How do you "balance" play?

[Cougar]

I guess this is mostly for DMs, but I am wondering how every one else out there balances play for their groups. Do you believe unbalanced is synonymous with overpowered (or underpowered)?

A couple of examples of what I mean:

What method do you use to ensure your "house rules" aren't unbalancing? Example: Harm requiring a saving throw. Why or why not?

How do you decide what products (or portion of that product) to allow into your games besides the three Core rulebooks? Example: Do you allow all prestige classes? Is this for campaign flavor or mechanics? Are the classes allowed as is? How and why do you change them if so?



I would appreciate any opinions or discussions on the subject. I think the balance issue is very much a subjective one and we would all benefit from hearing other peoples views on the topic.

 

[Sam]

I take a very high level view when I'm running my game. I simply remember that its a game. I allow all the "splat" books, as well as Monte's 2 Eldritch Might books (though no one has really used them yet). I don't allow FR stuff (more because I run a Greyhawk campaign and don't want to taint the feel) generally, but have allowed certain spells & the like. One of my players asked for a spell from Relics & Ritual. I took a quick read and said sure. Then, in game, realized that it was somewhat overpowered for the level it was supposed to be. Oh well. If I find that this happens, or that certain prestiege classes are letting them cakewalk through encounters, then I'll just have to bump up the EL's a bit. That's all.

That said, my players don't have TONS of magic items & the like. But as for character development, I try not to limit them too much. I want them to have fun, and I want to have fun too. There should be challenging situations for them to face, and you can always make a situation more challenging if they are breezing right through them. (Especially since I bought the ELH )

--Sam

 

[Crothian]

Balance to me is fun for everyone. So, over powered, underpowered ar enot as relevant. I know my players and I try to give them what they want in terms of enjoyment. I allow pretty much every book I have which is a lot. I don't have people who abuse the rules so I don't have to worry about players who ask for things that are a little on the powerful side.

House rules for me are very few. Basically we play with them to see how they work. When and if anyone gets to the Harm spell we'll use it without and with a saving throw to see howe it works in our game. Nothing is better then playing the rules to see how they work.

 

[mmadsen]

One element of "balance" that is often ignored is the flavor you're aiming for. If you want wizards who blast their enemies (or nibble away at them), you make Magic Missile 1st level and Fireball 3rd level (and you have them scale nicely), while Bestow Curse languishes at 3rd level (and requires a touch, and doesn't scale at all).

Not all spells at each level are equally powerful, but that can be a way of declaring which magic is more natural for that world.

 

[Squire James]

In my case, I allowed exactly one player use the Harm spell as written, once. It was a one-shot where I let PC's test out level 20 characters against some CR 20-24 opponents. I think one guy hitting a dragon twice with Arrows of Wounding coupled with a Harm spell that left 1 hp a bit too easy for a White Great Wyrm. Not exactly 25% of their resources. While the demon encounters were tougher (Unholy Blight isn't bad... 10 at the same time is bad!), the "boss" encounters were all solved quickly with a Harm (or in the case of a large group of undead) a Mass Heal.

I told them after the adventure that I would nerf Harm, but I needed a week to think about it. Nobody seemed to object... everyone thought Harm-like effects made combat too much like 1e "win initiative" battles.

Finally, I settled on a simple solution. The best part about Harm is that it does lots of damage to creatures with high HP while allowing no saving throw. I wanted to preserve this aspect. So the Harm spell cuts the enemy's current HP in half, no save. Still lots of potential damage, still good on dragons and other guys with good Fort saves, but not an "ender" spell.

This is the only spell I got that drastic with yet, though I'm now thinking about Haste. I'm thinking of separating the two effects into 2 spells called Haste (extra partial action) and Speed (+4 speed bonus to AC). Haste still looks like 3rd level, and Speed looks like a strong 2nd level or weak 3rd level. Hmm...

 

[clark411]

My biggest "balance" issues I've found, as a player and a DM, is spotlight balance. GIven a chance, some players will dominate a game- almost to the point where it's practically a single player module with supporting cast (players). Some players on the other hand, will be very reluctant to engage with anything- including maps, npc's, other pc's. Although I respect both styles, I like to try to focus my attention in a way that keeps everyone roughly equal, if that means questioning some players, and having particularly active ones throw me Post It notes etc.

After that, balance comes with distributing wealth and items... if one player's weapon is woefully behind those of the others (and isn't his/her choice [like opting to spend his money on Quall's Feather tokens]), then I have to think on how to fix that so all players feel useful and able to contribute.

Final balance problem I have, is making the challenges for the party right. I run an online game too, and we RARELY have more than one fight per session, and there is hardly ever inopportunity for them to rest, recoup, etc... so I don't want to throw 20%ers at them constantly. I also don't want to kill them outright (which I did the other night unfortunately). The balance is very hard between making excitement and making "We feel we never win" attitudes.

 

[Creamsteak]

I just assume the core rules are relatively balanced as long as I watch the magic items, and go with that. I've never had a problem. Then again, if a player discovers a "trick" then I end up using it on them, so there really is no potential unbalancing factors since someone can always hit them with the saame thing.