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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Crazy Jerome" data-source="post: 5825010" data-attributes="member: 54877">We could also come up with a balance meter that is a lot more useful and nuanced than the one I listed in the example. Perhaps there is some attempt to balance across the combat, exploration, and interaction(so called "roleplaying") pillars, but it is accepted that you won't get a perfect mix in each. (I know that's still being debated. For sake of argument here, assume practical reasons have kept such balance out of reach.) Then you might give a number on each pillar, try to make them reasonably close and the total balanced, but give yourself that same out for mistakes and campaign needs.  Say that we pick something like the 3E or 4E XP chart, but divide every value by 10 (for convenience of handling, that's all). Then your combat, exploration, and interaction meter (CEI) gets divided up amongst those, with the core, balanced classes getting a total of 10 in each one. Maybe a rogue is 3/4/3, while a fighter is 4/3/3. Every core character is built on a minimum 3/3/3, with an edge somewhere that makes sense. (Niche classes might be more varied.) Total that number up (always 10 for the core classes) and divide your XP awards by that number. If you are playing nothing but such balanced classes, the DM can simply divide the XP award before he hands it out, and you can ignore all this. Now, if you have a character that is truly 4/3/4 of some such mix, it is accounted for in the system. But this more complex meter goes beyond that. Say you are running a game that is heavy exploration at the expense of the other factors. Now you know which classes have an easy time of it or will naturally find the spotlight. You can adjust the factors to compensate, or you can do like you always have with a bard in a combat game or dumb, low Cha fighter in an interaction game--give the guy on the short end of the stick something extra or work the game so that it is ok or let the player enjoy the challenge.  As you can see, with the right meter, this isn't just about tacking on abilities and then forgetting about it, but nor is it anything new. Rather, it's a way of labeling and communicating something that DMs have been doing from the beginning, but without stamping on the class-based nature of the game. Edit: Was cross-typing this with hanez before I saw his reply, believe it or not.</blockquote>

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