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

[Guest 6801328]

It looks to me like he three feats plus an ASI: Dex 20, Crossbow Expert, "Light Armor Expert"(???), and Skulker.

Oh is "Light Armor Expert" the aforementioned misapplied Expertise?

 

[guachi]

He wouldn't need a feat if he rolled an 18 and added +2 to his dexterity for being a halfling.

I don't allow rolling for stats specifically to avoid situations like we see here.

 

[ccs]

He wouldn't need a feat if he rolled an 18 and added +2 to his dexterity for being a halfling.

I don't allow rolling for stats specifically to avoid situations like we see here.

Stat generation prefence will not prevent situations like we see here.
Reading & applying the actual rules will though.

 

[Fanaelialae]

It looks to me like he three feats plus an ASI: Dex 20, Crossbow Expert, "Light Armor Expert"(???), and Skulker.

Oh is "Light Armor Expert" the aforementioned misapplied Expertise?

I believe that both Crossbow Expert and Light Armor Expert were the aforementioned misapplied Expertise.

It should have been:
Expertise: Light Armor and Expertise: Crossbow
which of course is not legal since Expertise only applies to skills and thieves' tools.

As has been mentioned, the ASI can be explained if he rolled an 18, since he is a halfling and would get +2 to his Dexterity.

 

[Flamestrike]

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.
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It sounds like you're using a very liberal interpretation of the hiding rules. I suggest you look for other interpretations of how hiding works. It sounds like he's a halfling and is using their racial ability to hide behind medium sized creatures to gain advantage on attack rolls.

In my games (and in other games) this ability will not work in combat when his opponents can see him before he goes into hiding. The hiding rules are left to the Dungeon Master to interpret. By RAW the DM determines when you can hide. Simply inform the player that he cannot hide in combat when his enemies see him duck behind another player character. His stealth check automatically fails in this situation. No advantage and no sneak attack.

Let him know he can hide when he is not being observed. So he could hide behind the cleric or the paladin before entering a dungeon room and all is fine. If he wants to regain hiding after he has been observed, he will need to backtrack, double around or otherwise distract the monsters so they are not observing him closely enough before he makes the attempt.

I don't want to get into another argument with people about hiding in 5e. I'm just pointing out that there is no 'one true way' to resolve hiding. You are well within your rights to use a stricter interpretation if you desire. It does sound like your liberal interpretation of the hiding rules are causing problems, so its certainly something I would suggest.

Also; remember it takes a bonus action for him to hide. It also requires a bonus action for him to get that third crossbow attack (I'm assuming he has the crossbow master feet which allows him to make an extra attack with a hand crossbow as a bonus action). He can't do both in the same round.

 

[pukunui]

As has been mentioned, the ASI can be explained if he rolled an 18, since he is a halfling and would get +2 to his Dexterity.

Yes, but how was he giving himself two feats at 6th level? He should only have either Crossbow Expert or Skulker, not both. Granted, it's possible he was misusing the term "Skulker" to refer to his Naturally Stealthy halfling trait.

 

[mach1.9pants]

Yes, but how was he giving himself two feats at 6th level? He should only have either Crossbow Expert or Skulker, not both. Granted, it's possible he was misusing the term "Skulker" to refer to his Naturally Stealthy halfling trait.

I think his 'crossbow expert' and 'light armour expert' are because he's applied (illegally) expertise to those rather than skills/tools allowed. The only actual feat he has is skulker, just conflating expertise from class with getting those feats.

 

[Savage Wombat]

Yes, but how was he giving himself two feats at 6th level? He should only have either Crossbow Expert or Skulker, not both. Granted, it's possible he was misusing the term "Skulker" to refer to his Naturally Stealthy halfling trait.

See, the player read the rogue skill and said "I can pick two things to apply my Expertise ability to? OK, I pick Crossbow and Light Armor." The phrasing "Crossbow Expert" being the same as the feat is a coincidence.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

See, the player read the rogue skill and said "I can pick two things to apply my Expertise ability to? OK, I pick Crossbow and Light Armor." The phrasing "Crossbow Expert" being the same as the feat is a coincidence.

If so, then why did he think he had three attacks?

 

[Flamestrike]

If so, then why did he think he had three attacks?

I still don't understand how he gets two attacks.

He can use his action for the attack action. That's one attack.

He's left using his bonus action either for an extra hand crossbow attack thanks to the crossbow master feat OR using that bonus action to take the Hide action via cunning action (presuming the Dungeon Master uses a liberal interpretation of the stealth rules and allows him to attempt to hide every single round).

There is an awful lot wrong with this character That would be easily picked up by any dungeon Master by simply reading the ability or checking them when first used. I'd really suggest the Dungeon Master go away and read the players handbook particularly the section on combat and the various abilities of the classes with a copy of this character sheet next to him. I'd also suggest tagging along to some adventurers leagues games and watching how other dungeon Masters operate.

OP, please don't take that as a diss. It's just your rules knowledge is very weak. As the Dungeon Master you need to know the rules inside and out. We've all been there mate!