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Message: <blockquote data-quote="innerdude" data-source="post: 5146650" data-attributes="member: 85870">I wrote a lengthy post on this a couple of weeks ago about a problem with the underlying assumption of this statement--because when people talk about balance in this context, 99.9 percent of the time they're talking about "balance in combat." The problem assuming that "balance = combat balance" is that it naturally assumes that every single player at the table can only be happy if their character is just as combat balanced as every other player--when this is not the case. People who enjoy the role-playing aspect of RPGs often don't give a rat's butt about combat balance--they just want to play an interesting character, and explore that character's motivations, world-view, and experience the milieu of the game world through that character's eyes. Sure, if the system is "combat balanced," that's an added bonus, but for some role-players, an over-emphasis on combat balance in the rules can actually take away from their enjoyment of playing the game, because the combat system itself dictates some of the requirements their character must meet. And if the dictates of the combat system force the player to create a character in a way they really don't envision, then that player is actually having a "sub-optimal" experience--regardless of how amazingly balanced the combat system is.Someone else in that same thread also rightly pointed out that in this case, sometimes "combat balance," in terms of rules or character concept, is less important than the assumed social contract between the GM and players, and player-to-player. Some groups are okay with having a "sub-optimal" combat character, because they want to encourage the player to have "uber-optimal" fun with their character concept. To some groups, a "sub-optimal" combat character is anathema, a betrayal of the group. To a group that's heavily into the combat portion of a game, playing a character that isn't helping them "win the combats" is hindering their fun.</blockquote>

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