A a reminder: The problem from where we started was mostly that PCs are too strong in relation to encounters.
Now we already statet tha the biggest reason for that is the book istelf.
When I was DM I always took the encounters only as guides and basically decieded on a whim, weither the AC has to be higher, how much hits the monster can take and so on. But I had the same problem. Unless I made something WAY more powerfull, it was barely a challenge.
Our current DM likes to stick more to whats written and that may be part of the problem too.
For the record, when I DM I barely modify the monsters. I'll perhaps give them some different feats. Or, honestly, I'll add a few feats to them to change up their tactics a bit. And, maybe a magic item or an ersatz magic item (i.e., its effects without them actually carrying the item) or two. But, I cleave very closely to the monsters in the book. There is not much of a modification. And, with roughly CR-appropriate encounters, meaning within a handful of CR of the PCs, I end up being kind of a bloody-handed GM. (Edit: I might also modify their hit points, giving them closer to max than their baseline 1/2. But, I do something similar to the PCs, too).
Honestly, if I wanted to make monsters really from scratch, I wouldn't run D&D. The monster manuals are like half the reason I bother with the game.
Which is a long-winded way of saying it's the adventure. And, of course, if you add an extra PC in there and don't change up the encounters, it's gonna throw the CR way out of whack. But, if my experience with written adventures is any guide, especially the Dragonlance ones, the encounters are designed with virtually no eye to gameplay.
That aside, playing powerfull characters mith 32 point buy might work into that as well.
And reducing the starting points might resolve in slightly humbler characters...at least thats the hope of our DM.
The disbalance between the classes, while there, doesnt feel as much of a problem so far.
Honestly, you're just gonna have to trust us on this one. The fact that we're saying that small bumps in stats amount to little after say 3rd level is based on a lot of theory and a lot of experience. The imbalance between classes is very much a table thing. But, knocking a few stats down to 12 from 14 is not going to change much of anything in the long run.
Given the problem, it might just be best to go with the lower point buy b/c it will make everyone feel better and feel like they're really working towards solving the problem. But, it's barely a fix. And, as we've stated here, maybe even worse than that b/c it puts another point in favor of the powerful classes. On the other hand, it's a small difference, so that small bump might be worth it for the espirit de corps vis-a-vis game balance.
