D&D 5E (2014) Is Point Buy Balanced?

[CleverNickName]

It's important to remember that "Is it balanced?" and "Is it fun?" are separate questions.

 

[CreamCloud0]

Touche'

If we woke up tomorrow and "balance" was achieved.....i think a lot of people would then be upset that everything was too much the same.

things don't need to be the same to be balanced.

 

[TwoSix]

things don't need to be the same to be balanced.

True, but balancing asymmetrical options is WAY harder.

 

[KYRON45]

True, but balancing asymmetrical options is WAY harder.

This sounds like a conversation about math. I'm out!!!

 

[Umbran]

True, but balancing asymmetrical options is WAY harder.

Yep. This is why balance is aspirational - unless you tightly constrain the play space, there's no real way to know for sure your construction is always perfectly balanced.

 

[Lanefan]

It isn't a myth. It's an aspiration.

More like it's a windmill that a great many Dons Quixote like to tilt at.

 

[Gimby]

More like it's a windmill that a great many Dons Quixote like to tilt at.

Nah, it's just something a lot of people are coy about wanting.

I agree with the position that it's the intersection of stats and class that causes the imbalance and it's something that could be designed around that way - 13A for example gives you stats based on your class and you could very much help weaker classes by having them provide more stats. 3.x Monks for example could have really done with something like that.

 

[Lanefan]

Touche'

If we woke up tomorrow and "balance" was achieved.....i think a lot of people would then be upset that everything was too much the same.

Someone upthread posited that there's a trade-off between balance and freedom.

For me, it's more a trade-off between balance and interesting*. Too balanced = boring (point-buy falls squarely into this category for me). Not balanced at all = interesting*.

* - or enteratining, either works.

 

[Lakesidefantasy]

I've started comparing 27 point buy arrays by analyzing how they impact Skills. It might be hard to extrapolate the effectiveness of an array overall, but Skills are only one step away from the Ability Scores. I've started with the three basic ones: Standard (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8), Balanced (13, 13, 13, 12, 12, 12), and MinMax (15, 15, 15, 8, 8, 8).

I've started rearranging the scores in different systematic ways to see what impact it has on Total Skill Modifier. It might not mean anything but it's a start. But over things that stands out is the Skill Modifier deficiency of some arrays versus others. Most of the skills are what I am calling "Mental" skills so maximizing 'Physical' abilities understandably creates low Total Skill Modifiers.

 

[Umbran]

More like it's a windmill that a great many Dons Quixote like to tilt at.

So, that is either an insult, or a high compliment, depending on what you think of Don Quixote.

So, how about we take it that you mean the high compliment, seeing as insulting folks right in front of me would normally be... unwise, right? Good.