i could be talking about how Animate Objects is unbalanced with itself
Animate objects is horribly unbalanced. On my
Spell Balance spreadsheet I have a different version which I think is more balanced against itself and similar power level spells:
Objects come to life at your command. Choose up to six nonmagical objects within range that are not being worn or carried. Medium targets count as two objects, Large and Huge targets count as three objects. You can't animate any object larger than Huge. Each target animates and becomes a creature under your control until the spell ends or until reduced to 0 hit points.
[h=5]Animate Objects Statistics[/h][TABLE="width: 325"]
[TR]
[TH="align: left"]Size[/TH]
[TH="align: center"]HP[/TH]
[TH="align: center"]AC[/TH]
[TH="align: left"]Damage[/TH]
[TH="align: center"]Str[/TH]
[TH="align: center"]Dex[/TH]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: #E0E5C1"]
[TD]Tiny[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]20[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]18[/TD]
[TD]1d4 + 3[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]4[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]16[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Small[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]25[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]16[/TD]
[TD]1d8 + 1[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]6[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]12[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: #E0E5C1"]
[TD]Medium[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]40[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]13[/TD]
[TD]2d6 + 1[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]10[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]12[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Large[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]50[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]10[/TD]
[TD]2d10 + 3[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]16[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]10[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: #E0E5C1"]
[TD]Huge[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]80[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]10[/TD]
[TD]2d12 + 4[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]18[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]6[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
Attack is the spellcasting ability. With that method they're all pretty balanced.