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Message: <blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 9595186" data-attributes="member: 6790260">Well, had I my druthers:<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Fly is one of the spots where spellcasting can be allowed to just do a really cool thing that doesn't have a direct response. It's actually okay for spellcasting to have a few things like that....so long as the transmundane martial also has cool things they can do that are Just Better than any response/retort a spellcaster could attempt using spells. You may note, this is one of the things I've been pushing for all along, special things unique to martials that casters can't replicate. I don't personally think weapon masteries achieve the job, but they're an exceedingly rare step in the right direction, so I don't want to criticize them too much.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I'm very much in favor of interesting asymmetrical design and asymmetrical balance. If we did just give martials a perfect counter to every spell and spellcasters a perfect counter to every maneuver, all we would accomplish is making both sides equally bland. Instead, I would suggest offering varied benefits to each side. Example: Spellcasters can create food out of nothing (create food and water, goodberry, heroes' feast, etc.) That's a perfectly acceptable thing for only explicitly magical characters to do. An asymmetrical but still analogous thing to do? Maybe martial characters can resist Exhaustion, perhaps even becoming nigh-immune to it at very high levels (again, Beowulf swimming home across the ocean while carrying 30 suits of armor).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Some of the bones of some good things can be found in various features...but a lot of them are given to spellcasters and martials alike, with no real pattern. I would like to see things like Reliable Talent made exclusive to martial classes, to show how such adventurers achieve truly superlative skill and ability. Iterate further on this, developing both clearly powerful uses for skills and clearly skill-forward features that encourage martial characters to think along those lines, just as spellcasters are innately encouraged to think along the lines of "when and how should I use my slots?"</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Amongst my 13 "missing" archetypes from 5.5 (13 rather than 12 because there is no 5.5e Artificer yet), I have a class I call "Machinist", though I don't really care for that name and am still thinking of better ones. Regardless, it's the warrior-of-technology, someone who wields machinery, devices, non-alchemical chemistry, and other sorts of things. As they transcend the limits of mundanity through their skill and precision and knowledge, they'd become rather like the stereotype of Batman, having a utility belt with a bazillion esoteric but useful tools. (Probably, I'd make it involve skill rolls and having only a chance to pull out the most-useful thing? I dunno, I'm totally spitballing here, but that mechanic worked alright for the 3.5e BO9S Crusader, so...)</li> </ol>Essentially, we solve this problem by:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Further developing the reductions in top-end caster power, without going back to the bad old days of "ope, you ran out of your 3 spells, time to fling darts!" because...that's not what people today find fun or engaging.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Adding more classes that aren't inherently magical. The Warlord is the obvious first choice, particularly since adding it would be an ENORMOUS olive branch to a group of fans that often--absolutely not always, but certainly often--feel snubbed. Others include my "Machinist" idea, an innately spell-free Ranger (which is what it should've been all along), and possibly Assassin and Avenger (though they're at least a bit magical too.)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Concentrating skill- and action-based mechanics much more heavily in the so-called "martial" classes, particularly those that are purely opt-in for magic (Barbarian, Fighter, reworked Ranger, Rogue, Warlord, "Machinist", etc.), while pushing spellcasters to more completely rely on spells or magic features to achieve their own superlative effects.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Add, at very very high levels, "~~feats~~ deeds of might", or some equivalent thing, where martial characters can get some powerful effects. Offer a range of things, some more obviously, let's say "dramatic" than others, so that people who are really against this sort of thing have some options that are at least closer to their preferences.</li> </ul></blockquote>

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