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<blockquote data-quote="Phaezen" data-source="post: 5792999" data-attributes="member: 42839">Reposting my thoughts on balance from another thread:I think there is enough evidence that there are people who have had&nbsp; issues with the imbalance between casters and non-casters at mid to high&nbsp; level, just as there is enough evidence that a DM or group can mitigate&nbsp; this problem through social pacts and game management.&nbsp;Given that not all DMs are strong enough to be able to manage a table&nbsp; like this, or don't have enough time to customize opponents and&nbsp; scenarios so that all the class power levels can participate&nbsp; meaningfully I feel a system which balances the classes is preferable&nbsp; for the following reasons:&nbsp;1. It puts less pressure on the DM to have complete system mastery and&nbsp; have to balance various competing rules elements so that everyone can&nbsp; participate in the majority of scenes, whether they are combat, social&nbsp; or other.&nbsp; The DM can instead spend more time on preparing plot and&nbsp; story.&nbsp;2. Min-maxers can still ply their trade without being overwhelmingly powerful at the table.&nbsp;3. There is no expectation for players to play their class suboptimaly&nbsp; to allow other players a chance to shine at the table.&nbsp; If it is cost&nbsp; effective for casters to create and carry wands and scrolls for utility&nbsp; spells, then there is no reason for casters not to do this, unless they&nbsp; want to allow other players a chance to do there thing.&nbsp; One player&nbsp; should not have this amount of control over the other players at the&nbsp; table.&nbsp;4. There is no pressure on players to min-max, they can choose class&nbsp; elements for story and plot reasons and not have to worry about their&nbsp; effectiveness at the table.&nbsp;5. Instead of relying on rules loopholes and weak spots to overpower&nbsp; encounters, it should encourage players to look for in game resources to&nbsp; gain advantages - leaning on allies, using terrain and such.&nbsp;At the end of the day, a balanced system should cater for all play&nbsp; styles without letting one player dominate because of his class or&nbsp; causing another player to unintentionally hamstring himself due to the&nbsp; character concept he would like to play.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Phaezen, post: 5792999, member: 42839"] Reposting my thoughts on balance from another thread: I think there is enough evidence that there are people who have had issues with the imbalance between casters and non-casters at mid to high level, just as there is enough evidence that a DM or group can mitigate this problem through social pacts and game management. Given that not all DMs are strong enough to be able to manage a table like this, or don't have enough time to customize opponents and scenarios so that all the class power levels can participate meaningfully I feel a system which balances the classes is preferable for the following reasons: 1. It puts less pressure on the DM to have complete system mastery and have to balance various competing rules elements so that everyone can participate in the majority of scenes, whether they are combat, social or other. The DM can instead spend more time on preparing plot and story. 2. Min-maxers can still ply their trade without being overwhelmingly powerful at the table. 3. There is no expectation for players to play their class suboptimaly to allow other players a chance to shine at the table. If it is cost effective for casters to create and carry wands and scrolls for utility spells, then there is no reason for casters not to do this, unless they want to allow other players a chance to do there thing. One player should not have this amount of control over the other players at the table. 4. There is no pressure on players to min-max, they can choose class elements for story and plot reasons and not have to worry about their effectiveness at the table. 5. Instead of relying on rules loopholes and weak spots to overpower encounters, it should encourage players to look for in game resources to gain advantages - leaning on allies, using terrain and such. At the end of the day, a balanced system should cater for all play styles without letting one player dominate because of his class or causing another player to unintentionally hamstring himself due to the character concept he would like to play. [/QUOTE]

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