Part of the problem is that you've completely thrown encounter balance out the window from the start with your house rules. Also, you don't say it outright, but I suspect you are also doing only a small number of encounters between long rests, possibly without even utilizing short rests.
Another thing I noticed is that in session 11 you mentioned that the other characters were trying non-damage based solutions to combat. You didn't mention why their attempts didn't work, if they had a chance to and failed, that's fine, but if you decided that they didn't have a chance, that could be a problem. There are two likely reasons why they would take this approach. The first being that they felt they couldn't do a meaningful amount of damage and tricking then enemy would be more effective. The second being that the type of game they want to play is more focused on ingenuity than martial prowess. In the first case, the cleric being so much more effective than them is probably contributing to the problem, in the second, the effectiveness of the cleric is enabling them to play the way they want to play.
My general guess is that if you want balance, you should probably have more encounters with a larger number of weaker enemies. The downside being that this has the potential to bog things down and may make the game less fun than if you just left the balance alone.
With the extreme amount of homebrew it's hard to give specific advice, but my main takeaway is that your 16 year player just knows the game very well and is outperforming the others. At the end of the day, a life cleric attacks once per round, and should not be the main damage dealer in the group. But considering you've got him set up as a demigod with extra stuff even beyond the extra stuff on top of the extra stuff you've given everyone, it's impossible to know where to start giving balance advice.
Hopefully your other players will find their groove and begin to maximize their character's abilities like the cleric obviously has. Even with a core rules/ standard array party, the highly skilled player will almost always outshine newer players.
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Part of the problem is that you've completely thrown encounter balance out the window from the start with your house rules. Also, you don't say it outright, but I suspect you are also doing only a small number of encounters between long rests, possibly without even utilizing short rests.
Another thing I noticed is that in session 11 you mentioned that the other characters were trying non-damage based solutions to combat. You didn't mention why their attempts didn't work, if they had a chance to and failed, that's fine, but if you decided that they didn't have a chance, that could be a problem. There are two likely reasons why they would take this approach. The first being that they felt they couldn't do a meaningful amount of damage and tricking then enemy would be more effective. The second being that the type of game they want to play is more focused on ingenuity than martial prowess. In the first case, the cleric being so much more effective than them is probably contributing to the problem, in the second, the effectiveness of the cleric is enabling them to play the way they want to play.
My general guess is that if you want balance, you should probably have more encounters with a larger number of weaker enemies. The downside being that this has the potential to bog things down and may make the game less fun than if you just left the balance alone.
With the extreme amount of homebrew it's hard to give specific advice, but my main takeaway is that your 16 year player just knows the game very well and is outperforming the others. At the end of the day, a life cleric attacks once per round, and should not be the main damage dealer in the group. But considering you've got him set up as a demigod with extra stuff even beyond the extra stuff on top of the extra stuff you've given everyone, it's impossible to know where to start giving balance advice.
Hopefully your other players will find their groove and begin to maximize their character's abilities like the cleric obviously has. Even with a core rules/ standard array party, the highly skilled player will almost always outshine newer players.
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