I’ve had a look at bbp-includebpp-reply-template-php here:
http://etivite.com/api-hooks/bbpress/path/bbp-includesbbp-reply-template-php/
I looked through the following:
bbp_get_reply_author_url
bbp_get_reply_author_link
bbp_get_reply_author_id
bbp_get_reply_author_email
bbp_get_reply_author_display_name
bbp_get_reply_author_avatar
bbp_get_reply_author
It seems like you could use this one as a base for getting the role:
http://etivite.com/api-hooks/bbpress/trigger/apply_filters/bbp_get_reply_author/
There’s also a specific solution suggested here:
https://bbpress.org/forums/topic/display-reply-author-role
function get_the_author_role() {
global $wpdb, $wp_roles, $authordata;
if ( !isset($wp_roles) )
$wp_roles = new WP_Roles();
foreach($wp_roles->role_names as $role => $Role) {
$caps = $wpdb->prefix . 'capabilities';
if (array_key_exists($role, $authordata->$caps))
return $Role;
}
}
function the_author_role() {
echo get_the_author_role();
}
There’s another topic here that discusses various ways of styling replies based on the user role:
https://bbpress.org/forums/topic/different-style-for-key-master-and-administrator-replies-1
Let me know how it goes.