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<blockquote data-quote="Imaro" data-source="post: 4654989" data-attributes="member: 48965">Perhaps because honestly, when you get down to it... very little fantasy in any medium is &quot;balanced&quot;, I almost want to say it is in fact a trope of fantasy to be unbalanced.&nbsp;Second, I think it is also a matter of the balance being prime can often lead to awkward or even unsatisfactory limitations in which the mechanical effect of something ( and how it weighs against things which shouldn't have any relation to it) is more important than it's feel or narrative basis in the game.&nbsp;As a prime example I will use the beastmaster ranger... where I cannot attack and my beast attack at the same time. I understand the &quot;balance&quot; reasons for the beastmaster mechanics... but it in no way models the fiction or narratives that I am use to which contain warriors who have an animal companion with them (I rarely see them unable to attack if their beast does... and honestly, most of the time the beast is smart enough to act independently of the &quot;beastmaster&quot;, especially in dangerous situations). Can the concept of &quot;beastmaster&quot; be done in 4e... certainly, will that concept necessarily play or feel like the archetype one has read about, seen on tv, etc... not necessarily, why? Because it wouldn't be balanced. Personally I've never had a problem with this &quot;cookie cutterism&quot; in other games, and I feel D&amp;D is one of the few games where combat is the end all and be all of balance. For contrast when I have played White Wolf games, my players build their PC's based on concept... now some might claim that this will end up with unbalanced PC's... my answer is that is what a GM is for. I might have a combat player, a social focused player and a skill monkey... but as a GM I can plan adventures that cater to those actions the PC's want to involve themselves in.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Imaro, post: 4654989, member: 48965"] Perhaps because honestly, when you get down to it... very little fantasy in any medium is "balanced", I almost want to say it is in fact a trope of fantasy to be unbalanced. Second, I think it is also a matter of the balance being prime can often lead to awkward or even unsatisfactory limitations in which the mechanical effect of something ( and how it weighs against things which shouldn't have any relation to it) is more important than it's feel or narrative basis in the game. As a prime example I will use the beastmaster ranger... where I cannot attack and my beast attack at the same time. I understand the "balance" reasons for the beastmaster mechanics... but it in no way models the fiction or narratives that I am use to which contain warriors who have an animal companion with them (I rarely see them unable to attack if their beast does... and honestly, most of the time the beast is smart enough to act independently of the "beastmaster", especially in dangerous situations). Can the concept of "beastmaster" be done in 4e... certainly, will that concept necessarily play or feel like the archetype one has read about, seen on tv, etc... not necessarily, why? Because it wouldn't be balanced. Personally I've never had a problem with this "cookie cutterism" in other games, and I feel D&D is one of the few games where combat is the end all and be all of balance. For contrast when I have played White Wolf games, my players build their PC's based on concept... now some might claim that this will end up with unbalanced PC's... my answer is that is what a GM is for. I might have a combat player, a social focused player and a skill monkey... but as a GM I can plan adventures that cater to those actions the PC's want to involve themselves in. [/QUOTE]

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