The Gentleman Gamer: A Fine Balance

In which the gentleman in question talks about the necessity (or lack thereof) of balance in tabletop role-playing games. Is balance a good thing of an impediment to a decent role-playing experience.

Category:

Gaming

Tags:

• The Gentleman Gamer
• The Gentleman's Guide
• role-playing games
• tabletop gaming
• Role-playing Game
• Gameplay
• Playing
• Dungeons & Dragons
• World of Darkness
• RPGs
• rules
• system
• d20
• balance

[billyzutara]

spells to clear a room. It's less about roles and more about who is capable of mitigating threats at the moment.

[clackclickbang]

@billyzutara Quite.

[billyzutara]

I couldn't care less about any sort of innate balance as long as the rules are functional. When designing encounters my goal is to challenge players to think beyond simply killing monsters or casting

[clackclickbang]

@billyzutara Huzzah for that!

[ModernDnD]

For new players, however, when one of their friends is dramatically better than them in a particular field it is rather discouraging and would diminish their enjoyment of the game. Ex: a wizard blasting 3 spells and kill everything before the fighter can charge in. Of course, that kind of thing can also be fixed with story telling and delicate Game Mastering.

[clackclickbang]

@ModernDnD Very true! A wizard may be able to clear a room in a dungeon with one spell, but what if there are innocents in the way and a more precise touch is required? GMs can throw all kinds of fun tricks in.

[clackclickbang]

@tauntdragoon I have no idea why, even if I do love that show.

[clackclickbang]

@haxamaneshiyan I think applying a racial modifier is a bit silly when applied to anything playable. If it's not playable it shouldn't have a modifier, it should have a CR.

[clackclickbang]

@ModernDnD You are, of course, correct. If a group has been together for longer they're more likely to recognise the limits of one another.

[tauntdragoon]

i love how TRHPS sweet transvestite comes up as part of the related vids to this

[haxamaneshiyan]

I've been creating a fantasy word lately for a D&D-Pathfinder campaign, and until today was trying hard to balance the different PC races. You and one of my players have really given me food for thought, so I thank you for that bit of enlightenment. By the way, am I correct in assuming that you think racial modifiers are stupid for humanoids and not, say, living crystals and giant birds?