D&D 5E How to balance combat when 2 characters are average and one is extremely overpowered?

Ancalagon

Dusty Dragon
Can you imagine what would happen to the length of threads around here if people read the thread before replying?

At least half the replies on this thread are people responding without reading (because almost every response has been addressed) :)

It happens a fair bit, but it's *really* glaring in this thread for some reason :/
 

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Here is his Character sheet. Let me know if there is anything you can't read and I'll try and translate it for you.View attachment 81080

Seeing as he only has the one feat (skulker) and a speed of 25' and a Dex of 20, plus cantrips/ spellcasting, I'm going to assume he is a Halfling (Arcane Trickster).

His stats should be:

Ability scores: Are OK only if he rolled them, and rolled an 18 (+2 for Halfling). Otherwise he is cheating or has made a serious mistake.

AC should be: 17 (assuming studded leather)
HP should be: 45 (assuming he didnt roll them)

Attacks:
Light crossbow: +8 (+3 from Prof, +5 from Dex); 1d6+5 damage
Eagle Bow: +6 (+1 heavy crossbow, 5 Dex, no proficiency), 1d10+6 damage

Note that he is not proficient with the Heavy X-bow (which the Eagle bow appears to be). I suggest making it a magical property of the 'Eagle Bow' to grant proficiency to a non-proficent wielder to avoid retconning issues. As for personal preference, I would also remove the +1 to hit and damage and replace it with a cool ability as well (1/ short rest it allows its user to lock onto a target. He may use a bonus action to gain advantage on a ranged attack roll made that round. If the attack hits, it deals an extra +2d6 damage). That last bit is optional, but it avoids problems with messing with bounded accuracy.

Also note; he gets 1 attack per round with the attack action. Thats it. He adds +3d6 sneak attack damage to the attack if the attack is made at advantage, or an ally is adjacent to the target.

Skills/ Saves: He hasnt increased his skills or saves from +2 to +3 proficiency bonus when he reached 5th level. His proficient skills and saves are all 1 too low. He doesnt have Thieves tools proficency noted either.

Also, as a 6th level Rogue he has expertise in 4 skills of his choice (or 3 skills and thieves tools). He will need to add a further +3 to four of the skills he has listed on his character sheet.
 


Valdier

Explorer
I believe it is because of the fear of getting ninja'd. They don't want to be repeating something that was said only a few second before they got their post in, so they put up their 2 cp as soon as possible, then read the thread after.
What could anyone say about a halfling rogue, that is so frantically important, that they couldn't dare check to see if a dozen people already said the exact same thing? :)
 




Looking at the character sheet, I think I see warning signs of another problem (or maybe a symtpm of the main problem) - lack of team player.

The trait, ideal, bond and flaw are all designed for a character who does whatever the heck they want, ignoring the other characters, and in fact getting angry at them when they call the character out for being a jerk. In other words, the opposite of a team player (perhaps both at the character level and the player level). This may badly affect the fun of the other people at the table. "My-guy syndrome" might happen.

Don't get me wrong - It might be OK. It doesn't automatically mean the player and/or character are going to be disruptive, but it is a warning that you should have the "this is a team game" discussion.
 
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vilainn6

Explorer
So I've been playing dnd for many years now but always as a player. I am now DM'ing my first campaign using an old turn-based RPG I used to play when I was little for the storyline. Everything is going well except combat. I have 2 of my players that built their own characters from scratch and are around the same power level, then I had one player look up "How to break rogue in 5e" and just built his character so it would be the most OP. So I have a mediocre Paladin and Cleric, then I have a super OP crossbow wielding rogue that can attack 3 times in one turn, has +13 to hit, and gets sneak attacks if he stands behind allies. If I balance the enemies for the rogue, the two other characters struggle to survive, and if I balance the enemies for the other two, the rogue just slices through them with zero effort.

I guess my question is how can I balance fights so that they are challenging and feel dangerous for all of my players when their power levels are so different? Also, how can I do so without so obviously seeming that I am trying to shut down my rogue.

I should mention I'm the kind of DM that wants my players to have fun and not the kind of DM that feels like I'm playing versus my players. I don't want my characters to die unless they make really bad decisions, but I'm struggling to give them a challenge without feeling like I'm deliberately targeting my rogue player.

I don't want to sound like a jerk (I know you said you were new) but did you read the class chapter? All your problems with your rogue player could have been avoided if you bothered learning the abilities of the rogue, because it is also part of the GM job to know your players characters as much as them. If not, how are you supposed to know if you build balanced encounters?
 

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