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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Wombat" data-source="post: 1052436" data-attributes="member: 8447">Okay, I'm a bit confused by what you are saying here, especially in the latter part, so I'll just go section by section.  For all I know I am agreeing with your arguments -- please understand I mean no offense.As for "get off low levels ASAP", my group & I prefer low level games -- anything above 10th level starts feeling too much like a comic book for our tastes, but that, of course, is a matter of opinion, so not very much further I can go there.  Others like higher power games.  This is equally well and good.The next two paragraphs is where things get really muddy.I have been running rpgs since 1976.  When I started there was only the concept of random rolling, from stat to stat, in the order they were presented -- like it or lump it.  Characters were hardly at all in balance and often people ended up having to play character types they did not like just because of how the dice came up.Then came Champions, GURPS, White Wolf and a host of other companies that said "all characters can be built on an exactly equal footing."  The problem is that this is a myth.  While any given stat may cost the same as any other given stat, if a particular session or campaign emphasizes, say, combat over socialization, then combat stats are inherently worth more, no matter what the balancing charts may say.The same could be said for skills.  Is 1 point in Knowledge (Arcana) woth the same as 1 point in Tumble?  It could be, depending on the situation the players find themselves in, but just as likely it could not."Balance" sounds nice, but it is very rarely achieved and, ultimately, appears to be a false goal, something unobtainable in gaming.Now you also bring up the notion that games are fiction and not reality.  This is true.  You also mention (in a way that I do not fully understand) LotR.  I think we can all agree that the nine members of the Fellowship are not "balanced" -- it appears the Gandalf is built on a much high point-base than, say, Merry & Pippin (perhaps even the two of them combined).  Yet there are times when these two hobbits shine in their own right, even though they are not as clever, as strong, or as well trained.A good player can deal with random stats and not worry about "balance"; I have seen this in Ars Magica many times where there is no attempt to balance between Magus and Grog.  Currently my feelings are these -- some balance is a good thing (start all the characters in a D20 game at the same level with equal chances at goods and treasure), but also allow for some random factors (roll 4d6 [keeping 3] six times, place as desired -- that way you get to play the type of character you desire, if not the optimal.  For that matter, if I could work in a Fuzion style lifepath on top of matters, I think everything would be golden!  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /></blockquote>

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