The biggest problem I see with trying to balance characters is that you've got to determine what constitutes a benefit as far as your game play is concerned. Until you get that idea resolved, making one characteristic, (meaning stats, powers, etc.) worth more than another is really only just speculation.
What I would suggest to find a way to 'balance' characters would be to examine how every aspect of the character will work for your campaign. Let me explain in a way that hopefully, I'll get my point across in.
Let's say as a GM, your campaign will be one that's mainly hack and slash. Obviously, any stat that helps with combat, whether we're talking melee or magic, would be worth more than a stat that helped strictly with role-playing. So for instance, the STR stat would be worth more than the APP stat in that campaign because STR helps in combat, while APP helps with role-playing.
If your campaign is one that deals with political intrigue or other role-playing aspects, more than combat, then APP would be worth more than STR. I'm generalizing to the extreme here, but you should get my point.
So how do you come up with a method of balance? To me, you’ll have to look over what kind of campaign you’re interested in running and then try to determine which stats, powers, skills, etc. are going to be the most important. Then those same abilities would be worth more to have at higher levels. Until you get that information set, I don't see how you'll be able to 'balance' characters for your game.
I hope that gets my point across?
|