brehobit said:And the solution is apparently to only have magic blow up things.
A more elegant solution might have been nice.
Magic does LOTS of other things. Check rituals, Clerics, Gnomes, etc. What you're actually upset about is that the wizard blows things up and inflicts status ailments instead of having the entire universes power wrapped up in his pocket. Well too bad, the Wizard's role is no longer to be ^(O_O)^ MAGIC!!! ^(O_O)^ It's to be a controller, that's his role in the party.
The previous editions wizard fell into the "Buffy Trap". In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the Slayer is the one with all the God Points, they do the awesome stuff, and everyone else plays second fiddle to them. There are lots of ways to overcome this:
Ars Magica says "yes, wizards are super powerful, and everyone gets a Wizard, and your wizard only gains power if he stays home and studies instead of adventuring and turning people inside out"
Buffy says "There may only be one Slayer in the party, and the game must emphasize character interaction and storytelling, to the point that it doesn't actually matter there is only one character in the party actually capable of injuring the bad guy."
Both of which are, mayhaps not "elegant", but at least workable solutions. Neither solution, however, is conducive to classic D&D play.
D&D (pre 3rd ed) says "Wizards are the most powerful class, nanny nanny boo boo. Thibbt. Maybe he'll take pity on you and give you some of his mojo (in the form of buffs), or maybe he'll just turn the enemy inside out."
D&D (4th) says "The cycle of suckertude ends now!
No class requires another class to buff them to be effective! (bye bye buff spells, which were possible to buff a wizard up past a Fighter's own combat ability).
Take out the "use once to totally pwn an encounter through 'creative solutions' but then the DM stops allowing that" spells (bye bye Illusions). Take out the Save Or Die - AKA win the encounter with a single saving throw - spells (bye bye ... lots of spells), and what do you have left?
You have blasto spells and status effects. Plus some of the more combat-oriented "utility" spells.
What do you not have? You don't have the "feel good magic", the capability of doing really stupid and silly things with your magical ability, just to remind yourself how magical you are.
I'm okay with this, and so are you. When did Gandalf ever fly around hobbiton casting fireballs into the air and summoning feindish hamsters into the town square? He blew smoke out of his pipe in the shape of a 4-masted ship. An effect easily within the realm of Prestidigitation.