This will be old news for some of you out there, since the book has been out a while, but Monte Cook authored the following in the Complete Kobold Guide to Game Design put out by Kobold Press. He strikes all the points I've been trying to make on this blog in the last couple of months very succinctly:
"The second type of balance, dealing with characters and challenges, may seem related, having to do with characters being either too powerful or not powerful enough. At its core, though, such balance is a different issue because it has less to do with the players and more to do with the GM.
After all, it’s the GM who is responsible for providing challenges for the characters—and the GM has no boundaries or limitations. When GMs complain about unbalanced characters running roughshod over their campaign and how that’s the fault of the game, there is a misunderstanding of the role of the GM. You don’t bring a knife to a gunfight. If the PCs wipe the floor with the vrock, give them six vrocks to fight next time. Or a nalfeshnee.
No, it really is that simple. For every spell, there’s a counter. For every monster, there’s a tougher monster. If the players raise the ante by creating characters who are too powerful, the GM can simply use the sliding power scale of the game (which has no upper limit) to bring things back into balance.
What’s more, the GM is also the arbiter of the rules at the table and can disallow options. Ultimately, it’s the GM who truly understands what’s going on at the table, not some game designer thousands of miles away. No matter what the designer does or doesn’t do to balance the game, it’s a moot point. An illusion at best. It’s what the GM does that provides the balance."
All the points I've been making since I started writing on this blog again are made wonderfully and clearly in the text above.
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