My game balance is as follows:
I reduce points to simple offensive/defensive points (instead of a slew of attributes - STR, INT, DEX, etc... that only cause game devs headaches trying to balance throughout the game experience -- not everything has to be D&D peeps!) and add a Proficiency Modifier that increases proficiency (per character level) of the offensive "weapon" / defensive "shield" that the player chooses to mostly use based on the personality of the character they wish to play (keeping ROLE-PLAYING king, keeping game balance intact).
This means that no matter what weapons/armor a PC wishes to use at the start of their new level, they ALL have the same effect, averaging out damage per turn (therefore the choice is simply a role-playing aesthetic), until you actually use one more often than the other.
However, the more damage done by a certain weapon choice, or the more defense done by a certain defensive, will receive behind the scenes Proficiency Points that increase their favorite weapon/defense's proficiency during that character level.
各レベルで、キャラクターは特定のオフ/デフ戦略を放棄するか、そのまま維持するかを選択できます。これもロールプレイングの選択肢であり、プレーヤーが別の戦術(OFF対DEF)を使用することを決定するまで、新しいレベルに到達しても利点/欠点はありません。お気に入りの武器/防御を使用するための習熟ポイント。
The caveat here is that once you level up, your now under-levelled weapons and defense still hit as hard/protect as much as your level demands, but they also become less effective (until they don't work at all -- weapons/shields break, magic loses it's off/def oomph), on an exponentially descending scale, forcing the player to reevaluate it's use of under-levelled weapons/defense tactics, over upgrading their favs to the current level (for a price, of course), or finding weapons they would rather have that's copacetic with their current level.
This allows for players to upgrade their favorite weapons/defensive measures (for a price) to their current level or journey (quest or explore) to find better weapons that suit their current level (once again, keeping the game balance intact).
The overriding point is, Role-Playing should not be forced into classes, My toga wearing, staff-wielding monk should be able to do as much damage per level as a steel-armoring wearing, sword-slashing tank. (this whole idea, btw is relegated to a single player CRPG so that comparisons between what IS and what COULD BE is eliminated). You simply play AS YOU WISH TO PLAY, and no harm is done by choosing a "class" over another "class" based on a bevy of stats.
It all falls apart, I think, when playing pen-and-paper. :)