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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pawsplay" data-source="post: 5494706" data-attributes="member: 15538">If you read these two quotes together, seemingly, GURPS characters should all devolve to the same, supposedly optimal killer build, and yet any two characters will not be of comparable power, suggesting they are not built to the same killer build. It is possible that one of these things is true and the other isn't, both are true in an inobvious way, or neither is true.I'm going with "neither is true." Simply because anyone can create a fifteen year old computer programming battle-mage doesn't mean they will, and a fifteen year old with those capabilities is pretty much the definition of unique. White Wolf games have some issues that are unique to games with hard ceilings on ability, which GURPS does not have. GURPS, on the other hand, has issues with unlimited levels of relative skill. In neither case is there is a build that eclipses all others, or even several such builds. And as in D&D or many other classed games, it is relatively trivial to make sure a character is minimally competent in the activities done by ALL adventurers. For instance, in Werewolf, anyone could have one or dots of Brawl, unless they make the conscious choice they don't want. In GURPS, a below-average attribute is a deliberate choice, not one mandated by trade-offs.In a sense, the Gnosis 5/Computer 5 is a member of a "class" in that they are specialized enough that is probably most of what they do. That does not make them unbalanced, it just makes them similar to other characters of that type. D&D 4e is actually unusual in that there is less numeric disparity outside someone's specialty; in 3e, or in Palladium, or Rolemaster, there is a decided grade between someone who has studied a skill and someone who hasn't. GURPS achieves "balance" in a different way than 4e. Rather than making all characters roughly equivalent in numbers and scope of abilities, your point budget roughly amounts to a purchase of screen time in a particular area. It would be an exceptionally strange GURPS game in which "I win melee combat" left the other characters with nothing to do. And just to be clearing, completely dominating one area is usually non-trivial until you get to higher point totals, or you resort to exotic constructions. GURPS is well-balanced in that you can create a character with their own area in which to shine. Umbran, I don't know what your experience with GURPS is, but "If the choice to build characters that are of equivalent power, or not, is so entirely in the hands of the player, then it isn't the system that is balanced," is a great misconception. There are greater opportunities to purposefully fritter away chracter building resources, but you can make a deliberately bad 4e character with very little effort, too. Spending all your points in GURPS on oil-painting and speaking dead languages isn't a hot concept in most games, although it could pay off unexpectedly at some point, but at least it's something; a D&D 4e character with a 10 in their main stat, who is specialized in weapons and implements they don't use and powers that don't synergize is a sad creature. It is decidedly not the case that all D&D characters are created equal.</blockquote>

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