All Questions
Tagged with balance gm-techniques
34
questions
40
votes
7
answers
23k
views
How can I reduce the number of encounters per day without throwing off game balance?
I'm running an Open Table sandbox game this summer. The 5E DMG states that they expect 6-8 Medium or Hard combat encounters per day, with about two short rests. If I tried to do that, we'd never get ...
- 16.3k
7
votes
7
answers
1k
views
What can I do when I've introduced an overpowered plot element?
In my homebrew setting, one god gave his cultists the recipe for a special alloy, and a rival god gave to a kingdom that opposes the cultists the same recipe.
The PCs acquired a warhammer made of ...
user30267
20
votes
6
answers
5k
views
How does having monsters of the same type go at the same time affect balance?
I'm running a group of 6 PC's through HotDQ. All of them are new to 5e and we just started, so the combat is pretty slow, and some of them aren't all that excited about combat to begin with. I'm doing ...
- 16.3k
22
votes
2
answers
2k
views
How to GM "An arresting skinner" in a balanced, fair and fun way
In Apocalypse World, the social and beauty oriented class Skinner has a move called "An arresting skinner" which does pretty much what it promises:
An arresting skinner: when you remove clothing, ...
- 54.1k
18
votes
6
answers
4k
views
How do I get the non-magic-user in the party to feel more valued?
Issue:
I'm running a long campaign and recently one of my players mentioned feeling a bit left out, not being a caster. I kind of have to agree; all the PC's are pretty well-rounded so there isn't ...
- 16.3k
17
votes
7
answers
6k
views
How do I balance an all-spellcaster party?
This here campaign I'm about to unfold is going to feature 2-3 players, 2 of which definitely want to get spellcasting characters and the third is very likely to go down the same path.
Q: How do I ...
- 408
4
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Is 'reversing' healing so that it actually does damage a legitimate mechanic for the DM? [closed]
Some time ago we were in a final battle with a end boss for a dungeon. The fight went pretty well in our favor but when the boss hit his bloodied value, our DM described that he emitted a dark shroud ...
- 143
141
votes
17
answers
28k
views
What can I do when I accidentally gave out an overpowered item?
In our last game, the players worked their way through a series of fiendish traps into a high security vault, where they recovered a Staff of the Magi. After the game I looked at the stats, and ...
- 2,741
8
votes
5
answers
7k
views
How can I balance the power of loot between player characters?
The 5e DMG only gives proximate levels of item strength: common, uncommon, rare, very rare, and legendary. The item levels don't really seem to help me judge if two items of the same rarity will be ...
- 1,201
10
votes
2
answers
8k
views
Is encounter balancing/creation in 5e different to previous editions?
I have been GMing for a group for a few sessions now and I have had a lot of trouble balancing encounters. I go by the rules that it should be the xp the party needs to level as a "balance" and you ...
- 731
8
votes
6
answers
1k
views
Adjusting Combat Balance
My Problem
My players all seem to have +5 defenses and attacks over the monsters, in addition to the health and more deadly abilities... and they're in appropriate gear for their level (+2 gear at ...
- 553
37
votes
12
answers
18k
views
How do I balance a very-low magic campaign?
Recently, my players and I got kind of bored with the fact that Pathfinder relies heavily on magic items than martial prowess for fighting classes. I realize and accept the fact that spellcasters are ...
- 1,684
17
votes
7
answers
6k
views
How to help my low-level spellcaster PCs feel more useful
My party right now consists of a pair of incredibly optimized characters (a half-orc fighter and a ranger/scout), one fairly well optimized character (a swashbuckler who's thinking about mutliclassing ...
- 2,820
10
votes
7
answers
2k
views
Differing Starting Points Levels
The GM of a GURPS game I'm playing in has set the game's point level at 150. However, he has also made the option available to take 250 or 75 points at the beginning, with the understanding that the ...
- 1,571
4
votes
1
answer
447
views
How can I maintain game balance at extremely high levels of power in a point-build system?
More specifically, how do I keep the game fun when all parties involved are extremely powerful? The game I'm asking this about is a Wild Talents 2nd Edition game where everyone is built on a budget of ...
user5834