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@evilbob I used my formula above to calculate the average damage of CO using your accuracy and bounce rates. I also removed hex since hex is single target and you are attacking 5. My updated average damage with chromatic orb was 175.8 Although, I think you are overestimating the accuracy. I...

High AC targets. CO damage drops like a rock.

The point is the saves (no matter how many) cannot be easily balanced to each other. This isn't a trivial exercise. There's is no Holy Magic Number of Ability Scores/Saves.

To balance the game you cannot just balance a single dungeon. You have to balance every potential dungeon. Inevitably that means you have to create binding rules for the GM to follow that doesn't allow them to stray outside your designed balanced space. The GM has to agree to follow that...

It's not that hard to calculate true average damage (maybe accounting for seeking and empowered makes that hard). But for just the spell itself. All attacks have the same innate hit and bounce chance and DPR. However, there is a chance for an attack to occur that depends on the previous...

Here in the real world 5e already has 1 save per ability score. Here in the real world 5e doesn't have balanced ability scores. Players are still mechanically incentivized to dump certain character stats. What you are proposing has already been tried out in the wild and has failed to deliver...

That's simply not true. Currently in 5e all the attributes do provide a specific saving throw defense. The game already is doing what you suggest. It still doesn't work the way you predict because the monster attacks targeting each save aren't balanced.

And even then, once you have sufficient hp/defenses to last a few direct damage hits then whatever best defends against status effects is likely better. Whether that's due to the effects it defends from being more debilitating or common or some combination. So not only do they need to be equal...

Yea. At level 11 I think he can outdamage the Battlemaster, at least on paper. Provided he doesn't run into having to move hex too often, in practice i'm afraid that this will likely be the case. So far Sorlock and Battlemaster are my highest damage ranged characters at level 11. Though I...

My actual critique was that it was 'too granular.' Of course you need some granularity for customization, but there is such a thing as too much granularity as well. IMO D&D doesn't do a great job for many genres. Heck, it doesn't even do a good job for basic Lord of the Rings style fantasy...

Yes. Maybe, maybe not. Depends on where you as designer set that baseline to be. Sorry I didn't design a full playable and fun game just for illustrative purposes. You are just going to have to accept that the purpose of the example was to illustrate a rather specific point. *And anyways...

Yea, but it doesn't even have to be that drastic. Just changing the set of encounters can change the balance. Adding in more ways to bypass combats or making it easier/harder to do so can change the balance. Etc. Having adventuring days with more/less combats. All this stuff introduces...

Here's my simple warlock solution. Invocation with appropriate level requirement (maybe 5 or 7?). You can now cast hex without expending a spell slot as a first level spell. Now anytime you want to use hex you can and it doesn't cost your higher level slots to use it. You want to open with...

The problem is with asymmetry itself. Asymmetrical systems can only be balanced under very specific circumstances. Any deviation results in imbalance. The random nature of dice do a good job at hiding the lack of balance from us as humans to some degree and between that hidden imbalance and...

It's not clear to me why you think one cannot attack an illusion.

We've talked quite a bit about ranged martial control and not just damage. There's been a few common themes around ranged martial control. I'm curious how you all rate these in terms of their control effects and drawbacks. Heavy Crossbow with Push Mastery (no save) Ensnaring Strike (str...

I'd also suggest that skills are designed to not to really matter much. Like the difference in a 14 cha and proficiency when it comes to intimidation is a +5 bonus (level 5). But checks are anywhere from DC 10-20 typically. And as long as there's that kind of substantial at least 20% chance...

No. More like all but the class that gets the HP skill has the same hp, same for AC, mental resistance, etc. As for spells, in such a system you wouldn't have a spellcasting skill, you would have a fireball skill, an invisibility skill, etc. *A spellcasting skill would be the equivalent of...

Classes are just bundles of mechanics. There is nothing stopping the designers from designing every class bundle such that they share no mechanical commonalities with any other class at all. As an example, we can make each skill it's own attribute. Then we can have as many attributes as there...

As one of the few archer builds capable of counterspelling early, I think anything warlock deserves honorable mention just for that.