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<blockquote data-quote="The Crimson Binome" data-source="post: 7730391" data-attributes="member: 6775031">The basic design concept is that, since they spend so much of the end-game as the strongest class, they should spend as much as possible of the start-game as the weakest class. If you let them reach second level before the cleric did - if the magic user reached second level at 1400, compared to the cleric at 1500 - then suddenly the magic user isn't the weakest class for that bracket between 1400 and 1500. And while it wouldn't be the end of the world if they had that small boost early, given that the cleric would surpass them again so quickly, the goal here really is to maximize the amount of time they spend as the worst.Without getting into spreadsheets, an argument could be made that end-game starts as soon as the magic user reaches fifth level. That one level is such a huge boost for magic users, and nothing a fighter or thief gets can ever compete. With such a small window to work with, they really need to cram as much inferiority into there as possible in order for things to balance in the end. And while there are certainly other balances that could have been struck, I can't fault them for following Gygax's lead here, given the nature of the product.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="The Crimson Binome, post: 7730391, member: 6775031"] The basic design concept is that, since they spend so much of the end-game as the strongest class, they should spend as much as possible of the start-game as the weakest class. If you let them reach second level before the cleric did - if the magic user reached second level at 1400, compared to the cleric at 1500 - then suddenly the magic user [I]isn't[/I] the weakest class for that bracket between 1400 and 1500. And while it wouldn't be the end of the world if they had that small boost early, given that the cleric would surpass them again so quickly, the goal here really is to maximize the amount of time they spend as the worst. Without getting into spreadsheets, an argument could be made that end-game starts as soon as the magic user reaches fifth level. That one level is [I]such[/I] a huge boost for magic users, and nothing a fighter or thief gets can ever compete. With such a small window to work with, they really need to cram as much inferiority into there as possible in order for things to balance in the end. And while there are certainly other balances that could have been struck, I can't fault them for following Gygax's lead here, given the nature of the product. [/QUOTE]

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