and Magic Continent, also fit this trope.

* In ''LightNovel/MushokuTensei, Gisu is a top-level adventurer but his role is entirely non-combat, instead focusing on support skills and social networking. He comments that in one adventuring party, there must be one person whose role is non-combat. Traveling Merchants, especially in Begaritto and Magic Continent, also fit this trope.

* In LightNovel/MushokuTensei, Gisu is this and relying instead on his out of combat abilities. He also comments that in one adventuring party, there must be one person whose role is non-combat. Traveling Merchants, especially in Begaritto and Magic Continent, also fit this trope.

* Riki from ''{{VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1}}'' is a capable fighter in his own right, but his talent arts and various unlockable skills focus more on easing the grind of sidequests, levelling up, and exploring.

* Riki from ''{{VideoGame/Xenoblade}}'' is a capable fighter in his own right, but his talent arts and various unlockable skills focus more on easing the grind of sidequests, levelling up, and exploring.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout2}}'' did something similar to the ''Dungeon Seige'' example above when implementing [[GlobalAirship the Highwayman]]: In-engine its trunk is treated as an extra party member that can't attack or move but has a much larger-than-average inventory. This occasionally results in a rather comical ([[GoodBadBugs and exploitable]]) bug that causes the back end of the car to follow the player into a different screen.

** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade'' and its prequel ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade'' have a character named Merlinus, a merchant who handles your spare items. He can't fight (and, in ''The Blazing Blade'', can't even ''move'' until late in the game), but you can send him items when a character's inventory gets too full, and take items out again if you stand next to him. He is pretty much useless in ''The Binding Blade'', though, since he takes up a deployment slot, has no convenient means of leveling up, and you can send items to him regardless of whether he is on the field or not. ''The Blazing Blade'' changes this by allowing him to level up each time he survives a chapter, giving him his own unique deployment slot rather than using one that could go to someone else, and making it so he ''must'' be on the field in order for you to send items to him, making his survival far more important.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', Sokka is ostensibly a warrior, but being the only member of the main party with no bending makes him fairly useless in combat situations. He makes up for it by being a talented strategist and engineer.

* In ''LightNovel/IsItWrongToTryToPickUpGirlsInADungeon'', the Supporter Class is this. They primarily act as HumanPackMule but may also additional healing and damage dealing. So they are sometimes looked down by other adventurers for their non-combat roles.