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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Psion" data-source="post: 592518" data-attributes="member: 172">That is a very multifaceted question.My take: Balance of some sort is necessary, but taken too far, the point is lost and it becomes teatotalling.There are a number of practical concerns when it comes to the actual importance of balance in the game, but of the ones I am about to list, I think the first two are the most important:1) Player rivalry:The fact is that players generally don't like playing second fiddle, so the general trend in games like D&D is to give players approximately the same ability to influence the outcome of the game. The player's sensitivity to this varies from group to group and player to player, and often varies by situation. If one player wields a lot more power in the game than another, it may be perceived as being "unfair." This is a worthwhile consideration, as if the players get into this mindset, the game won't be as fun for them.Sometimes it is possible to run a game with disparate power. If the players are mature, often you can get away with disparate measures of power if each of the characters has their own specialty and don't have their niches invaded. However, this tactic only works so far, as there are only so many niches, and most characters in D&D have combat as part of their niche.2) Challenge and Playability:This is primarily a combat consideration, but can apply to other activities as well. If you have a party with 5th level characters alongside 10th level characters, it can be difficult to create an encounter that will challenge the 10th level characters and at the same time not kill the 5th level characters without doing a lot of behind-the-screen fudging. It is a lot easier to balance encounters so that players feel challenged but the mortality is limited if the levels of power of the PCs are similar.3) Game definitions:This is perhaps of lesser importance, but it is still one that many third party publishers stomp all over. Some people have the attitude that "it's okay to make my class/spell/feat uber-powerful if I only allow NPCs to use it, since the DM can control such characters and could throw anything he wants at the players anyways." That's fine in theory, but in practice if you do this you are undermining the utility of levels and other game definition as tools to manage the game. If the DM has it in his head that an 8th level PC is challengeable by the party but should be able to beat it, but he uses this uber prestige class that is about twice as effective as a normal class, the DM AND the players are in for a rude surprise.4) Role Utility and Variety:Finally, balance plays a role in the shape of the game. If race A is superior to race B (or class A than class B, or feats, or spells, etc.), then choice A will naturally be a preferable general choice for players. This is okay if that is what you want (see Ars Magica), but if you want to see a variety of different character choices, then it behooves you to make all choices somewhat similar in attractiveness to players. It is for this reason I sort of don't like spells like magic missile, fireball, invisibility, and haste: they are so good for their level that they are too common to the point of staleness.</blockquote>

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