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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ECMO3" data-source="post: 9833454" data-attributes="member: 7030563">If you played 100 different sessions with characters using those two arrays and 200 different players each playing a PC of their own design for a session with that arry:  PC A would outperform PC B in a substantial number of those sessions and as a matter of fact if they knew the ability scores in those sessions PEOPLE WOULD NOTICE that PC A outperformed PC B in those sessions despite having MUCH lower ability scores.I notice every time when I outperform someone or someone outperforms me and I notice it even when my PCs stats are much better and another player does better than me.This is not true in play.  In play B does more damage sometimes, they do the same damage sometimes and B does less damage sometimes.  If you assume the players are playing the exact same characters, making the exact same choices in play with the exact same DM, B will do more damage most times, but A will still do more sometimes.If we use the 1st level fighter examples you gave above (dueling 15 and 20 strength for A and B respectively): on rounds where both of them take the attack action with their 1d8 weapon against an enemy with 16 AC and 26hps or more the round is balanced 24% of the time, the round is unbalanced in favor of fighter A 23% of the time and unbalanced in favor of fighter B 53% of the time.Those are two characters with huge disparity in ability scores but the exact same builds taking the exact same action against a foe whos hit points they can not possibly eclipse.In the same example, if they were both using standard array with a 16 strength the chance they would be balanced is 27%, which is essentially the same.As I noted initially, you get virtually no balance improvement in play by giving them the same ability scores even when the characters are exactly the same and take exactly the same action.  You know what does improve balance though - changing the foe.  If we go from a AC16 26hp hypothetical to a AC12 5hp Kobold, the chance the round is balanced in terms of damage dealt jumps from 24% to 59% for the two characters with wide ability disparities and for characters with standard array it similarly jumps from 27% to 58%.</blockquote>

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