User:Leziad/My Balance Point

Monsters
"Oh god, not a Marut again!"

In D&D we fight against monsters, sometimes NPCs. But ultimately, we enter the dungeon, fight the big guy, and flee with his treasure. The big guy can be anything from a dragon to an ogre bandit lord. Sometime we fight the pit fiend trying to get away with orphan souls, or the old necromancer who became a lich. Good time, but wait... can your homebrewed class can even survive this challenges? Can the Knight of the Gold Dragon Wyrm defeat the pit fiend? Is the Protector able to kill the dragon and bring its hoard back home? Can your homebrew class rescue the princess?

So you can defeat any challenges at 1st level, but once you hit 5th you can't do anything worthwhile? That means you are overpowered at low level and underpowered at high levels. A class should always be able to defeat an encounter whose ESL is equal to his/her own CR 50% of the time. If you can't, you are underpowered. If you always win, you are overpowered. Simple as that. The Same Game Test already states this very well, and each homebrewed class should take it.

Against Other Class
"Oh god, not a Wizard/Sorcerer/Cleric/Druid/Commoner again!"

Balance against another class isn't as important as balance against monsters. Obviously, you need to crank up your martial class so it can beat a wizard. In my humble opinion, when I compare 2 classes together (one homebrew and another WotC), I always compare my homebrew with the best WotC made, ignoring synergy done through feats and cheesy mechanics. It's worthless to compare any classes with the monk, the fighter, or some other classes. But balancing based on WotC things is not very good advice.

Overpowered!!!
"* It's so overpowered.. look, it's got a lot of abilities.


 * The abilities are here to balance the class against monsters; since each CR of monsters have got their own abilities, you need a lot of abilities to keep being effective so you don't fall behind the spellcaster and their incredible versatility, or simply monsters.


 * ...... POWERGAMER!"

Some people simply shout "overpowered" when they see big numbers, some don't bother trying to understand abilities (or even read them), or simply look at which level you can take the PrC. For them, dealing 6d6 damage is overpowered. Even if, at the same level, a rogue is able to deal 3d6 damage per attack, your class is overpowered. Balanced classes look overpowered... why? They've got the abilities necessary to compete against monsters. Many don't bother looking at monsters, how nearly every fiend can cast Greater Teleport at will. If you point this out, some shall argue ECL keep you from using monsters and blah blah blah... so, yeah, they bring another unrelated rule to back up their point. For everyone on the wiki, my hatred of LA and Racial HD isn't unknown... oh I'm whining again, so let's get back to the point. For these gamers, your class should never... wait never what? They can't give a reason so I guess: For these gamers, your class should never look so overpowered, better hide the awesome abilities like Wizard hid the spellcasting. These gamers often don't even read the abilities, much less spells. (The wizard is squishy! How can he survive with a d4?)

5 things you should not do
"The monk is AWESUMEZ!!!"


 * 1) Never compare a class with core sourcebooks... modern DMs use splatbooks. Today, people use the Warblade, not the fighter. (Take this, Core Fanboys!!!!)
 * 2) When debating the balance of an article, never bring a underpowered class in the argument (like the Fighter).
 * 3) Don't base yourself on WotC's classes when balancing.
 * 4) Don't bring roleplay, uniqueness, and how it's fun playing X into a balance argument, these things belong in flavor.
 * 5) Never say the class you deem overpowered outshines X Class; balance is based on monsters, not other classes.

Why is the Monk spawning so much arguing?
Saying the monk is okay and playable, makes people laugh. Yeah... but saying the monk is overpowered and/or on par with spellcasters tends to annoy many, many people. Why? Ask a particular arguer.

Why are you bitching the monk Dhazriel? The monk, by the standards of the entire D&D community, is considered to be the second worst base class (the first being the Samurai, another asian-based class, coincidence?). So I am not lowering the class, but I repeat like a parrot what was already said. Saying the monk does not suck is like saying (D&D Style) the law of gravity don't exist. Even if you launch the monk into space, doesn't mean it does not suck... it only mean the shuttle you used wasn't. No one can escape the truth; even if you optimize the hell out of the monk, make it broken, destroy the game using liquid cheese... it doesn't make the base class better, in fact, the base class still sucks. Not because Pun-Pun is a kobold, taht kobold rock.

Why balance is important?
If you play an underpowered class, you are going to have trouble at the table. If you play an overpowered or overoptimized class, you break everyone's day. Balance is important so everyone can have fun, fun is fun, so don't break it.

It's the Author's fault, not the DM
Saying an article should be balanced by the DM is a terrible, horrible, ugly, invalid, useless, blasphemic argument. Not all DMs are competent, not all DMs want to take their time to balance all the unbalanced article you bring them. Not all DMs have the time to slow down the story to balance your roleplaying flaw. If your DM does... cool, just don't post your unbalanced stuff here, ok?

Author Note
This article got 200% of your daily dose of sarcasm, please take it lightly. If you feel rage after the reading of this article please close the Internet. If you take offence when reading this article or think I insulted you... well I didn't and you shouldn't.