Set up Discord roles: hierarchy, permissions and a self-assign role menu

Roles are the backbone of every Discord server. They decide who can see and do what, who's on the team and who gets pinged for which topic. If you set up Discord roles without understanding the hierarchy, you quickly run into the classic problems: moderators who can do more than planned, a bot that can't assign roles, or a staff channel that suddenly everyone can see.

In this guide you'll learn how the role hierarchy works, which permissions each role needs and how channel overwrites behave. Then you'll use Lizbot to set up a role menu where members pick interest and ping roles themselves with buttons or a dropdown.

How Discord roles work

Every member automatically has the @everyone role plus any number of other roles. A server can have up to 250 roles. A member's permissions are the sum of all their roles: if any role grants a permission, the member has it server-wide.

The list under server settings, Roles, is also the hierarchy. It controls three things:

• Who can manage whom: with Manage Roles you can only edit and assign roles below your own highest role. Moderation actions like kick or ban also only work on members whose highest role is lower.
• Which color a name has: the highest role with a color wins.
• How the member list is grouped: roles with "Display role members separately from online members" show up as their own group.

The server owner always stands above everything. Bots follow the same rule as people: a bot only assigns roles below its own role.

A proven role structure

This structure is also built into Lizbot's server templates: at most the top role has Administrator, moderators only get moderation permissions, and ping roles have no permissions at all.

1. Create and sort roles

Open the server settings, then Roles, and click "Create Role". Set a name and color and decide whether the role shows separately in the member list and whether anyone can mention it. Turn mentions on for ping roles and usually off for staff roles.

Then drag the roles into the order from the table. Move the Lizbot role above every role Lizbot should assign, meaning above Member, level and ping roles.

2. Grant permissions per role

In each role's Permissions tab you set its server-wide permissions. Rules of thumb:

• @everyone gets only the basics: view channels, send messages, read message history, add reactions, connect and speak in voice. Everything else you grant through specific roles.
• Administrator bypasses every channel overwrite. Give it to leadership only.
• Mention @everyone, @here and all roles belongs with the team, not with regular members.
• Never give moderation permissions to roles members can assign to themselves.

3. Use channel overwrites correctly

Server-wide permissions are the baseline. Per category or channel you adjust them with permission overwrites: allow, neutral or deny. Discord evaluates them in this order:

• First the overwrite for @everyone.
• Then the overwrites for all of the member's roles. If any of them allows a permission, the allow beats a deny on another role.
• Finally overwrites for individual members. They have the last word.

That's how you build a staff area: on the staff category, deny @everyone View Channel and allow it for the staff roles. Set such permissions on the category and sync the channels instead of adjusting each channel separately.

4. Create a role menu with Lizbot

To let members pick interest or ping roles themselves, create a role menu. In the dashboard you'll find it in the sidebar under Roles, on the Role menus page:

1. Click Role menu.
2. Pick the channel where the menu should appear, for example #roles.
3. Choose the type: Buttons or Dropdown.
4. Set a title, description and color.
5. Add the roles, each with a label, an optional emoji and, for dropdowns, a description. One menu holds up to 25 roles.
6. Click Save and post.

Two options make the menu more flexible. With Only one role at a time, a click swaps out the previous role, ideal for color roles or regions. With Required role, only members who have a specific role can use the menu, for example only after verification.

Clicking a button gives the role or takes it away again. The member gets a short confirmation only they can see. For a quick start there's Role menu from template at the top of the page.

5. Dangerous roles are blocked

Lizbot prevents members from sneaking themselves staff permissions. Roles with permissions such as Administrator, Manage Server, Manage Roles, Ban Members or Manage Messages can't be added to a role menu. The same applies to roles above the Lizbot role and roles managed by an integration. When you save, the dashboard names the affected roles.

6. Other ways to assign roles automatically

• Reaction roles: in the Engagement module, on the Reaction roles tab, you link an emoji on an existing message to a role, as described in the guide to reaction roles. For new menus, buttons are usually the better choice.
• Autoroles: in the Welcome module you assign roles automatically when someone joins, separately for members and bots. More in the guide to automatic role assignment.
• Verification: the Role after verification unlocks your channels. More in the verification guide.
• Level roles: under Level & XP you set Role rewards members get from a certain level. See the level system guide.

Discord itself also offers Onboarding questions on Community servers that give newcomers roles. You can combine both.

Limits by plan

Checklist

• roles sorted from leadership down to ping roles
• the Lizbot role is above every role it should assign
• @everyone has basic permissions, Administrator only for leadership
• staff category hidden through overwrites
• role menu posted in the roles channel and tested yourself
• ping roles mentionable, staff roles not

Common mistakes

• Lizbot role below the roles it should assign: then assignment fails. Move the Lizbot role up.
• Maintaining permissions twice, in roles and overwrites: decide what applies server-wide and use overwrites only for exceptions.
• Denying @everyone but forgetting to allow: if you hide the staff category, you have to allow it again for the staff roles.
• Autoroles despite verification: if you hand out the access role right on join, newcomers skip verification. Lizbot warns you in that case.
• Too many roles: every role needs a clear purpose. Merge similar interests.