Balancing Act

Remember that it is easier to build a balanced campaign than to fix one that’s out of control. A campaign that is in control has a reasonable balance between the hazards the PCs face and the rewards they gain. A controlled campaign also has a reasonable survival rate among characters who are played well.

To build a balanced game, start by reading Chapter Eight in the DMG. Decide how quickly you want your player characters to advance, and set up your campaign’s experience point awards accordingly.

You also need to keep an eye on the treasure and magic you give out. You should decide in advance how much magic you want the PCs to have, then carefully place it, making sure that the PCs have to take appropriate risks to get it. Killing an orc to get a long sword +5, holy avenger is too much reward for too little risk. If the PCs seem to be finding too much magic, make it harder to find by removing some undiscovered magical treasures or making sure that unattended magical items are well-hidden and defended by traps, curses, or spells. Remember to regularly take excess magic out of circulation.

How much magic is enough? That’s up to you to decide. If you’ve decided that magic is going to be fairly rare, a PC should expect to find about one permanent or rechargeable magical item for every two or three levels of experience, plus one or two additional consumable items for every two levels of experience. This means that if you’re following the DMG’s suggestion of three to six adventures between character levels, a party of six characters should find only about one item every adventure (after six to twelve adventures, all six characters have at least one magical item). Note that a character might own considerably fewer magical items because they are used up or destroyed during play.

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