D&D 5E What is balance to you, and why do you care (or don't)?

[GMforPowergamers]

For example there is no bloody way a normal human would be able to harm a Kryptonian that can withstand a nuke.

yeah if you can't except captian america fighting hulk, and thor fighting hulk, and all 3 of them are able to fight the same villians... but cap is just peak human... no you should most likely not be doing much in comics or fantasy

 

[payn]

All this talk of supers reminds me why I disliked the genre for so long. I did go through a few rounds of Masks and find the PbtA system to be way better than anything i've seen for supers. The powers dont have to be balanced because its about "moves" and character development. Everything else is left to narrative. Of course, as always, YMMV.

 

[Scribe]

until magic, red light, or a green stone stop him... or just you know a multi millionar villian (I mean lex not bruce here)

Right, because there has to be some kind of plot device, otherwise the man who is essentially walking around with god-like power, is...overpowered.

Superman and Batman.
Thor and Ironman.

They are not on the same level, there is no 'balance' here beyond what the plot demands for the story.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Right, because there has to be some kind of plot device, otherwise the man who is essentially walking around with god-like power, is...overpowered.

Superman and Batman.
Thor and Ironman.

They are not on the same level, there is no 'balance' here beyond what the plot demands for the story.

they all have the exact same plot armor

 

[Swarmkeeper]

I'd prefer to read this as "contribute to the game". Oftentimes IME the actions of one or more non-team-player characters provide the best moments of the session! They might not be doing much for the team but they're sure as hell contributing to the game, and that's what matters.

I like most of what you are saying in the post and just wanted to extract this bit as I'm unclear on your delineation of "contribute to the team" and "contribute to the game". In a cooperative game, I don't necessarily see the difference.

Perhaps you could expound on what you mean by "non-team-player". If it is someone who might do a less than helpful thing from time to time - maybe even ducking out of combat to snag some treasure or attend to some other personality trait or flaw, then I say have at it. I suppose different groups might draw the line between playing cooperatively and playing selfishly in different places. Anyway, what do you picture when you say these things?

 

[Vaalingrade]

But that is blatantly absurd. How hard one hits is directly related to how much damage one can do. Superman can punch trough a tank* with ease, Batman can't. Or shouldn't.

*or a tank-like super foe.

It is called 'willing' suspension of disbelief. If one is not willing, it doesn't work.

Some people look at the situation and say 'Nope. Absurd,' and the whole exercise screeches to a halt and Batman can't do cool stuff. Other people say 'well how would Batman do this. Let's look at the setting, the character, etc and... hey, he's got Bat shaped plastique, or flashes back to how he sabotaged the tank earlier, or knows a meditation technique to focus all his strength to a specific stress point in the design, or there is an explanation or when people ask, he just says 'I'm Batman' and he gets to have fun.

 

[Scribe]

they all have the exact same plot armor

At various points, yes.

Which is kind of the point made above, its all about that narrative, because if you get down to it?

 

[James Gasik]

It turns out Batman is a Wizard who uses gadgets to disguise the fact he's casting spells, and "Ai'M'Baattmaan" is just his magic word...

 

[Vaalingrade]

It turns out Batman is a Wizard who uses gadgets to disguise the fact he's casting spells, and "Ai'M'Baattmaan" is just his magic word...

Now you're thinking with Dungeons and Dragons!

 

[Crimson Longinus]

yeah if you can't except captian america fighting hulk, and thor fighting hulk, and all 3 of them are able to fight the same villians... but cap is just peak human... no you should most likely not be doing much in comics or fantasy

MCU Cap is far stronger than a peak human. But yeah, not near Thor or Hulk level and those probably should be able to tear him apart.

And if I were to roleplay a superhuman, I would actually want to know the capabilities of my character. Not just some numbers, but what it actually roughly means in real terms. I can't immerse or make informed decisions in-character otherwise.