Questions tagged [balance]
For questions about balance or perceived inequities between characters, classes, subclasses, spells, etc. that should be of roughly equivalent capability with one another.
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Why would anyone kill a dragon rather than subdue it in OD&D?
The rule for subdual in OD&D says (Monsters & Treasure, p. 12/13):
Subduing Dragons: Any attack may be to subdue rather than to kill, but this intent
must be announced before melee begins. ...
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2
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Is this "Withhold Summon" feature problematic?
I found this summoner class on DMsGuild, and it seems like a fun, balanced class that fills an interesting niche. One of the major features of this class is "Withhold Summon", an ability ...
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Is this homebrew "Firemind Dragonborn" race overpowered?
I found this homebrew "Firemind Dragonborn" race on Dungeon Master's Guild (It was almost immediately taken down for some reason). It represents an Izzet Guild member given the Gift of ...
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How to make the battle against Tiamat last longer?
I am running Rise of Tiamat and the party (2 barbarians, 1 fighter, 1 paladin, 1 druid, all level 15) is going to fight Tiamat in a few sessions. I'm particularly concerned not only about the balance ...
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Is this GURPS flaw balanced?
I’m not sure if this is balanced, thusly my question.
Flaw name: Bookworm
Effect: you must carry at least 2 books with you when you leave your residence unless its to get more books & even then ...
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In Exalted 3E, can Dragon Blooded reasonably integrate with celestial exalted?
As I understand the lore of Exalted 3E, the Dragon-Blooded are supposed to be explicitly less powerful than Celestial Exalted such as the Solars and the Lunars, but drastically more numerous.
I do not ...
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How do I manage the Deck of Many Things?
I'm considering adding a Deck of Many Things to my campaign.
How would I balance this? Is there a way to stop it from upending my entire campaign? How do I keep the story on track?
How do I manage the ...
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Will chaos (or other problems) result from letting my players use Open5e.com instead of the WOTC collection of books?
I'm DM of a group that just completed a one-year long campaign, and we are about to start anew. But my players have asked if instead of using the ever-growing list of official published WOTC books, ...
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Hammer of Runic Focus
In The Book of Many Things, there is a Hammer of Runic Focus.
The illustration is awesome and its general theme and function seem interesting.
However, it seems in every way to be significantly ...
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Is Igni and the fire effect meant to be as powerful as we are understanding it to be?
I've been playing the The Witcher Pen & Paper by R. Talsorian Games with a group of friends and we've noticed that if we're reading Igni and the "fire" effect (page 161) correctly, it ...
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Is the WBN homebrew Witch class a new coffeelock? [closed]
One of my players is using a homebrew Witch class created by the podcast Worlds Beyond Number with my blessing. Essentially it's a Wisdom-based wizard who can heal and whose powers revolve around ...
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2
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Is the moons' influence on spellcasting balanced for a Dragonlance campaign?
I am about to DM Shadow of the Dragon Queen and I have almost finished reading the manual, to get the general idea of the adventure. To be honest, I feel that the setting depicted here does not feel ...
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Is this lesser version of Life Transference balanced?
My ("plain vanilla" dnd 5e) wizard is now near level 8, and I was thinking to equip him with a straightforward reduced version of "Life Transference".
The purpose of this is merely ...
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How can I best reward players for finding secrets without breaking game balance?
So I'm still fairly new to GMing and Pathfinder 2E, but one thing I like to include is secrets in my dungeons for my players to find. Finding secrets is fun, and getting rewards for doing so is even ...
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Which of these alternate weapons are overpowered for the Armorer Artificer? [closed]
I found this artificer subclass on dmsguild and wondered if these replacement special weapons are balanced compared to:
The existing special weapon options
The offensive capabilities of a Battle ...
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How would these buffs to underpowered prerequisite feats affect game balance?
Like many people who enjoy 3.5, I find that the issue of "feat tax" is incredibly pervasive - which is to say, there are a lot of feats that just feel like dead weight on a character sheet. ...
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How would this extra spellcasting rule affect game balance?
