D&D 5E What official material is considered problematic to the point where it is not balanced and presents a problem?

[Corpsetaker]

I suppose for me, broken in regards to underpowered or unfun is soemthing I can find pretty easily.

Warlock casting has been a complaint of my group (no new slots until 10 or 11)

Sorcerers feeling underpowered compared to wizards

Ranger spellcasting (I changed them to preparing spells instead of a static list)


In regards to overpowered... I can't think of anything I've had too much trouble with. My group is not optimizers though, so a lot of the things I see complained about either don't hit the table or don't seem to get used like you guys talk about them sometimes.

The original post never said anything about being "under powered". Under powered isn't broken because you still can contribute and under powered is subjective. This topic is basically about rules being overpowered to the point where you have a hard time playing the game. Think CoDzilla and any other build where a PC can end a whole encounter single handed.

 

[Chaosmancer]

The original post never said anything about being "under powered". Under powered isn't broken because you still can contribute and under powered is subjective. This topic is basically about rules being overpowered to the point where you have a hard time playing the game. Think CoDzilla and any other build where a PC can end a whole encounter single handed.

I know your the OP and therefore you know what you meant, but it isn't what you said. You asked about "What problems are their with the current game?" and you asked about things that were "that's game breaking or is a cause for concern." As well as " has 5th edition given anyone a cause for concern with regards to balance?"

None of these questions preclude things being underpowered as being a cause for concern or reflecting on balance.

Like I said, my groups don't go into massive optimization. I've rarely seen GWM or SS hit the table, and if they do have them they almost never take the -5 to hit. I've seen once Polearm and Sentinel, but I was a player not a DM, so I was happy the guy had it and didn't worry too much about how balanced it might be. I've seen Luck used to great effect, but I'm not sure if it is overpowered or just top tier.


And, frankly, it is impossible for any party to be "overpowered" because, as a friend of mine once pointed out, the DM has unlimited resources and abilities. If the Fighter with GWM, Sentinel and Polearm is causing so much trouble, give your Archdevil general those feats as well. Or perhaps just throw more things into the pot. You can always adjust, it just is very difficult for people with little experience like myself

 

[hawkeyefan]

And, frankly, it is impossible for any party to be "overpowered" because, as a friend of mine once pointed out, the DM has unlimited resources and abilities. If the Fighter with GWM, Sentinel and Polearm is causing so much trouble, give your Archdevil general those feats as well. Or perhaps just throw more things into the pot. You can always adjust, it just is very difficult for people with little experience like myself

You sound more capable of handling the problem than many folks who have been playing for years and years.

 

[Hussar]

You sound more capable of handling the problem than many folks who have been playing for years and years.

Or even simpler, some higher AC opponents where GWM becomes less of an option. Or more ranged opponents. Or more mobile opponents. Or lighting. Or terrain issues.

This seems to be a fairly easy issue to deal with. There are loads of options.

 

[Willie the Duck]

Overpowered only matters in relation to the rest of the party/other potential builds/dominating whether the party succeeds or fails. The DM can always hamstring more damage. 3e Wizards having cheap and easy ways to make obsolete most rogue skills is harder to handle. Clerics or druids being roughly as good combatants as pure martial types plus having spells is harder to deal with. Minionmancy making the adventuring party unnecessary is... well actually easy to deal with, but mostly by saying 'no.' These (and if there are 5e equivalents) are the things that the OP seems to be asking about, and it is a reasonable question of inquiry.

 

[Parmandur]

To answer the OP: in this edition, not so much, because they are carefully and meticulously vetting the material. When they were cranking out books...man, that stuff looked like a hot mess.

 

[Istbor]

Maybe I have missed something when reading the rules or explanations on skills and tools, but I find the distinction between skills you can just do, and skills you are proficient in a bit grey.

I want the person who is proficient in survival to be the one the party looks to for staying alive in the wild, not the Cloistered Cleric who also has a high wisdom score.

I can work around that for certain, I just wish there were some clarifications on the differences. (Again, maybe there are, and I have totally missed them.)

 

[MonkeezOnFire]

The original post never said anything about being "under powered". Under powered isn't broken because you still can contribute and under powered is subjective. This topic is basically about rules being overpowered to the point where you have a hard time playing the game. Think CoDzilla and any other build where a PC can end a whole encounter single handed.

As a reward for finding a powerful summoning circle my wizard was able to conjure an earth elemental and control it without using concentration for a duration of one week. The party was 7th level so my wizard couldn't even normally summon an earth elemental. In a lot of fights I was able to combine it with minor elementals resulting in quite the little hitsquad. And yet, using the above definition this still was not overpowered as everyone else in the party was still contributing meaningfully. The fighter was still crucial in holding the front line, dealing damage and controlling the movement of enemies through key positioning. The ranger's crazy damage was still needed to put down tough foes.

So yea, even when you go and break the rules the game still holds up pretty well in my experience.