In a video game, our DM (Larian) as ABSOLUTE control over exactly what we are able to see, where we are able to go, and what we can fight, when... they have no player anomalies to account for because they control, absolutely, what we can and cannot do or be, and what we can or cannot try. This means that they have zero excuse for lazy hack jobs that unbalance encounters, or for cheating the rules unfairly because they haven't wrapped their heads around proper encounter design; unbalancing a creature by giving it far more spell access than it should, or even *Could Possibly Ever* have, without adjusting its CR, is just ridiculous, lazy and stupid, and it pushes players towards cheap, cheaty strategies and immersion-breaking cheese. Of course, we've already seen that that's what Larian wants, because that's what their developers define 'fun' as being.
It doesn't matter what internal level or external CR a caster character is, it is never going to have eight 1st level slots, six 2nd level slots and four 3rd level slots; that's not how magic works in 5e. It is a hacked, cheated character that is breaking the game's rules, and it's a poor excuse, and a lazy one, to actually designing fair and challenging encounters.
I am in full agreement here. Not sure why people are defending Larian.
