Originally Posted by Saito Hikari
Originally Posted by Nouri
Lets face it, dealing 3-7dmg to a target that has 40-50hp when you can cast 13-20dmg spells is just never going to happen. It needs a buff, especially at lower levels.

Okay, so your suggestions suddenly make a lot more sense within this context.

A lot of what you say seems to indicate that you think things in this game aren't dying quickly enough, but maybe the developers don't want things to die that quickly. And that gets into the topic of how the issues are more with Larian's current implementation of things rather than the source material itself, because it's widely known that Larian actually lowered enemy AC because they thought people missing was unfun. However, they increased enemy HP to compensate, which ALSO lead to a new balancing problem with how cantrip damage is less impactful than they normally are, and that spells with saving throws are suddenly worse than spells that make attack rolls in the vast majority of situations. Not to mention that party HP growth is largely still the same, so that enemy mage throwing a fireball spell at you would probably completely wreck you, while it'd barely result in a dent if you were to do the same to them.

If game balancing really is your career, you should really look into why the current system is the way it is before passing judgement on what needs to be changed, rather than blindly suggesting numerical changes with seeming little regard to how it'd interact with the rest of the game. BG3 is more complicated than most because it's half Larian homebrew and half source material, and there is a reason most believe that the larger issues lie within the homebrew system and lack of certain source material options instead of an issue with the source material itself.

(Not going to lie, I really wish I could get a career in game balance, ha. Or at least some kind of consultant. Also, as a nice thought exercise to help you, you should look into analyzing balance in MMOs, as that's how I started out. I say this because they are usually historically bad, usually by design per the nature of being live service games, so analyzing and understanding what happens there makes it a lot easier to come up with more effective and focused suggestions in literally every other type of game. :P)

All of this.

Re: firebolt
Cantrips are designed to be a caster's bread and butter (especially at lower levels), and you would pull out higher level spells when they are going to be really impactful because you only get a few uses each day. By filling the world with scrolls and removing all consequences from long resting, Larian has essentially removed the cost from casting higher level spells because those few spell slots no longer have to last you through a full day's worth of encounters. If that cost is removed from leveled spells, of course they're going to be better than cantrips. The issue isn't that cantrips are too weak, it's that house rules have turned the really strong fancy stuff into your bread and butter. Remove scrolls and remove the possibility of getting a full night's rest after every 24 second battle and balance is going to improve substantially.

On a more general note, balance in games is often created by imposing restrictions on things that are more powerful. Restrictions make things interesting. If every spell/ability is equally useful all the time, then they all end up feeling essentially the same and it gets boring. It feels really good to realize that you have the exact right tool for a particular job, rather than one tool that you use for everything.