The Basic Approach To Class Balancing - A Must Read!


Pathfinder First Edition General Discussion


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I often enjoy seeing all the threads that discuss theory-crafting and class balance issues, and so in honor of all those 'informative' threads, I give you this masterpiece:

Class Balancing Episode 1 - Getting Past the Trap!

THE SCENARIO - After making your perception checks, you discover that the hallway in front of you is most definitely trapped (oh no's!). What do you do?

Druid: *contemplates sending her animal companion down the hall first(animal cruelty at its finest), but instead decides to take 10 minutes to figure out which creature she'd like to wildshape into*

Rogue: *"Don't worry guys, I got this!" she says, while all the while thinking Evasion level 2 for the win!*

Fighter: *looks at silly rogue fiddling with the trap...and then happily proceeds to step down the hall thumping his armor LIKE A MAN!* "Come at me bro!"

Barbarian: *quickly remembers (despite her constant need to SMASH) that she has damage reduction...and then promptly proceeds to walk down the hall before yelling back at the group to "BE A MAN" as she sways her shapely hips*

Oracle: *babbles incoherently, walks into a wall, casts her freakin protection spell (with no verbal components no less) and walks forward with confidence...cure spells at the ready (while still managing to look hot as hell with her 17 charisma)*

Cleric: *grumbles in frustration as she glares at the rest of the group before screaming "I AM NOT A BAND-AID!"*

Gunslinger: *stands there practicing her 'quick draw' technique, praying to God that the bloody gun won't misfire...again!*

Summoner: *summons OP Eidolon and says "Hey bro! We found a trap!" then points down the hall saying "You first!"...obviously completely aware of the fact that his immortal Eidolon will be just fine*

Paladin: *Volunteers to step forward first, clearly feeling confident that his God will protect him (and if God screws up, lay on hands and Divine Grace for the win!)*

Antipaladin: *watches as half the group willingly steps forward into the obviously dangerous trap thinking 'Wow, this is going to be easier than I thought'*

Monk: *has enough common sense to simply sit on the floor and wait for the rogue and/or ninja to disable the trap*

Inquisitor: *watches in amazement as some members of the group walk forward into the trap, while other members try to disable it, as the rest just wait around to see who's left standing when the smoke finally clears*

Bard: *plays his banjo while singing his heart out, moonwalking down the hall without a single care in the world*

Sorcerer: *casts fly upon herself and struts down the hall (yes, she struts in the air), while looking back at the wizard with a confident little smile "Real God's don't need spellbooks"*

Wizard: *grumbles to himself and casts Unseen Servant saying "Run down the hall as fast as you can, and make sure to touch as many things as possible!*

[Unseen Servant]: *Gets secretly excited (despite being mindless) about groping the oracle, sorcerer, and smoking hot barbarian*

Witch: *holds her familiar close and prays that none of these stupid idiots end up getting it killed again*

Magus: *gets fed up and casts dimension door, transporting himself to the other end of the hall (wasted level 4 spell...check...separated himself from the party...check...still potentially activating the trap despite all his efforts...double check...so yeah, high intelligence score for the win)

Ninja: *mysteriously utters "I'm Batman" before vanishing from sight*

Cavalier: *continues to feel sad that he couldn't take his pony into yet another dungeon*

Samurai: *also feels bad about not having his pony, but at least he still has his trusty old Katana*

Alchemist: *takes a moment to look at his crazily deformed body, with his four human arms, bat-like wings, and large slimy tentacle, thinking the entire time "My God...what have I done"....and a mid-life crisis quickly ensues*

Ranger: *Looks down the hall, then at the rest of the group, before 'wisely' and 'politely' motioning them forward "After you"*

So, as you can tell, every class is useless ;).

Hope you all enjoyed, and feel free to post comments or your own versions if you like.


A great description of class play. LOL.


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and the Order of the Stick (Pathfinder edition) web comic is born


Psion: *Sends his skittering little crystal thing down the hall, having forgotten it only weighs a pound, floats and probably can't count as literate for the purpose of the glyph types*

Psychic Warrior: *Was already valliantly bursting down the hall, but the dm's taking forever rolling stuff behind his screen and grinning so who knows what's really going on?*

Soulknife: *Is desperately paging through his blade skills for something that will let him change his class before the hallway takes him out*

Aegis: *Continuously wonders why everyone just ignores him when he offers to disarm the bloody place. "We could use a trailblazer" they said. Right*


I loved it.


Nice job. I especially appreciate the completeness of the inventory of classes.

The Exchange

OMG! I could not stop laughing!


Druid: *casts summon natures ally I. Realizes she forgot to stick a point into linguistics to speak undercommon and can't actually tell the mite what to do*

Rogue: *sheepishly admits she traded trapfinding for the ability to take combat trick twice*

Fighter: *hides in the back because everyone knows archers have the highest dpr in real game situations"

Barbarian: *AM SUNDER TRAP*

Oracle: *is a one level dip for the barbarian*

Bard: *tries to look as little like Elan as humanly possible*

Cavalier: *is a hobbit riding a wolf*

Samurai: *is also a hobbit riding a wolf*

Ranger: *is yet another hobbit riding a wolf*

Monk: *is a wayang riding sitting on a charmed mimic, wearing mithril breastplate, and carrying a glaive and a composite longbow*

Sorcerer: *casually walks up and disarms the trap while consulting the Pathfinder Society Field Guide*


Great stuff. Maybe we could try archetypes now.


Every class is different. No two classes are not on fire.

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