I once heard of a D&D 5th edition group who played using various house rules. One such rule was as follows:
As a bonus action, a spellcaster may cast any cantrip, 1st level spell, or 2nd level ...
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Is this legendary homebrew cloak (Abyssal Regalia of the Dark Prince) balanced?
I am creating some homebrew magic items for the players of my campaign to custom-tailor to their needs and wishes. The characters are currently level 15 and nearing the end, so legendary items are on ...
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How unbalanced would it be to change the duration of the Expeditious Retreat spell to "Concentration, until the end of a long rest"?
I have been playing Baldur's Gate 3, and the rules in the computer game are slightly different than the ones in paper 5e.
One that I found surprisingly OK in the game was that the duration of several ...
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How powerful is this homebrew Barbarian Path of the Colossus compared to other martial subclasses?
As DnD 5e has aged it's become more clear that Martial classes lack a fair amount compared to their spellcasting companions. They offer less utility, fewer defensive options, and in some cases fail to ...
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Is this verstatile fighting style and feat combination well balanced?
(original title: "How to artfully min-max the hell out of this verstatile fighting style and feat?")
So, given all the answers to my previous question, we have come up with what we think ...
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What effects would allowing to flank with reach have on game balance?
One of my players asked me recently if I would allow their character, who has 10ft. reach, gain advantage from flanking while still using their reach.
I am aware that RAW this would not work since you ...
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Is this Legendary longsword "Sealed Power/Seven Wishes" too broken?
I'm playing in a very high level campaign with a load of powerful characters, and I'm trying to get an edge. I homebrewed this magic item and I want you guys to see how powerful it is. For comparison, ...
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What magic items would a commoner need to go head to head with a party of 4 (Lvl 15) adventurers?
I run a mostly open-world-ish campaign set in the spelljammer setting. My adventurer's overarching goal is to further a religion based around some camel they found (awesome, right?), so what better to ...
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Will anything break if prone crossbow-wielders get advantage instead of disadvantage?
Being prone imposes disadvantage on attacks, which makes sense for melee weapons and traditional bows. However, for things like crossbows and firearms, laying prone seems like it should have the ...
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Is is balanced to swap "Built for Success" for "Fey Ancestry"?
I am looking to create a homebrew race for a Quadrone, and the best place to start is with an existing race. With that in mind I have found the Autognome (Astral Adventurer's Guide) and it has several ...
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2
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Homebrew retractable shield
An idea that I had for a deployable shield as I didn't find anything satisfactory online. It's simple, but I would like to know if it's balanced or if you see any weird interaction with it.
...
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Is this sporeborn homebrew race balanced compared to other races?
It's basically a spore-infested nature-related horrific kind of being, a regular individual of pretty much any race that got infested and biologically changed, linking themselves with nature in the ...
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Balancing a social media-themed warlock subclass in D&D5e?
For an upcoming Strixhaven campaign, I have attempted to homebrew a Warlock subclass which is centered around a social media/influencer theme. The idea is to use the social medium itself a magical ...
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1
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Is this Changeling homebrew race balanced?
The objective of this presentation is to provide a buffed yet balanced and more setting-encompassing alternative to the already introduced Changeling race.
Ability Score Increase. When determining ...
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What are the balance implications of removing spell lists?
How would the game change if I removed spell lists? Essentially, every spell would be on every spell list.
I know this would lead to balance issues with wizard's Spell Mastery and spells such as ...
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5
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Is this Homebrew Fault Feature Balanced?
Long story short, I've fiddled with character creation in DnD for a good while before I actually started playing, and I really love the idea of starting with a handicap. I made a character who has the ...
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Is this homebrew Gloves of the Fire Fist magic item balanced as an uncommon item?
Just now I homebrewed the following item and gave it to a player:
Gloves of the Fire Fist
Wondrous item, uncommon (requires attunement)
While wearing the gloves, once per day the wearer can cast ...
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Gestalt caster balance: what price should allow multiple casting classes to share a spellbook?
