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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Elder-Basilisk" data-source="post: 1096790" data-attributes="member: 3146">I don't know about what everyone else takes viable to mean but I take it to mean "not completely outclassed in a party of iconic style characters"--meaning single classed and reasonably well constructed but not completely min-maxed. (25 point buy means a high score of 15, 28-32 point buy means a high score of 16 etc.)An alternate meaning of viable would be capable of significant contributions in battles appropriate to the party's level. (A troll vs. 5th level characters, an ogre vs. 3rd level characters, a Half-fiend Barbarian 12 vs. 14th level characters, a Balor vs. 20th level characters, or an Ossyluth vs. 9th level characters for instance). It also strongly implies the ability to fight effectively against creatures somewhat higher than party level and suitable for "big boss" roles. (An Ossyluth against a 7th level party or a 13th level wizard against an 11th level party for instance).As to the rest of the post, it's clear that you dislike the D&D magic system and has been for some time. However, I think that you've allowed that dislike to cloud your judgement. Power increases exponentially for all PCs, not just single-classed spellcasters. 11th level fighter barbarians are easily capable of dealing 90 points of damage/round to AC 20 if tweaked a little. I think they compare almost as favorably to 1st level fighters or barbarians as 11th level wizards compare to 1st level wizards. (The power increase comes from higher strength, more magic items (weapons, armor, etc), more base attack bonus, and more feats, all of which have a cumulative effect). (And as to your suggestion that D&D would be more balanced if the most caster levels a spellcaster could have were 1/2, IMO that's ludicrous. A 5th level spellcaster might as well go home as try to make a meaningful contribution to a fight against most CR 10 monsters. (Except maybe a cleric healing the characters able to make real contributions). Any kind of redistribution of spellcasting power on that magnitude would necessitate re-evalutating every CR 4+ creature in the monster manual (as well as rewriting the sor/wiz,  druid, and cleric spell lists (a 5d6 fireball is laughable when the barbarian is dealing 90 hp damage/round and has great cleave)).</blockquote>

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