TheSleepyKing said:
The problem I have really is that the Wizard is no longer the guy for creative solutions to problems. There's no more using a minor illusion to cover a pit, or throwing a rope at an enemy and animating it. Or transmuting rock to mud to create a mire, or summoning a celestial monkey to check for traps. Everything a wizard does is just a variation on the fireball now.
There was an entire thread about this before...but the short form is that "creative solution" is another term for "broken" or "hard to adjudicate in game".
In almost every case where a "creative solution" was used, it essentially was an abuse of a power in order to gain benefit WAY beyond its intended purpose.
Even just the above examples can be translated to:
Illusion over a pit: I get the ability to craft an instant, free trap that using the skill rules for trapmaking would have taken multiple days and lots of gold to build. Using the skill rules it would have had a DC 15 to spot that it was a trap, but because it is an illusion, there is no roll at all. Everyone just automatically fails. I gain much better benefit than if I had spent a bunch of skill points instead of one spell.
Throw rope and animate it: Wow, using Animate Rope to entangle someone. That seems a creative use for a spell that animates rope to entangle someone. And infinitely more creative(and useful) than, say, using Tasha's Hideous Laughter to completely incapacitate an enemy.
Transmuting Rock to Mud: Frankly, this isn't creative use of a spell that's specifically designed to do this...so it's not abuse at all.
Summoning a creature to find traps: Here's one. I'll have a 100% chance of finding traps with almost no danger to us OR the ability to summon a monster to help in combat. And it'll be just one of a bunch of abilities I get. Meanwhile, you rogue have a 50% chance of finding and disarming the trap and it might blow up and kill you and it'll be most of your classes entire purpose. Don't worry, I'm not more powerful than you, I'm just the one who comes up with "Creative Solutions".