Party Balance

I agree with most old schoolers that "game balance" is not what we are going for. Just as in the "real world," you never know what you are going to come up against.

I think this is certainly the case for encounters, construed in the broad sense to include monsters, traps and NPC intrigues. But I approach "game balance" a bit differently. I would place planned game-balance to total random possibility along a continuum and I would place different aspects of the game along that continuum. From least to most balanced I would go like this:

• Random NPC encounters
• Planned monsters
• Planned traps
• NPC intrigue
• Class balance
• Party balance

Here is what I mean. I want it to be at least possible that I might roll up a purple worm on lvl 1 of my dungeon. Low lvl PCs would just need to run. Yeah, for sure!

But I have no problem with designing the game to have a fair balance in class descriptions and abilities in order to achieve a "balanced party."

There are several reasons for this. Mechanically, I think the adventuring "unit" is not the character but the party as a whole. I want the different characters to "need" each other and their skills and possibilities to compliment and assist one another. This is really, finally, for "fun." I want each player to feel like his/her character has a reason for being there. I want each player to have a time to shine. I think this is okay to design in advance. The game is, after all, a game. It needs to be fun for everybody.

The other reason is in terms of the legendaria I want to engage. It is certainly the case that a lot of medieval literature is of the "solo hero adventure" model. But then there were the allegories. In the allegories, one often had the personifications of the various virtues, learning to work together in harmony, in order to overcome the personification of the vices. Now I think that is what we are engaging in D&D. The vices, passions, and problems are the monsters and traps. The virtues are the characters, the PCs, and, especially, the "prime requisite" abilities that each class personifies.

So in my Dun Kells rules I've made both prime requisites and secondary characteristics. And they are exactly spaced two distant from each other (I think this is particularly cool from the design sense. I think it is elegant. The elegance is pleasing to me). The prime requisite gives you 10% increase to XP PER BONUS (yes, that is right, and I use the BECMI bonus curve, as discussed in a previous post) and 5% increase to XP per bonus for the secondary characteristic. Hypothetically, that means a character could get as much as a 45% increase to XP: if they were astronomically lucky in the rolls and got an 18, twice, spaced exactly one apart! Let me show you what I mean:

Class	Prime +/-10%	Secondary +/-5%
KN	STR	WIS
MG	INT	DEX
CL	WIS	CON
SC	DEX	CHA
DW	CON	STR
EF	CHA	INT

Of course, another interesting astronomical possibility is someone with a 45% penalty to XP! Imagine a weak and foolish knight (okay, not too hard). How about a stupid clumsy mage (a little bit more difficult), a faithless sickly priest (okay I have met these people), a clumsy awkward "scout." Hardest for me to imagine is the fay (but still within the realm of the possible): a sickly weakling dwarf, an awkward stupid elf.

Anyway, all this links the party to one another in interesting ways. Strength links knights and dwarves, intelligence links magi and elves, etc. Again, I like this, I find it elegant and interesting. And it weaves the party together in interesting ways.

In terms of link-up with the classical legendaria, I imagine it like this:

• Strength = fortitude, courage, guts
• Intelligence = knowledge (scientia)
• Wisdom = wisdom! SOPHIA (sapientia)
• Dexterity = balance, say, "temperance" (I know I am pushing it here)
• Constitution = justice (in terms of balance of parts that leads to soundness of whole)
• Charisma = perhaps St. Paul's "gifts of administration"

So, all cardinal virtues are present, plus knowledge and "administration." I like it. It takes a whole party to achieve the quest. Just like, in St. Paul, it takes the whole corporate body to achieve the totus Christus.

Here are some other ways that I tried to differentiated the six core classes so that they would truly compliment one another and so that each added something interesting to the mix and each needed something from the other. It is based upon differences in core mechanics that progress by level, and they are always shared by two classes. The mechanics are level change rate by XP accrual, combat skill ("to hit" progression), relative AC together with HP accrual and renewal rates, and base saving throws:

Level change rate by XP accrual from fastest to slowest:

• Clerics and Scouts
• Knights and Dwarves
• Magi and Elves

Skill in combat from best to worst:

• Knights and Scouts
• Clerics and Elves
• Magi and Dwarves

Quality of AC from best to worst AND Hit point accrual and renewal rate from best to worst (so, defensive capacity):

• Knights and Dwarves
• Clerics and Elves
• Magi and Scouts

Base saving throw from best to worst:

• Clerics and Dwarves
• Magi and Elves
• Knights and Scouts