Leatherhead
Possibly a Idiot.
Telling Mary the wizard to go fool the kobolds with parlor tricks while the big boys get to fight the dragon with their swords is hardly a consolation.
I didn't ignore it - I specifically included it in the quote.
But, and this is a big but, fighters can get magic items that let them do tonnes of stuff outside of just hitting things. Always have, always will.
I think my point stands. Better if both classes can be effective at both situations.
I have never in my entire life seen a fighter whose magic items put him or her anywhere close to the non-combat versatility of a wizard at the same level. First, about half the magic items on the list are combat gear. (While the same is true of the wizard's spell list, the wizard gets to pick and choose. Magic items are at the whim of the dice and the DM.) Second, when dividing up the loot, the fighter usually ends up with the weapons and armor. And third, very few magic items provide noncombat capabilities remotely comparable to what the wizard can do with a mid-level spell, let alone a high-level one. At best, the fighter might carry a potion of flying or two--which will probably end up being used in combat to equalize the odds against a dragon or something.I didn't ignore it - I specifically included it in the quote.
But, and this is a big but, fighters can get magic items that let them do tonnes of stuff outside of just hitting things. Always have, always will.
I think there's two ways you can go about this. You can either take away most of the wizard's cool toys and say that magic is very limited outside of combat, or ...
Making the fighter fly and watching the fight from cover while Concentrating, making the rogue invisible, or teleporting the *party* into combat? Utility spells usually benefit the party IME, meaning the 'toys' are played with by all.
Limited spell slots means a Wizard can, for ex., dominate the Exploration pillar briefly if he luckily knows + prepped the right spell (Alter self to Swim, Spider Climb a cliff ...) but that will not last and the Fighter's or Rogue's Athletics/Str will be what is leaned on throughout the day.
My point is it's not as simple as you imply. If casters had infinite spells vs. martials infinite swings + skill-uses, then sure you could hand them a pillar to dominate all day the same way the martial dominates combat all day (setting aside that combat is usually by far the more important pillar in-game). Casters also have the lowest HP and are always closer to death.
To be clear, I'm only concerned about casters at mid-hi level, I think they are very fairly balanced until then.
I play a 13th-level wizard. Believe me, we ain't underpowered.
This is the first time that a high level fighter feels like a threat to a powerful creature and is a viable target because he can stand and take it as well as dish it out.
Well, to be fair, it's probably rather campaign-dependent. One of the changes in 5E relative to 4E was that the 5E designers decided it was acceptable to have classes specialized in different "pillars"--if you're good at exploration and social encounters, it's okay if you're not as strong in combat. That will naturally have disparate impact on different campaigns.I'm hearing both what you say and also the opposite (HL casters are relegated to buffing martials or minion-slaying), so I'm watching closely. There's only a relative trickle of actual HL play reports right now ... and I believe this aspect was the least tested in the Playtest.