spear carrier vs role player

spear carrier and role player both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
spear carrier	Yes	No	No	No
role player	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, role player is a hypernym of spear carrier; that is, role player is a word with a broader meaning than spear carrier:

Other hypernyms of spear carrier include actor, histrion, player, thespian.

spear carrier (noun)	role player (noun)
a minor actor in crowd scenes	a theatrical performer
	a person who makes deceitful pretenses