Let's Get Real - the DM's responsibility is balance

[D+1]

Balance is a crock. Complete balance is stagnation and the more that balance becomes a driving concern the less interesting the game ends up being. It's not that balance isn't important AT ALL, just that you'll never actually achieve it to a seriously high degree - and you shouldn't want to.

Obsession with balance leads to players who always see that the grass is greener over another fence and will never be satisfied unless their character is absolutely equal - in THEIR eyes - or possibly just better enough than everybody else's PC that they'll find something else to complain about.

"A" is better than "B"? I don't care. Play "A" then. The more someone whines about "B", the less interested I am as DM in balancing it with "A". Players shouldn't be concerned with someone else having more fun than themselves, because: Balance.

JMO