Quote Originally Posted by aje8 View Post
I think the flaw in this theory relies on a fundamental assumption: WotC knows what is balanced. I honestly don't think they do.

Look at Wizard. Now look at Fighter. Notice how they're both core. Notice how WotC thought core was balanced. Realize that WotC doesn't really get 3.5 balance. Yes, they fixed evertyhing in 4.0, but they really didn't 'get' balance in 3.5. They created whatever they wanted from a fluff perspective and did only minimal balancing.

Because WotC doesn't really understand balance, they print both Shadowcraft Mage and Green Star Adept. They print both Ninja and Archivist. They don't really get it.
with 3.0 and earlier, TSR and WoTC, didn't try to pretend they were making a balanced game.
Why? Because a wizard throwing balls of HellFire has got to do more (total) damage that a fighter hitting you with a sword.
If it didn't then that would be stupid, right?

I'm not argueing that most of the broken is in splatbooks, or that every new book is over all more powerful.

I'm saying that in many book they put one really decent thing in that makes you want it:
Eg Raptorian, Illumninum, arcivist, factoum, golith,

Then again there's PHBII: Duskblade, Knight, and beguiler all in one book.