I always encourage my players to paraphrase if they’re trying to be more than they are in real life. It’s totally fine to be like “I tell him with a lot of big words that he’s a doodyhead”

I meant the amount of effort it takes for the end user.

If we’re going to talk about higher order levels of effort, then everything gets very expensive very quickly.

No single thing alone will fix the world. Voting alone won’t fix it. Throwing a molotov alone won’t fix it.

Voting (in many places, for many people) takes almost no effort. Go do it. But don’t call it a day and think you’ve done everything you can do. Refusing to vote just yields one of the many fronts in this conflict without a fight.

Yeah, they’re both very bland.

For remove curse, there’s an easy bandaid fix: Remove curse must be upcast to remove stronger effects. Sure, you can break the ring of power’s hold over the knight, if you cast remove curse at 9th level. Otherwise, you have to follow the plot.

The plot route should be like all cursed items have a custom way of removing them. The sword of betrayal can be removed if you return it to the original owner’s crypt. The stones of drowning can be broken if you bury them in the desert under a new moon. The ring of power can be destroyed if you throw it into the volcano where it was forged.

For counterspell, well… Make it an extended check with some options on each exchange. You both declare in secret if you’re putting more spell slots or hp into the check, or folding. If you fold, the other person gets their way, but any extra resources they committed are wasted. If neither folds, you roll with bonuses based on what resources you put in. More spell slots or HP or hit dice give you some sort of bonus.

Probably get rid of counterspell as a spell on its own and just make this a thing you can do. Give wizards some more tactical depth. If you use the same spell you get a bonus to countering. If it’s the same school, bonus.

Like all of D&D 5e, there’s so much you could do that the game just doesn’t.