Rasyr said:
Been reading through this thread -- interesting discussion even though I have not read all the posts.
Power Creep, to me, is defined as having more options available that increase the overall power of the PCs/NPCs at given break points. Is a first level xx created using only material from the PHB as powerful as a first level xx created using the options available in one or more supplements. If the answer is yes, then you have power creep.
IMHO, D&D 3.5 does indeed have power creep. No, it is not as blatant (in most cases) as it is for some systems (like the power creep for RM2 from all the RM Companions because the editor never checked for balance, only typos), but it is there. From some of the comments I have seen on this thread, I would say that WotC is trying to keep the power creep to a minimum (at least for their books), but it is still happening.
Example:
Take a 2nd level character (Cleric 1/Monk 1), and compare him against a 2nd level Cleric/Monk Gestalt Character from Unearthed Arcana. Are they about the same comparable power level? Nope, the Gestalt is more powerful, the book even tells you that they are. There you have power creep.
But that's a totally invalid comparison. The book also suggests that gestalts should face CR +2 encounters, which implies that the Gestalt monk/cleric, if you did indeed include him, should be Cleric/Monk 2 only when the regular character was Cleric 2/Monk 2, which is considerably better. It's more balanced at, say, 8th level (Cleric/Monk 6 vs. Cleric 4/Monk 4), and eventually gets better because even Cleric/Monk multiclassing is normally quite bad.
Really, though, gestalt is an
alternate, meant to be used for all PCs (and, presumably, major NPCs) or not at all.
Everything in UA is pretty much internally balanced, and the options that are just meant to be included in a normal game, like the racial paragon classes, are quite average. But when you start mixing class defense and armor as DR, or gestalt and non-gestalt, and so on, it gets wonky.
It's better to look at the Monster Manual series, the Races of series, the Complete series, the environment series, the Monster Type series, and perhaps the Faerun and Eberron books, not at a set of optional rules.