Q: To use the session browser or top session finder, do you have to be in a DBA role?

A: Not necessarily. Actually, we recommend that, instead of the DBA role, you grant discrete privileges; that grants everything! Within Toad, we try to use USER_ and/or ALL_ where possible, but a few things like tablespaces only offer DBA_ views. In those cases, all you would need is the SELECT_ANY_CATLOG role.