Balance and Rules

[Goblyn]

In considering balance I also consider bookkeeping(aka Time) taken due to the change. A small 'move' in power up or down is ok if it saves time on my and the players' part. Some examples:

dodge samply increases AC as if dex were 2 higher. for ALL purposes.
no ability scores get temporarily changed
no ability score damage or drain, no level drain.

these aren't hard and fast rules; just things I've noticd that I do because never want to deal with the waste of time.

I can see merit in all the options presented, however; for a group game,though I consider brevity and equality to be paramount.

 

[Umbran]

Depends upon what you're calling "balance" - not everyone works with the same definition of that term.

For me, it is basically a question of how the new thing stacks up in relation to the other PCs. If it is on par, rules wise, then I know that I don't have too much of a problem in that regard. If it is either too weak or too strong, then I have to start considering other methods of dealign with PC imbalance.

So, in large part, it isn't a matter of how much, as order of operations - I always consider rules-balance first, mainly because I know everything else can be managed with work. Without rules-balance, I have to worry about how much work must be done...