I'll post some specific answers later on, but I wanted to give my definition of "overpowered" up front. An overpowered ability does one or more of the following:

1) Rewards poor strategy. This ability is so good that you can use it poorly and still do well. Too much raw power.

1B) Excessively rewards blind luck. Low-probability, high-outcome events are cool if done carefully, but combat should not be a coin flip. This can be true even if the average outcome is far from optimal.

2) Overwhelms existing counters, if any. There is little to nothing an opponent can do to neutralize it, even if they know in advance that it is coming. Countertactics have to be evaluated on availability, potency, and the existence of counter-counter-tactics.

3) Overflows its niche. This is an ability you can try in every situation and it is a good choice. Too broad.

3B) Marginalizes alternative abilities. This is often a side effect of #3. Sometimes this is planned (higher level abilities superceding lower level ones, or narrowly available ones superceding widely available abilities), but often it is not.

3C) Makes certain combinations unplayable. This ability is common and strong enough that it discourages people from playing a certain kind of character that is otherwise viable.

4) Requires active maintainance. If we have to watch players to make sure it is used "the right way", that suggests a problem.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com