ProfessorCirno said:
I guess I just feel magic should be inherently dangerous or rare. Really, it wasn't until vaugely modern fantasy that the idea of being able to just belt out magic even entered stories or myth; magic was, by and large, either deus ex machina, or something incredibly rare, dangerous, and valuable.
Ah...
Then stick around for the "Martial Power" book. That will widen the spectrum for Martial characters and then you can run an all-Martial campaign with only Rituals and really Black, Dark, Evil Magic available in the setting.
Things like at-will Eldritch Blasts would only be available to NPCs and Monsters -- a dark gift from their sorcerous pacts.
That sounds like more your speed to me.
But I agree with the other posters, magic may have felt rare at first level but it got real cheap, real quick. I once playtested a possible convention module and completely exploited it with a copious use of Spider Climb. I was only 3rd level at the time, IIRC.
Magic in that game felt neither rare nor special. Just an exploit.
In previous editions, things like Cantrips and such made magic pretty ubiquitous as well -- to the point that most wondered why the average farmer
wouldn't have a couple on hand.
I guess my 1 Magic Missile at first level did feel valuable (equivalent to my per-day Spell in 4e). But most Wizard abilities pretty well broke down into the at-will, per-encounter, per-day breakdown -- depending on how many slots you had invested in them.
I think the biggest difference is that we're less likely to see the Wizard that creeps along for 2-3 levels only to come out a veritable Fireball cannon and completely negate anything that might have been cool about the Martial types a few levels earlier.
I mean, really, once I got enough mojo I could take a Sorcerer in the mid-single digits and make most encounters a done deal in 3e. I was dishing out Fireballs about like most PCs rolled to hit.
And once a Cleric got up there, I could buff up and regularly dole out 30-40 hp of damage -- easily putting the Fighter in the backseat as far as his schtick went. Plus, I could
heal myself and I even had Cleave to boot!
I suppose that had it's own element of fun for some. For me, it was just survival in a group that precipitated my departure from 3e.
I can't say I'm sorry to see it go.