As a result, experienced people (and thus usually all the people who are active in the forum) cannot understand what the game is like for a true beginner or how it is played without prior knowledge.
Yes, because all forum users started their very first run with 1000 hours of playtime...
What an absurd notion... Forum users, can and have, played the game with no prior knowledge.
Some may have been familiar with DnD before (As much use as that is given Larian's bastardization of the rulesets) but not everyone was.
But where do you get the right to decide what the developers intended? It was implemented in the game as it is, so that must have been the intention, right?
Developers intend what they intend. If they change something, that is their intention. Ergo, if something is nerfed for being too powerful, it's their intention that they didn't want the thing to be so powerful.
Claiming "It's a PvE game!" doesn't absolve them of this, nor does it impact the developers intention if they do change things.
Also, as far as "It was implemented in the game as it is" Larian have ALREADY nerfed several power outliers because they DIDN'T INTEND for them to be so strong. Showing that despite how it was initially implemented, it was not working in the way they intended. For example, it used to be that Handcrossbows in your offhand would always benefit from your full stat bonus (Unlike melee weapons which require the Two-Weapon Fighting style from a limited selection of classes) which created abusable builds where people simply used dual Handcrossbows with full stat bonuses.
1. You are implying that improvised weapons are too weak since you can only use them if you have a feat.
Which they are. I know, I've tried to use them.
2. Someone who wants to fight with improvised weapons will do so, so why would they fight unarmed? Throwing is such a specific action that most people probably won't do it.
Because improvised weapons are not always available. As is indicated by the "Improvised" nature of improvised weapons... So something else needs to be done and a character focusing on improvised weapons might not carry an actual weapon ergo, end up using unnarmed.
Also, throwing is not that specific an action. Given the amount of early game gear tailored towards throwing weapons (Also, when actually using improvised weapons, you might find yourself simply wanting to throw an improvised weapon at a ranged enemy instead of running over to them and clobbering them with it - Trust me, I've actually tried to use improvised weapons as a main method of combat)
3. The feat treats improvised weapons and unarmed attacks equally. Why, then, should unarmed attacks suddenly be so much stronger than improvised weapons?
Because unarmed attacks are more readily available than improvised weapons AND unarmed attacks have their own attribute scaling as well that is combined with the Tavern Brawler bonus (While Improvised Weapons have no innate scaling)
The answer to all these questions would be no!
The answer would be yes. Tavern Brawler on any class gives that class a weapon that is far more powerful than any other weapon in the game provided they have the stats to use it (Which is limited by it being Strength based so you're less likely to see a brawling Wizard... Outside of Elixir of Strength shenans or some weird builds)
None of the mentioned classes gain an advantage from the feat without assistance.
All of them get an advantage from the feat.
Wizards can't make use of it.
Yes they can. They can pump strength and start punching things harder than their Cantrips (Club of Hill Giant Strength and Elixirs of Strength can both aid in that)
Paladins, as far as I know, need a weapon.
Paladin's don't NEED a weapon. They require one to smite, but they're perfectly capable of bashing things in with unarmed and using their spell slots on... Their spells.
Fighters sacrifice too much
Fighters sacrifice nothing? WTF are you on.
They even have a subclass that directly assists them with thrown builds to boot, allowing them to turn any weapon into a returning weapon...
monks need dexterity, not strength.
Monks don't need Dexterity. They literally have a bonus where they can use their WIS for their AC so they DON'T need DEX and can still have good AC. Nothing on the class requires Dexterity.
Without equipment, the feat is unusable
No. A feat that buffs UNARMED attacks actually doesn't need equipment. In fact, part of it's insane power is that it doesn't require any equipment at all. All it requires is stats, namely Strength and you can go punch things harder than any weapon.
The lack of equipment required is why Elixirs of Strength are so busted with it. With just a feat and an Elixir (Purchasable from vendors and lasting until long rest) a character can get the best attacks in the game.