I'm planning on running a P6 (tl,dr: stop leveling at 6, keep getting feats every 5k XP) campaign wherein the PCs are all gestalt characters, one "side" of which needs to be a full caster. ...
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Is this homebrew "Shimmering Barrier" spell balanced?
I'm trying to make a spell based on a scene from the Dungeon and Dragons movie where a spellcaster protects a group of people around him with some sort of magical barrier:
Shimmering Barrier
2nd ...
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Are these homebrew 'Enhanced Arrows' balanced against each other?
Between adventures my campaign has Down Time, a more structured form of play where the players can build relationships with other NPCs, create things, earn money, etc (taking inspiration from the ...
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Would it be unbalanced to let a 5e Cleric cast Enlarge/Reduce?
Playing D&D 5e. The Cleric (Tempest domain) in my players' 4th-level party (Cleric, Ranger, Rogue, Warlock) spotted Enlarge/Reduce and has taken a liking to it for hijinks of the Enormous Half-Orc ...
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Find Familiar magical item [closed]
I want help to create a magic item. I am a Bard 1/Sorcerer 2 with a (Faerie Dragon) pet. I would like to make an item in-game. I'm not quite sure how to proceed.
I want an item (or a set? Like when ...
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Balancing help for homebrew warlock subclass
I have created a 5e warlock subclass heavily inspired by the leshen (specifically, an ancient leshen described in the Book of beautiful horrors).
While overall I am very happy with the outcome, I ...
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In Exalted 3e, are Solar and Lunars well balanced?
We are relatively new to Exalted and have only used Solar PCs thus far. We are looking at restarting and incorporating Lunars along with Solars. Before we do that, we would like to know if they are ...
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Polymorph magical item
I have a Warlock and I wanted it to be able to cast self-cast Polymorph. I wanted guidance to be able to show my DM a base item that would be able to do that so we can work on it.
My question really ...
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Is there a balancing reason why you cannot switch unarmored defense when multiclassing?
I have a monk player that multiclasses into a barbarian.
Since his constitution is higher than his wisdom he wants to use the barbarians unarmored defense feature.
According the PHB page 164
If you ...
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1
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Homebrew magical boots creation help
I have a D&D 5e character that was an acrobat, and I thought to create an item that helped me to act better on that. The item I presented to my DM was a pair of magical boots. It's a mixture of ...
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Is allowing a player to choose the result on a d20 once per long rest more powerful than features like luck points or portents?
Obviously, allowing a character to critically hit or miss on demand is hugely impactful, but if it's only once a day is it appreciably overpowered compared to other similar features? Aside from the ...
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Would absorb elements once per short rest be balanced vs psychic damage vulnerability for a monk?
I plan to make my character an astral self monk and plan to later on take rogue and possibly fighter for the psionic subclasses. For roleplay/backstory purposes I asked the DM if I could have ...
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Is this homebrew creature well balanced?
I have created an homebrew creature. I would like to know if it could be a resonable fight for a level 8 team (an elf druid, a human barbarian, a human warrior, a ranger goblin). Have I used too many ...
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Is this homebrew Flower/Plant race balanced?
As it is my first time making a homebrew race, I'd like to know if this race is somewhat balanced. I've used Detect Balance to try and achieve this purpose, but I would like to see what others think ...
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Balance Considerations for Treating a Breath Weapon as 'Magic'
I just read this question here about increasing the range of a Dragonborn breath weapon, which says
Dragonborn's Breath Weapon isn't a magical effect, so does not benefit from any feats that affect ...
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1
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Is This Homebrew "Protective Ward" Spell/Ability Balanced?
I am in the process of creating a homebrew class.
or potentially a subclass...
I haven't decided yet if I wanted to make this class a type of caster or martial character, but either way, I want it to ...
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0
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(How) should I rebalance classes when playing a campaign with infinite long rests? [duplicate]
I'm preparing a D&D 5e campaign with the ability to reset time as a core mechanic. As the players will start each time loop fully rested and can choose to reset time when desired, they will start ...
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