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Message: <blockquote data-quote="GM Dave" data-source="post: 5805495" data-attributes="member: 6687992">Given the Skills and Abilities discussion and Class discussion from DDXP it would seem that the designers are shooting for;Wizard can be spectacular once and a while.This balanced against, say, the fighter doing a consistent good job.Prior editions have all had abuses of different sorts and while people point to 3e for the Wizard/Druid being powerful, it was often in the high end game (post level 15) that the fighter with feats and multiple attack could really shine and pump out the damage.A fighter starting with 18 str and getting possibly a +2 race bonus on it at level 1 and then increasing each level to say 16 is at Str 24 or +7 to hit and damage.Add the appropriate magic to the str for roughly another +6 or now +10 to hit and damage.Two handed weapon gives a 1.5 x damage for now +15 damage.At level 16 consider the weapon is likely +4 in enchantment in 3e and the fighter is doing Power Attack for say 3 points.That increases the damage by another +4 and +6 (two handed PA in 3.5e rules).  You are now looking at +25 damage per attack.Multiply by the four main attacks of the fighter at level 16 and you have 100 points of damage without rolling a die for the type of weapon held.A spell rolling 16d6 will average out to 56 damage or roughly a third but usually spread over a group of targets that can attempt saves to reduce the 56 to half or 28 damage (a kick in the shins at this level and a good reason for the wizard to get killed).Sure, you could have the Ape casting Druid or use the Players Handbook 2 for the Druid alternative to give you a great combat monster but melee was where you wanted to be for damage and the fighter still dealt it in droves.In the end of our last campaign which was at the level 20-21 level of PF.  It became more of a case of heal and buff the main fighters (particularly the very buffed Ranger with some Beast/Giant polymorph) then bother with arrows or flinging magic evocation spells.  The fighters were just turning out two to three times as much damage as anyone else and their high Cons were giving them HP that was very lopsided compared to the non-fighter classes (the melee classes could soak up multiple hits of damage that the other classes would be knocked down in one hit)Balance in the new set of rules looks like it is being compared on a mixture of Combat, Exploration, and Role-play expressions.  This is good as this allows for different characters to have a chance to practice and use a variety of things and shine in different ways.Actually, the biggest breakers of balance are not the game designers but it is the fan/freelance writers that produce the support books.When I GM, I'm usually 95% fine with anything brought out by players in core books.  It is the pile of Spell Compendiums and class books that I usually have to sit down and rule Yes or No upon feats, powers, and spells.</blockquote>

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