Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
How much should 5e aim at balance?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Ahnehnois" data-source="post: 5985147" data-attributes="member: 17106"><p>Yes.</p><p></p><p>I recall one game I played in where a paladin was designated by the DM as being the "leader" and was a level higher than everyone else and received a powerful artifact sword at 1st level. Now that caused some balance problems. I played a rogue, relatively min-maxed to be his flanking parter, and thus contributed. No one else (including the casters) in this rather large party contributed very much.</p><p></p><p>In another campaign that I ran, one player really took over with a half-ogre barbarian with a dubiously low LA really took over for a while. Eventually, a cleric with a cheesy prestige class that gave him arcane spells became the most powerful character, though this was largely because his regular attendance and tendency to avoid melee (and thus death) put him ahead of everyone else in level and treasure. My bad for allowing those things.</p><p></p><p>In another game (probably my longest running campaign), a fighter, a sorcerer, a druid, and a psion were all relatively equivalent, functioning in totally different ways. A variety of other characters were around them, but weren't as impactful.</p><p></p><p>In my most recent one, the characters were well-balanced and all contributed very well. Probably the most powerful character was a ranger, who tanked so the wizard and druid could do their thing; the wizard was an evoker who never really deployed his best spells because I never gave him the right enecounter to do so. But he magic missile-d some powerful enemies and made a lot of knowledge checks and had fun.</p><p></p><p>Et cetera, et cetera.</p><p></p><p>I've played and DMed 3e D&D with dozens of people and seen almost every class in the PHB come out as being the most powerful in the game at one point or another (bard and monk jump to mind as exceptions). The few clearly unbalanced ones were non-core or DM-empowered characters that look nothing like CODzillas or god wizards and clearly needed fixing (the shifter comes to mind). The only game-breaking class I've seen in the PHB is the paladin; I watched its douchiness take over twice and then banned it.</p><p></p><p>I had roughly the same experience during the year or two I played 2e before 3e came out.</p><p></p><p>Like I always say, it's really the people at the table who determine how balanced the game is.</p><p></p><p>And yes, there is definitely room for improvement in all versions of the game.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ahnehnois, post: 5985147, member: 17106"] Yes. I recall one game I played in where a paladin was designated by the DM as being the "leader" and was a level higher than everyone else and received a powerful artifact sword at 1st level. Now that caused some balance problems. I played a rogue, relatively min-maxed to be his flanking parter, and thus contributed. No one else (including the casters) in this rather large party contributed very much. In another campaign that I ran, one player really took over with a half-ogre barbarian with a dubiously low LA really took over for a while. Eventually, a cleric with a cheesy prestige class that gave him arcane spells became the most powerful character, though this was largely because his regular attendance and tendency to avoid melee (and thus death) put him ahead of everyone else in level and treasure. My bad for allowing those things. In another game (probably my longest running campaign), a fighter, a sorcerer, a druid, and a psion were all relatively equivalent, functioning in totally different ways. A variety of other characters were around them, but weren't as impactful. In my most recent one, the characters were well-balanced and all contributed very well. Probably the most powerful character was a ranger, who tanked so the wizard and druid could do their thing; the wizard was an evoker who never really deployed his best spells because I never gave him the right enecounter to do so. But he magic missile-d some powerful enemies and made a lot of knowledge checks and had fun. Et cetera, et cetera. I've played and DMed 3e D&D with dozens of people and seen almost every class in the PHB come out as being the most powerful in the game at one point or another (bard and monk jump to mind as exceptions). The few clearly unbalanced ones were non-core or DM-empowered characters that look nothing like CODzillas or god wizards and clearly needed fixing (the shifter comes to mind). The only game-breaking class I've seen in the PHB is the paladin; I watched its douchiness take over twice and then banned it. I had roughly the same experience during the year or two I played 2e before 3e came out. Like I always say, it's really the people at the table who determine how balanced the game is. And yes, there is definitely room for improvement in all versions of the game. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
How much should 5e aim at balance?
Top