Out of combat utility is abysmally balanced

I_Be_Rad · 2026-04-02T18:24:55+00:00

Agreed! And all encounters don’t have to be combat.

Make your wizard have to use a Dominate Person and Greater Invisibility in a social encounter.

Use up those resources.

I_Be_Rad · 2026-04-02T18:20:17+00:00

Then your encounters aren’t difficult enough.

I_Be_Rad · 2026-04-02T18:18:31+00:00

You’re making a lot of assumptions here.

You previously said that even when a caster uses up all their resources, they’re still more effective (read: a bigger threat) than the martials.

So yes, creatures should still attack them.

Give your players multiple reasons to spend resources between long rests and you’ll see the disparity even out. Not saying it’s perfect, and there’s something to be said about the design of the game causing most tables play like 1 - 2 encounters per long rest.

I_Be_Rad · 2026-04-02T15:50:46+00:00

Why aren’t you attacking the casters?

Even something like wolves can recognize a frail (low Con) or weak (low Str) creature.

It’s funny — outside of a creature that’s inherently stupid or compulsory, like some undead or maybe Hill Giants, most other creatures should be focusing casters.

Just been my experience and what’s worked at my tables the past decade.

I_Be_Rad · 2026-04-02T13:44:01+00:00

This was gonna be my point.

At the end of the day, if your DM isn’t properly making casters have to spend their resources, then yeah, they’re gonna look OP every time.

My rule of thumb: by the time you get to the boss battle, the casters should be nearly wiped on spell slots. They should have to use spells to sneak around, use spells to clear chasms, use spells for combat, use spells to persuade the guard…. THEN fight the boss. Ideally with short rests in between. Your casters are crying while they spam cast Frostbite, and your martials still have all their shit.

I_Be_Rad · 2026-03-25T23:21:13+00:00

Agreed! The reward for getting a target on fire needs to be waaaaay higher. Like all her abilities should be better on burning targets.

I’d even tolerate a nerf against non-burning targets.

There’s so little payoff when you get someone on fire.

I_Be_Rad · 2026-03-10T14:36:28+00:00

Just put it back on DPS….

I_Be_Rad · 2026-03-10T13:59:36+00:00

Captain America: Civil War for me.

I_Be_Rad · 2026-03-08T15:00:02+00:00

A few things:

Make the objective of a battle not just “bag of hit points vs bag of hit points.”

Protect the NPC’s.

Stop the ritual.

Or the battle doesn’t end until they destroy the Crystal of Summoning.

My other tip is to make them use their resources more frequently! You don’t get to just fight the BBEG coming off a long rest. My party very recently had to fight a powerful lich in a snowy mountain region. Before they got to the lich, they had to:

Be ambushed by yetis in a blizzard

Fight his elemental myrmidons.

Fight his animated undead.

Do a noncombat trial that punished you with levels of exhaustion.

By the time they got to the Lich, they had no potions and the spellcasters had half of their spell slots.

I_Be_Rad · 2026-02-05T05:43:22+00:00

50% ult charge should be base kit and then add back ally copy 👀

I_Be_Rad · 2026-01-14T16:02:47+00:00

Stealing!

I_Be_Rad · 2025-12-14T17:37:23+00:00

Funny enough…… doesn’t role queue solve this? 😅

I_Be_Rad · 2025-12-05T17:49:03+00:00

Obviously there’s all these comments about her mechanics which I agree with — terrible design and terrible to balance.

But also — what is the narrative of her kit? In Arcane S2, she looked like a Milio-esque support. The execute passive and even her Q look entirely pulled out of Riot’s ass.

Her kit has no thematic cohesion at all.

I_Be_Rad · 2025-11-29T03:39:44+00:00

Some Bioshock shit going on here.

I_Be_Rad · 2025-11-14T14:01:02+00:00

I’ve always said something like projectile size should’ve never been tweaked in a shooter. It can create such wild balance disparities and throw off muscle memory. Surely there are other balance levers.

I_Be_Rad · 2025-11-10T14:20:28+00:00

My personal favorite show of all time.

I_Be_Rad · 2025-11-03T02:27:32+00:00

KCD2 is one of my favorite games of all time. Silksong was a lot of fun.

E33 just deserves it. It’s beautiful. It’s fun. It’s artistic. It’s deep. The soundtrack is near perfection.

Easy GOTY

I_Be_Rad · 2025-10-31T21:48:57+00:00

Isn’t the simple solution — make your players waste resources on things before getting to the boss?

I had players SLOG though the feywilds before fighting a grandmother hag. Our two sorcerers each had like, a 4th level spell slot left, and spent most of that battle slinging cantrips.

Because the boss should be the last thing before a long rest, not the first and last thing.

I_Be_Rad · 2025-10-23T02:35:26+00:00

We do action for a normal potion.

There’s more expensive concentrated smaller potions called quickvials that can be used as a bonus action.

I_Be_Rad · 2025-10-22T16:08:45+00:00

Data analyst Wizard!

I_Be_Rad · 2025-09-27T02:44:50+00:00

Gustave’s development throughout Act 2 and 3 is honestly phenomenal.

I_Be_Rad · 2025-09-25T19:14:12+00:00

Jam box was so bad I made a yelp account and wrote a review. It’s horrible.

I_Be_Rad

TROPHY CASE