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<blockquote data-quote="Morrus" data-source="post: 6300686" data-attributes="member: 1"><p>Not all attributes are equal; neither are all abilities. Ensuring an exact total wouldn't achieve balance and would be unnecessarily confining when designing traditions. A WIL bonus, for example, is not the same as an AGI bonus. And some traditions have stronger abilities or wider skill selections, or higher requirements, etc. Many characters rely on a couple of strong attributes (depending on the character) and having a sprinkling of exactly equal lower attributes wouldn't actually affect gameplay particularly. A wizard with a high INT and MAG attribute isn't going to be more 'balanced' by giving him an extra point of STR - it won't benefit him at all. Similarly, giving a high AGI sniper type extra WIL isn't going to help him much. It's easy to be lured by a sense of symmetry, but I've always felt that the danger of that is falling into blandness. Balance and numerical symmetry aren't always the same thing.</p><p></p><p>The best way to achieve balance (and this isn't 4E - exact symmetry isn't a goal in itself, and balance is a tool not an end) is to test the traditions and note which feel too weak or too powerful. I'm hoping for some playtesting data on that.</p><p></p><p>So certainly traditions likely need tweaking, and will do as the playtest progresses as, but focusing solely on mathematical equality in attributes isn't a very strong method of determining that.</p><p></p><p>So yes, you may have a point, and there may be some which are a bit underpowered, but the solution isn't to ensure that all traditions are exactly symmetrical, it's to tweak 'em until they feel right. It's as much art as science!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Morrus, post: 6300686, member: 1"] Not all attributes are equal; neither are all abilities. Ensuring an exact total wouldn't achieve balance and would be unnecessarily confining when designing traditions. A WIL bonus, for example, is not the same as an AGI bonus. And some traditions have stronger abilities or wider skill selections, or higher requirements, etc. Many characters rely on a couple of strong attributes (depending on the character) and having a sprinkling of exactly equal lower attributes wouldn't actually affect gameplay particularly. A wizard with a high INT and MAG attribute isn't going to be more 'balanced' by giving him an extra point of STR - it won't benefit him at all. Similarly, giving a high AGI sniper type extra WIL isn't going to help him much. It's easy to be lured by a sense of symmetry, but I've always felt that the danger of that is falling into blandness. Balance and numerical symmetry aren't always the same thing. The best way to achieve balance (and this isn't 4E - exact symmetry isn't a goal in itself, and balance is a tool not an end) is to test the traditions and note which feel too weak or too powerful. I'm hoping for some playtesting data on that. So certainly traditions likely need tweaking, and will do as the playtest progresses as, but focusing solely on mathematical equality in attributes isn't a very strong method of determining that. So yes, you may have a point, and there may be some which are a bit underpowered, but the solution isn't to ensure that all traditions are exactly symmetrical, it's to tweak 'em until they feel right. It's as much art as science! [/QUOTE]
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