@error3 I totally agree, balance is indeed important so that players don't end up feeling useless. But that's as far is it necessary to go, anything beyond that has serious diminishing returns in terms of the value of effort invested.
One (of which there are many) serious consideration that is different from DOS and P&P is that in a P&P if everyone dies (a TPK) they simply roll up new characters and either pick up where they left off or start in a new setting. (or stop playing together T_T) In DOS you really don't have the option of forming a new party and, for obvious reasons, changing setting is off the table. However it has the same advantage that that P&Ps have in that the game is not particularly well balanced and as such there are usually creative ways that you can overcome challenges you are struggling with. I'm a big fan of creating silly traps myself, like using prestidigitation to quickly apply soap to a rope I'm finished climbing down. Obviously that particular example does not apply here, but clever use of skills, even ones that seem mediocre, can be very effective in DOS and if all else fails, exploiting the fairly obvious weaknesses of enemies does the trick most of the time. Using a basic wand to create elements on the field to exploit, or even fire breath for a reliable source of fiery ground for summoners against voidlings and zombies. You can also use elevation to your advantage which is something that most P&Ps don't even touch on [[[Minor Spoiler Warning]]] like when I took on most of the camp. I waited until everyone patrolled to the bottom before starting the fight to have a distinct positional advantage and bonus to my ranged character. [[[End Spoiler]]]
