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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Oofta" data-source="post: 7520912" data-attributes="member: 6801845">To the OP: I think your concerns are overblown.  As others have said, white-room analysis doesn't really work particularly well.  In addition, I'd wait on the house rules and adjustments until after you've played the game for a bit.  I have some minimal changes that I've made that make sense to me, but I wouldn't go changing classes for perceived "balance" issues just yet.  This being the internet, you'll find someone who says that the fighter of all variants are either hopelessly overpowered and broken or incredibly underpowered wimps.  In my personal experience, they work just fine.As far as burning hands, I don't think I've ever seen it used so I wouldn't be too concerned.But my general quick advice would be:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Don't hand out too many magic items, at least at first.  You don't really need them in this edition and some can be problematic.  It can be fun to have a gonzo campaign where everybody glows like a Christmas tree, but it can change the balance of power significantly.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Your PCs don't need sky-high ability scores at 1st level.  In fact, I think it works better if they don't ... so personally I use the 27 point buy.  Whether or not you allow that, PCs don't need multiple 18s at the start.  Or any 18s.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The game seems to work best when you have 6-8 encounters between long rests and 1-2 short rests.  Easy to do if you're into dungeon crawls, I personally use the alternate rules where a short rest is overnight and a long rest is several days (or a week or more).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I personally ignore the number multiplier when figuring out difficulty of encounters, especially at higher levels.  I just add up the XP budget and compare to party level.  Also remember that the XP budget is just a guideline, you'll have to adjust based on your group and what works.  Don't be afraid to throw deadly encounters if it makes sense.  Encounter design is more art than science though, so don't expect any calculation to work 100%.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Don't be afraid to tweak monsters.  I add special abilities, re-skin monsters, give monsters bonuses to hit and so on if needed.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Remember that the game is a lot more flexible than some other editions; a lot of times there is no specific rule and it will be up to you to make a judgement call.  Stealth rules (or lack therein) is an example where you simply have to make judgement calls on what makes sense.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"></li> </ul>I'm sure I could come up with some more, but the bottom line is simple.  Try the game for a while and see what works for you and your group.  I find this edition easier to run and adjust than the previous two editions.</blockquote>

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