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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The Sigil" data-source="post: 938289" data-attributes="member: 2013">Because the fighter's damage does not scale with level (that is, his sword does 1d8 points of damage at 20th level, the same it did at 1st level, while the Wizard's best spell is blasting away for 24d6 points of damage at 20th level compared to the 1d4+1 he got at first level).Let us assume a "standard fighter" per the DMG p.53...  Compare his AC and his attack bonus and average damage.  I'll assume for the sake of simplicity that the average is 5 points of damage with a bastard sword instead of 5.5 and put the damage as a percentage of foe's expected hp in parentheses)At level 1: 18 AC, +5 Attack... 40% hit chance; avg dmg. 2.8 (23%)Level 2: 19 AC, +6 attack... 40%; 2.8 (15%)Level 3: 21 AC, +7 attack... 35%; 2.45 (9%)Level 4: 21 AC, +9 attack... 45%; 4.5 (13%)Level 5: 21 AC, +10 attack... 50%; 5 (12%)Level 6: 22 AC, +11 attack... 50%; 7.5 (multiple attacks) (15%)Level 7: 22 AC, +12 attack... 55%; 9.35 (16%)Level 8: 23 AC, +13 attack... 55%; 9.35 (15%)Level 9: 23 AC, +14 attack... 60%; 10.45 (15%)Level 10: 24 AC, +15 attack... 60%; 10.45 (13%)Level 11: 25 AC, +16 attack... 60%; 11.55 (third attack) (13%)Level 12: 25 AC, +19 attack... 75%; 19.5 (21%)Level 13: 25 AC, +20 attack... 80%; 21.45 (21%)Level 14: 27 AC, +21 attack... 75%; 19.5 (18%)Level 15: 28 AC, +23 attack... 80%; 23.1 (20%)Level 16: 30 AC, +24 attack... 75%; 21.7 (fourth attack) (18%)Level 17: 31 AC, +27 attack... 85%; 30.4 (23%)Level 18: 32 AC, +28 attack... 85%; 30.4 (22%)Level 19: 32 AC, +31 attack... 95%; 45.0 (27%)Level 20: 34 AC, +33 attack... hits 95% of the time; 47.5 (27%)So at every level, the fighter can be expected to do approximately 1/4 to 1/7 of his opponent's hit points; meaning that a one-on-one duel would last, on average, 4 to 7 rounds (depending on level and of course, crits, which were not accounted for above).Now, compare to a Wizard using his best (highest level) spell versus a Will (good) save.  A simple rule of thumb that can be used is that a wizard deals damage, on average, equal to 3 times his character level with his "best spell" - it's rounded down and a bit on the low side (magic missile does 3.5 per missile, fireball does 3.5 per die, and DBF does 4.5 per die), but we rounded down the fighter's damage as well, so it's a fair rounding.  Average damage is in parentheses and is equal to 3 per level on a failed save ("works x percentage of the time") and 1.5 per level - half damage - on a made save ("100-x percentage").  That comes out to 2.175 points of damage for 45% success rate and 2.1 for a 40% success rate (the only rates on the table below) per level.  Note that the damage inflicted is roughly the SAME as the fighter!!!  And remember this is on a GOOD SAVE.Level 1: 13 DC, +3 Save... spell works 45% of the time; 2.2Level 2: 13 DC, +4 Save... 40%; 4.2Level 3: 14 DC, +4 Save... 45%; 6.5Level 4: 15 DC, +5 Save... 45%; 8.7Level 5: 16 DC, +6 Save... 45%; 10.9Level 6: 16 DC, +7 Save... 40%; 12.6Level 7: 17 DC, +7 Save... 45%; 15.2Level 8: 17 DC, +8 Save... 40%; 16.8Level 9: 18 DC, +8 Save... 45%; 19.6Level 10: 18 DC, +9 Save... 40%; 21Level 11: 19 DC, +9 Save... 40%; 23.1Level 12: 20 DC, +10 Save... 40%; 25.2Level 13: 21 DC, +11 Save... 40%; 27.3Level 14: 22 DC, +12 Save... 40%; 29.4Level 15: 24 DC, +13 Save... 45%; 32.6Level 16: 24 DC, +14 Save... 40%; 33.6Level 17: 25 DC, +14 Save... 45%; 37.0Level 18: 26 DC, +15 Save... 45%; 39.2Level 19: 26 DC, +15 Save... 45%; 41.3Level 20: 27 DC, +16 Save... 45%; 43.5Now, in general, the fighter's odds to hit improve as he goes up in level, while the wizards odds of successfully casting a spell remain about the same.  The difference is that the fighter's damage does not scale with level in the same way that the Wizard's does... a 10th level wizard's most effective spell - fireball - is more than ten times as effective as a first-level wizard's most effective spell - magic missile.That's why.  Because AC is easier to boost than Saves... Saves go up more slowly, so wizard spell DCs must go up more slowly or the wizard gains an unfair advantage.  Of course, not included in the above is that the fighter is likely doing his damage to one target, the wizard to many.It really is fascinating, when you take the "average probability curves" and line them up, how well the classes stay in balance.  Obviously, you can twink and abuse the rules, deliberately trying to skew the curve, but "average characters" are remarkably balanced.--The Sigil</blockquote>

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