NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Stoat" data-source="post: 4442438" data-attributes="member: 16786">I see three important play style issues that effect the balance of power between rogues and wizards.  Low-level v. High-level play:  As Remathilis said, the wizard needs spell slots or gold to compete with the rogue's skills.  At lower levels the wizard lacks both.  It's also worth noting that all core traps are CR 10 or lower.  If you don't usually play past level 10 or 12, you won't see the same disparity between rogues and wizards that you would otherwise.Availability of Scrolls & Wands:  A wizard that memorized knock as one of his 2nd level spells doesn't compete with the rogue the same way a Wand of Knock does.  If magic items are freely available (through crafting or through easy 3.X-style purchase) it becomes easier for the party to replace the rogue with magic.  If you limit the availability of magic items (for example, by making them hard to buy) you will increase the rogue's viability.Dungeon Delving v. Other Adventures:  The rogue's advantage is that he can search/disable/pick locks/etc. at will for no cost.  The more time a party spends looking for traps, opening doors, etc. the more taxing it is for the wizard to handle the job by himself.  At a certain point, the rogue becomes the more economical choice.I note that these are pretty foundational choices, and are frequently the subject of much debate around here.  Lots of folk don't like high level 3.X, and don't like magic Wal-marts.  I would expect those folks to get more utility out of their rogues.  FWIW, I DM'd a 3.X rogue from about level 10 to about level 20.  The party had a sorcerer and cleric but no wizard.  The rogue held his own until somewhere around lvl 15, and his performance dropped steadily after that.</blockquote>

Verification