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<blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 3502330" data-attributes="member: 29398">Yet another aspect of balance that sometimes gets overlooked is that of scale within time.Can everything in the game be balanced for each class/player all the time?&nbsp; No.&nbsp; Is every player and-or character going to get a chance to shine every encounter, or even every session?&nbsp; No.&nbsp; Should these in fact even be viable goals?&nbsp; I submit not.On a larger scale, though: can the game be balanced enough that over the long term each class/player will have a chance to be the star?&nbsp; Yes, with two assumptions: that any given player is willing and able to seize such a chance when it arises (not all are), and that the other players aren't airtime hogs and will let each player have their time on stage.It's a simple fact of life that in some encounters, or even some whole adventures, certain classes are going to be more useful and get more done than others.&nbsp; An adventure that takes place entirely in the woods, for example, is going to (or should!) bring the Rangers and Druids to the fore.&nbsp; An adventure that consists of an underground dungeon crawl where all the opponents are traps and undead is logically going to feature the Clerics and Thieves.&nbsp; And so on...&nbsp; This is true at all levels, in all editions; trying to force things to be any other way is an utterly pointless endeavour rightfully doomed to fail.Where the DM comes in is that s/he needs to present a variety of adventure types where possible.&nbsp; If the last adventure was all undead, the next should probably be outdoors vs. living opponents, perhaps followed by something more diplomatic in style, assuming this all doesn't butcher the pre-existing storyline...with half an eye toward the party's strengths and weaknesses.&nbsp; If the party lacks Druids and Rangers, for example, now's the time to throw an outdoor adventure at 'em... <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile&nbsp; &nbsp; :)"&nbsp; data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />As far as specific character-vs.-character balance, this is less of an issue in that good players can make something out of low-power characters, while bad players can waste the best of rolls and builds.&nbsp; And if one character doesn't work out, retire it or get it killed and try another...Lanefan</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Lanefan, post: 3502330, member: 29398"] Yet another aspect of balance that sometimes gets overlooked is that of scale within time. Can everything in the game be balanced for each class/player all the time? No. Is every player and-or character going to get a chance to shine every encounter, or even every session? No. Should these in fact even be viable goals? I submit not. On a larger scale, though: can the game be balanced enough that over the long term each class/player will have a chance to be the star? Yes, with two assumptions: that any given player is willing and able to seize such a chance when it arises (not all are), and that the other players aren't airtime hogs and will let each player have their time on stage. It's a simple fact of life that in some encounters, or even some whole adventures, certain classes are going to be more useful and get more done than others. An adventure that takes place entirely in the woods, for example, is going to (or should!) bring the Rangers and Druids to the fore. An adventure that consists of an underground dungeon crawl where all the opponents are traps and undead is logically going to feature the Clerics and Thieves. And so on... This is true at all levels, in all editions; trying to force things to be any other way is an utterly pointless endeavour rightfully doomed to fail. Where the DM comes in is that s/he needs to present a variety of adventure types where possible. If the last adventure was all undead, the next should probably be outdoors vs. living opponents, perhaps followed by something more diplomatic in style, assuming this all doesn't butcher the pre-existing storyline...with half an eye toward the party's strengths and weaknesses. If the party lacks Druids and Rangers, for example, now's the time to throw an outdoor adventure at 'em... :) As far as specific character-vs.-character balance, this is less of an issue in that good players can make something out of low-power characters, while bad players can waste the best of rolls and builds. And if one character doesn't work out, retire it or get it killed and try another... Lanefan [/QUOTE]

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