Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Casters vs Mundanes in your experience
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Ratskinner" data-source="post: 5909847" data-attributes="member: 6688937"><p>IME, the relative balance of casters vs mundanes was very dependent on the DM and the campaign. Just to be clear, I am emphatically <u>not </u>talking about leaving balance up to the DM, or a broken system that the DM had to "clean up". 3e was a little more caster-favorable in this regard, but it was still campaign-dependent.</p><p></p><p>Many things <em>used to</em> play into it:</p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Magic items: which ones show up? how common are they?<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">3e's MI mechanics also heavily tilted to caster's favor.</li> </ul></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Magic item creation: how hard is it?<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If you rarely have PC's doing the crafting, that tilts away from casters.</li> </ul></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Enemy spellcasters: Do they leave their spellbooks behind?<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">You truly hose Arcane casters, if they don't.</li> </ul></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Monsters: Are they more than stacks of HP for the fighters to mow down?</li> </ul><p>When I DM'ed a "sandboxey" 2e campaign, I could tailor the magic dominance to suit the game the players wanted, simply by adjusting the above. 3e made it a bit harder, but at least arcane casters could be kept in check fairly easily, IME. (Sorry 3e, but you made the Divine caster just too good, IMO <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite8" alt=":D" title="Big grin :D" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":D" /> Not that my clerics ever took advantage of it.<img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite5" alt=":confused:" title="Confused :confused:" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":confused:" />)</p><p></p><p></p><p>Part of the resentment that 4e engendered, I think, was in somewhat removing that flexibility. You know, the whole ‘The right way to play guitar is to play thrash metal’ thing that Mearls was talking about.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Anyway, as someone said above, I don't think that the LFQW thing was a fundamental problem with the rules. Just because someone can drive the car off a cliff doesn't mean that it needed a brake job.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ratskinner, post: 5909847, member: 6688937"] IME, the relative balance of casters vs mundanes was very dependent on the DM and the campaign. Just to be clear, I am emphatically [U]not [/U]talking about leaving balance up to the DM, or a broken system that the DM had to "clean up". 3e was a little more caster-favorable in this regard, but it was still campaign-dependent. Many things [I]used to[/I] play into it: [LIST] [*]Magic items: which ones show up? how common are they? [LIST] [*]3e's MI mechanics also heavily tilted to caster's favor. [/LIST] [*]Magic item creation: how hard is it? [LIST] [*]If you rarely have PC's doing the crafting, that tilts away from casters. [/LIST] [*]Enemy spellcasters: Do they leave their spellbooks behind? [LIST] [*]You truly hose Arcane casters, if they don't. [/LIST] [*]Monsters: Are they more than stacks of HP for the fighters to mow down? [/LIST] When I DM'ed a "sandboxey" 2e campaign, I could tailor the magic dominance to suit the game the players wanted, simply by adjusting the above. 3e made it a bit harder, but at least arcane casters could be kept in check fairly easily, IME. (Sorry 3e, but you made the Divine caster just too good, IMO :D Not that my clerics ever took advantage of it.:confused:) Part of the resentment that 4e engendered, I think, was in somewhat removing that flexibility. You know, the whole ‘The right way to play guitar is to play thrash metal’ thing that Mearls was talking about. Anyway, as someone said above, I don't think that the LFQW thing was a fundamental problem with the rules. Just because someone can drive the car off a cliff doesn't mean that it needed a brake job. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Casters vs Mundanes in your experience
Top