If the mage spells are being weakened, what compensation is being given to the mage?

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

I would guess that the primary reasons that arcane casters tend to favor combat spells over non-combat spells are as follows (although I must say, most Divination specialists tend to be exceptions to that rule--they often have 1 non-combat spell prepared at each spell level):
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]

Excellent post.

I've often felt that one of the shortcomings of the D&D magic system was that I rarely saw the casual use of low-level magics that I had come to expect from books. The 'lighting a cooking fire' cantrip type stuff, the minor illusions, etc. Most players are stingy with their spell slots, since they expect to need them for combat.

I'd like to see a feat or other mechanic that would expand the use of lower level magics without letting things get out of hand. I toyed with the idea letting wizards spontaneously cast spells from their specialty that were x-levels below their max. I could never come up with a way to balance it though, since obviously that gave the battle mages a real power boost.

I seem to recall that the Archmage PrC could gain something like that (signature spell? I don't have my books handy) but that didn't come into play until very high levels.

 

[Henry]

This thread has become increasingly heated. It's time to give it a rest, because once people start using terms like "whiners" and "fascists," (one I missed until recently), it's only got downhill to go from there.

Let's give it a rest for a day or so, and come up with more constructive criticism a little later.

Thread closed.