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Message: <blockquote data-quote="greywulf" data-source="post: 3372320" data-attributes="member: 4285">Surely the big balancing factor in all this is not the books, the rules or the players, but the DM.I can tell the players that this is a street-level campaign, and expect them to build to type. Maybe I'll give a low stat array (8,10,11,12,13,14, say) and a set of class/race combo restrictions, etc, and they're away. Conversely, I might say it's heroic cinematic gaming, give them a higher starting stat array (10,12,13,14,15,16 is usual for this) and give them more leeway on class/race combos.If you set the power levels from the start, you're on to a winner. That's up to you, not any rulebook.Sure, the players are going to pick the best toys either way. They're going to cherry pick the feats, allocate the highest number to their most important stat and probably dump stat CHA or WIS. That's cool by me, because I'm doing exactly the same thing with the bad guys. Whether it's street-level, heroic or whatever, the players are the centre of the game. I expect them to be bigger and better than the rest, because it's their game. For it to be otherwise would be like Robin consistently out-performing Batman, or Superman always being floored by a common thug. These guys are the heroes, and should be built as such. I expect no less.My job as DM is to rise to their challenge, to provide foes that give them a run for their money and make the players sweat a little. If the party is combat weak (yeh, right) then I adjust accordingly. Similarly, if they are combat monsters, I find their weaknesses and play on them. It's all a part of the game, and the DM holds all the cards in this respect. Where players optimise, the DM should equalise. That's the name of the game, whatever the rules.</blockquote>

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