a question of balance

[alsih2o]

how important is inner-party balance to you?

edit: yes, power balance, that kind of thing. i was trying to exclude balanced encounters and just address balance in the party.

 

[jmucchiello]

Of course this begs the question "What balance?" In our group we prefer that everyone have a chance to shine. As long as that is accomplished, balance is achieved. So I voted the second choice.

 

[Belen]

It's only good if it does not get in the way.

 

[Hjorimir]

Do you mean balance of power or balance of screen time? Given the nature of most gamers, I will tentatively assume you mean balance of power.

As a DM or player, I am not overly concerned with exacting power balance. I just want everybody at the table to feel like a contributing factor that has an impact on events within the campaign. Everybody should be meaningful. Past that, I couldn’t care less.

The player in me has no issues if some of the other characters have more power. After all, they’re on my side.

The DM in me has no issues if some are more powerful. After all, I’m going to give each of them a slice of the pie and make sure they enjoy themselves. If I don’t, I’ve failed.

 

[Liolel]

Balance is important but only to the level required for everyone to have fun. Thats my answer, and can probally be said of a lot of other groups as well.

 

[Darklone]

As long as every char in the group thinks he can kill all the others, it's ok

I don't care for party balance.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Of course this begs the question "What balance?" In our group we prefer that everyone have a chance to shine.

That is actually how I define balance. If a party is set up so that player C never has a chance to shine, it is not balanced and thus a bad thing.

This is why I ditched rolled attributes. One fighter rolled an 18 Str and 17 Dex, the other didn't have anything better than 16 and was continually overshadowed by the first character because of their marvellous luck when rolling the intial dice.

Within a balanced party everyone should have the chance to shine. Some of it will depend upon DM's building encounters that will provide chances for each PC, and some will depend upon the degree of differentiation between PCs.

Cheers

 

[Dyir]

I voted for "most important" simply because my group WILL NOT have fun if someone feels like they can't contribute. Several of my players are extremely competitive and are always fearful that one of the other players has a character that is "more powerful than there's." Honestly, it’s enough to give me ulcers. So I've gone out of my way to make sure that everyone feels like they are participating equally in the game, and frequently discuss this topic with them (both as a group and individually).

 

[eris404]

Of course this begs the question "What balance?" In our group we prefer that everyone have a chance to shine. As long as that is accomplished, balance is achieved. So I voted the second choice.

This is pretty much how I like things, too. I like my character to be different from everyone else's and not step on anyone's toes (or ethos). There's nothing more irritating to me than having four players fighting over who gets to pick the lock (or cast detect magic or whatever). Sooooo, our group tends to have a pretty wide variety of classes, abilities, character personalities, etc., and that tends to balance out power somewhat.

 

[FullTinCan]

how important is inner-party balance to you?

edit: yes, power balance, that kind of thing. i was trying to exclude balanced encounters and just address balance in the party.

The larger the group, the more concerned I am about party balance. However, in a group of 3 or 4, I'm not overly concerned, as there should be ample time for each player to have their time in the spotlight.