FallenRX
Adventurer
In the older days of dnd, casters were kinda artillery units, they were powerful but slow, vulnerable, and cumbersome, how they enforced this was with the rules for a spellcaster, making it so you had to declare spellcasting at the beginning of the round and it was cast when your turn would come up(it was side based and initative would change every round.), and if you were hit, you lost the spell.
This kept casting a bit more in check during these days, and is the actual reason for the whole "frontline martial, backline caster" thing, the original intent was casters were artillery and martials were the soldiers. But come 3e Wizards kinda removed all of this for the most part due to streamlining and ended up buffing these classes far, while also putting all of the fighters features into feats, and the game has simply never quite recovered from this. It turned casters from Artillery to just heavy hitting as long as they had ammo, and kinda invalidated the other classes right then and there without that limit, with the only downside is ammo, they are just heavy soldiers now, just better but...limited..sometimes...if you play that way.
I feel this should return, casting being interruptable in some form, but i feel there is a better and more modern way to do this.
Im not saying this 100% solves the martial caster gap, but it gives martials at least a gives martial classes a raison d'etre, in a traditional way, plus i think it fits the fantasy of these classes and idea of them way more, and while it isnt for everyone, i feel you can at least make this a variant rule, or something, or make it a core rule and make the old way a variant for those who dont care for it.
I feel this is a better starting point a limit that brings back the original intent of these classes in a way that makes a lot of the design make more sense, like for example, mage slayer becomes better, it makes the defensive abilities make sense more(because they were based on spell where that was the intent and why they had them), and even frontline casters like bladelock and bladesinger still work well since that's why they use cantrips and weapon attacks, with higher defenses, it makes the design kinda come to life more.
Its not perfect but i feel it is a better starting point, and its not uncommon in a lot of dnd-like design(i got this from Worlds without Number lol)
What do you think?
TLDR: Casters should go back to being interruptable like they used to be, it was the thing that made them unique and limited, and made them the artillery units compared to the "soldier" units that were the martials, and i feel it enforces the modern fantasy of the classes better then what we have now, where they are kinda just super soldiers, with only some resource limitations holding them back.
This kept casting a bit more in check during these days, and is the actual reason for the whole "frontline martial, backline caster" thing, the original intent was casters were artillery and martials were the soldiers. But come 3e Wizards kinda removed all of this for the most part due to streamlining and ended up buffing these classes far, while also putting all of the fighters features into feats, and the game has simply never quite recovered from this. It turned casters from Artillery to just heavy hitting as long as they had ammo, and kinda invalidated the other classes right then and there without that limit, with the only downside is ammo, they are just heavy soldiers now, just better but...limited..sometimes...if you play that way.
I feel this should return, casting being interruptable in some form, but i feel there is a better and more modern way to do this.
And if you wanna bring back the old rules of getting hit in the round before your turn loses you your spell cast, but in a modern way, you can just do this.
This is a simple way, and it isn't even new design, this is a sacred cow, this is how they used to work, but modernized a bit.
Im not saying this 100% solves the martial caster gap, but it gives martials at least a gives martial classes a raison d'etre, in a traditional way, plus i think it fits the fantasy of these classes and idea of them way more, and while it isnt for everyone, i feel you can at least make this a variant rule, or something, or make it a core rule and make the old way a variant for those who dont care for it.
I feel this is a better starting point a limit that brings back the original intent of these classes in a way that makes a lot of the design make more sense, like for example, mage slayer becomes better, it makes the defensive abilities make sense more(because they were based on spell where that was the intent and why they had them), and even frontline casters like bladelock and bladesinger still work well since that's why they use cantrips and weapon attacks, with higher defenses, it makes the design kinda come to life more.
Its not perfect but i feel it is a better starting point, and its not uncommon in a lot of dnd-like design(i got this from Worlds without Number lol)
What do you think?
TLDR: Casters should go back to being interruptable like they used to be, it was the thing that made them unique and limited, and made them the artillery units compared to the "soldier" units that were the martials, and i feel it enforces the modern fantasy of the classes better then what we have now, where they are kinda just super soldiers, with only some resource limitations holding them back.