Yes, it's not a single-player game; you can play it in co-op. But please give proper examples, not ones that only apply to experienced players. How many beginners or regular players join a lobby of person XY to experience the story with someone they don't even know? How many who want to play the game want random players to join their game?
Quite a lot of beginners and regular players join up with random people to play co-op. Don't take my word for it, there's plenty of comments about it across various discussion areas for the game.
Your example is so detached from reality that it could come from the multiverse.
That's more indicative of your entire "Argument" to be honest. You've yet to actually justify any of the "Claims" you make besides "I come from a larger playerbase" like no shit... So does everyone else?
The mentioned issues regarding overpowered mechanics are a problem for experienced players who exploit game mechanics to become stronger.
Yes, experienced players are the main ones who will be affected by overpowered mechanics, as they will quickly figure out how to abuse them. It however, does not preclude less experienced players from stumbling into such things by themselves.
Tavern Brawler is easily exploited by simply using it for things the original TT feat didn't intend (Yay, thanks DnD knowledge you're so helpful in Larian's game...) Tavern Brawler as a feat was simply meant to boost the viablity of the not very good or practical Improvised Weapon system. Larian then decided to make it also affect actually useful methods of combat for no reason and the result is it breaks those actually useful combat methods by applying a massive boost to them unnecessarily. This is why the Feat is so out of line with literally every other feat in the game, where they either provide a small bonus with a stat bump or provide a big, but very niche, bonus to something not very useful.
The closest any other feat gets to the power of Tavern Brawler, would be Spell Sniper. Due to its ability to give any class the strongest Cantrip in the game (Eldritch Blast) and have it function as that class' spell (Meaning it uses their own spellcasting stats instead of Warlock's CHR). But even this pales in comparison to Tavern Brawler, which not only lets ANY class get powerful attacks but also for classes like Barbarian, Fighter and Monk that already have options that facilitate using Thrown Weapons or Unarmed they get a mega boost to these things.
The moment you think you are good at something, you are no longer the benchmark for other players. This is why I do not see myself as a benchmark, as I belong to the group of good players in every game I actively play and engage with the game actively.
That's the thing. I don't see myself as good at things and I don't consider my experiences to be indicative of EVERYONE'S experiences.
I do however, possess the ability to look at things (Relatively) objectively. Thanks to my experiences in the real world, I developed a sense of looking at all sides of situation.
I can look at things and maybe I find them easy, but I will recognize how someone else might not. Just like I can recognize how a beginner might interact with things in ways that aren't optimal as well as see how an experienced player might optimize such usages.
At the end of the day, Tavern Brawler is an excessively powerful feat. Yes, not everyone will use it, not everyone will abuse it. But its existence is not one that is particularly good for the overall balance of the game.
Its boost to throwing and unarmed weapons is not only out of place, both in terms of the actual DnD ruleset AND also BG3's combat as a whole (Thrown weapons and unarmed aren't weak on their own. Without Tavern Brawler you can absolutely still use thrown weapons and unarmed builds without issue - In fact Way of the Open Hand Monk can still be REALLY strong even without Tavern Brawler). But it's ease of being abused by simply... Stacking Strength (Which happens to be THE most abusable stat in the entire game - Between the Club of Strength, Elixirs of Strength, the potion in Act 2 from having Astarion bite that woman that gives permanent strength, the masks from Grymforge that provide stacking Strength bonuses, the robes in Act 2 that give +2 strength and most Feats having the option to increase Strength)
Finally,
If your argument boils down to "Newbs won't abuse it" then its nerfing isn't a problem then is it? If beginners won't use it because they don't know it's strong then they'd be unaffected by its power being decreased. Meanwhile, experienced players won't have this broken tool sitting there waiting to be abused. Just like with every other power outlier that got nerfed (Besides Haste which only got nerfed in Honour Mode and is still Larian's own design of broken in other difficulties)
