Which level has the best balance?

[Stalker0]

6th level. Fighters have 2 swings, mages have 3rd level spells, skills are still important for skill users, creatures aren't dealing so much damage monks and rogues cry to go into melee, etc.

 

[Stalker0]

Imagine a situation where that focus in the game stops on the same PC very often, or that the events while focusing on a particular PC are markedly more important because of its power level.

I completely agree with this sentiment, and this is why wizards are so much more powerful than fighters at high levels. And it doesn't even have anything to do with combat necessarily, but everything to do with the fact that "magic is needed for everything!!"

Creatures are invisible, need see invis. Need to teleport to go anywhere, divinations to know where to go. The fighter (and all martial classes really) have to spend the first good chunk on an adventure letting the wizard get his spells ready, let him do his divinations and figure out where to teleport and cast certain buffs, etc etc. The amount of the time the game focuses on spellcasters increases markedly at high levels....and no amount of raw damage by the fighter is going to change that.

 

[Ry]

I completely agree with this sentiment, and this is why wizards are so much more powerful than fighters at high levels. And it doesn't even have anything to do with combat necessarily, but everything to do with the fact that "magic is needed for everything!!"

Creatures are invisible, need see invis. Need to teleport to go anywhere, divinations to know where to go. The fighter (and all martial classes really) have to spend the first good chunk on an adventure letting the wizard get his spells ready, let him do his divinations and figure out where to teleport and cast certain buffs, etc etc. The amount of the time the game focuses on spellcasters increases markedly at high levels....and no amount of raw damage by the fighter is going to change that.

THat's exactly my point. That's why I like level 6, myself. I find that the other classes are just as important as each other to the game, and the attention focus doesn't stop on one or another just because of the rules.

 

[James McMurray]

All levels are equally balanced or unbalanced depending on party makeup, relative min-maxing skils, and GM challenge creation skill. In other words, if you've got one guy whose characters are always super beefy amongst a few other average gamers, he'll be consistently unbalancing. If the GM doesn't understand how to challenge spellcasters, they'll be consistently unbalancing. If player and GM skills are at the appropriate levels and people are interested in fun over winning, balance is easy to find.

 

[pawsplay]

At 12th level, everyone is awesome. Even a cleric 6/Wizard 6 is awesome at that level. Rogues get +6d6 sneak attacks, fighters hit the sweet spot on their feats, wizards and sorcerers are powerful but still tethered by mortal concerns, everyone's saves are pretty decent.

 

[Sejs]

7, 9, and 11 I'd say.

Particularly with 7 and 11, spellcasters have just started to open up new vistas with 4th and 6th lvl spells, pure melee have just picked up their 2nd or 3rd iterative attack.

 

[Thanee]

6th

Spellcasters start to become powerful with their 3rd-level spells and primary fighters get the 2nd attack.

At double digit levels, spellcasters start to become more powerful than mundanes.

Bye
Thanee