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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6057885" data-attributes="member: 42582">Like shidaku posted, I meant the &quot;three pillars&quot; of combat, exploration and social that Mearls has talked about in his Legends &amp; Lore columns.My own view is that as long as non-combat resolution is left to essentially free roleplaying, it is not viable to balance PCs around the three pillars, as (more-or-less by definition) free roleplaying means no mechanical potency to balance.At the moment, for example, there is nothing in the D&amp;Dnext rules to stop a wizard going to town on combat spells on day 1, and then going to town on utility spells on day 2, and thus being pretty strong across all 3 pillars as desired. Whereas a fighter doesn't have anything like the same flexibility.The main mechanic I'm familiar with to introduce mechanical structure into non-combat resolution, and thereby to allow mechanical balance in respect of it, is extended contest resolution of the skill challenge variety (found also in a raft of indie games, such as HeroWars/Quest and The Burning Wheel). For this to work, though, the GM needs definite techniques at his/her disposal (like narration of complications based on metagame considerations).There may be other mechanics here that I'm not familiar with, of course. But so far I've seen no hint of them in the playtest.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 6057885, member: 42582"] Like shidaku posted, I meant the "three pillars" of combat, exploration and social that Mearls has talked about in his Legends & Lore columns. My own view is that as long as non-combat resolution is left to essentially free roleplaying, it is not viable to balance PCs around the three pillars, as (more-or-less by definition) free roleplaying means no mechanical potency to balance. At the moment, for example, there is nothing in the D&Dnext rules to stop a wizard going to town on combat spells on day 1, and then going to town on utility spells on day 2, and thus being pretty strong across all 3 pillars as desired. Whereas a fighter doesn't have anything like the same flexibility. The main mechanic I'm familiar with to introduce mechanical structure into non-combat resolution, and thereby to allow mechanical balance in respect of it, is extended contest resolution of the skill challenge variety (found also in a raft of indie games, such as HeroWars/Quest and The Burning Wheel). For this to work, though, the GM needs definite techniques at his/her disposal (like narration of complications based on metagame considerations). There may be other mechanics here that I'm not familiar with, of course. But so far I've seen no hint of them in the playtest. [/QUOTE]

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