Hello dear reader, I have started an Art Fundamentals course which talked about the importance of proportions and ratios. Which has made me start to wonder about race, class and feature design. For example what is the correct proportion of advantages to disadvantages to create a dynamic and interesting race, class or feature. How do a race's strengths and flaws effect their story. In short, what has been your experience in creating "balanced" and engaging games and what tips and advice would you give about game design.
According to the majority of players the golden ratio is all benefits and no drawbacks, that’s why WotC is removing stuff like Sunlight Sensitivity and fixed racial ASIs, and playable race Alignments from D&D. If anything looked like a drawback to people they apparently didn’t play it no matter how many upsides there were to balance it. 🤷♂️
IMO, if there is any such thing as a “golden ratio of game design,” it is nought to do with buffs:debuffs, and everything to do with how the various parts compare to one another. I don’t necessarily mean how the races compare to each other, etc., although that might be part of it. I mean at the table. How do Strength build a compare to Dex builds? How do martials, experts, and casters all compare to one another? How evenly distributed is the mix of short & long rest features & traits? Is there a good distribution of both combat & noncombat features & traits so everyone can contribute both in & out of combat? As I see it, that’s the “linchpin/keystone/golden ratio” of good game design for a TTRPG.
That’s why I say the Berserker is the most poorly designed subclass in D&D. A player waits a handful of sessions to finally pick their sub class. They get their shiny new special feature that makes them different from the other Barbarians… and are immediately punished for using it more than once. It’s very discouraging. if it was at least 1ce / long rest exhaustion free, and then the exhaustion kicks in after subsequent uses that day then at least it wouldn’t actively punish players for choosing that subclass.
Agreed on barbarian berserker, I would argue for the Frenzy rage ability since the trade off for it is exhaustion the reward should equal to the cost. Aka symmetrical proportion, like advantage on ability scores and double speed... etc based on the level of exhaustion. Which creates an interesting risk reward question keep pushing your character to get powerful buffs in combat in exchange of killing your character off.
Agreed on barbarian berserker, I would argue for the Frenzy rage ability since the trade off for it is exhaustion the reward should equal to the cost. Aka symmetrical proportion, like advantage on ability scores and double speed... etc based on the level of exhaustion. Which creates an interesting risk reward question keep pushing your character to get powerful buffs in combat in exchange of killing your character off.
That’s an interesting idea. My houserule is 1ce/Long for free, and then exhaustion/use after that, but they ignore exhaustion while frenzied. It’s equal parts lifeline and potentially just enough rope to hang oneself too, metaphorically speaking of course. It’s an alternative take on the risk:reward concept.
Hello dear reader, I have started an Art Fundamentals course which talked about the importance of proportions and ratios. Which has made me start to wonder about race, class and feature design. For example what is the correct proportion of advantages to disadvantages to create a dynamic and interesting race, class or feature. How do a race's strengths and flaws effect their story. In short, what has been your experience in creating "balanced" and engaging games and what tips and advice would you give about game design.
Outside the Lines Fantasy – A collection of self published fiction stories.
According to the majority of players the golden ratio is all benefits and no drawbacks, that’s why WotC is removing stuff like Sunlight Sensitivity and fixed racial ASIs, and playable race Alignments from D&D. If anything looked like a drawback to people they apparently didn’t play it no matter how many upsides there were to balance it. 🤷♂️
IMO, if there is any such thing as a “golden ratio of game design,” it is nought to do with buffs:debuffs, and everything to do with how the various parts compare to one another. I don’t necessarily mean how the races compare to each other, etc., although that might be part of it. I mean at the table. How do Strength build a compare to Dex builds? How do martials, experts, and casters all compare to one another? How evenly distributed is the mix of short & long rest features & traits? Is there a good distribution of both combat & noncombat features & traits so everyone can contribute both in & out of combat? As I see it, that’s the “linchpin/keystone/golden ratio” of good game design for a TTRPG.
That’s why I say the Berserker is the most poorly designed subclass in D&D. A player waits a handful of sessions to finally pick their sub class. They get their shiny new special feature that makes them different from the other Barbarians… and are immediately punished for using it more than once. It’s very discouraging. if it was at least 1ce / long rest exhaustion free, and then the exhaustion kicks in after subsequent uses that day then at least it wouldn’t actively punish players for choosing that subclass.
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Agreed on barbarian berserker, I would argue for the Frenzy rage ability since the trade off for it is exhaustion the reward should equal to the cost. Aka symmetrical proportion, like advantage on ability scores and double speed... etc based on the level of exhaustion. Which creates an interesting risk reward question keep pushing your character to get powerful buffs in combat in exchange of killing your character off.
Outside the Lines Fantasy – A collection of self published fiction stories.
That’s an interesting idea. My houserule is 1ce/Long for free, and then exhaustion/use after that, but they ignore exhaustion while frenzied. It’s equal parts lifeline and potentially just enough rope to hang oneself too, metaphorically speaking of course. It’s an alternative take on the risk:reward concept.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting