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<blockquote data-quote="Mannahnin" data-source="post: 8533523" data-attributes="member: 7026594">It's interesting that we have this tension of wanting non-caster characters to be mundane and grounded in reality, but to contribute equally alongside archwizards, fighting epic dragons and demons.&nbsp; These two desires do seem inherently in conflict.Of course in literary fantasy a non-wizard protagonist can contribute and be essential through cunningly solving problems, or being important for plot reasons, for example.&nbsp; But while those are also possible in D&amp;D, they're not really answers to the mechanical issue.One way to resolve the issue is what OD&amp;D did- make high level fighters graduate to temporal power- armies and land and leadership, while wizards get their massive arcane powers on.&nbsp; The two are both badass but they're doing different things.Another is to embrace anime, or, honestly, mythology and folklore, and accept that epic (note the lower case e, so I'm not just talking about after 20th level) fighting heroes do tend to be or become superhuman.&nbsp; Cuchulainn, the Russian Bogatyr, Arthur's knights of the round table, and many other classic heroes of myth had straight-up magical and superhuman abilities, despite not being wizards or casting spells as such.&nbsp; And that's not even getting into Wuxia or the similar folkloric sources anime originally draws from.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Mannahnin, post: 8533523, member: 7026594"] It's interesting that we have this tension of wanting non-caster characters to be mundane and grounded in reality, but to contribute equally alongside archwizards, fighting epic dragons and demons. These two desires do seem inherently in conflict. Of course in literary fantasy a non-wizard protagonist can contribute and be essential through cunningly solving problems, or being important for plot reasons, for example. But while those are also possible in D&D, they're not really answers to the mechanical issue. One way to resolve the issue is what OD&D did- make high level fighters graduate to temporal power- armies and land and leadership, while wizards get their massive arcane powers on. The two are both badass but they're doing different things. Another is to embrace anime, or, honestly, mythology and folklore, and accept that epic (note the lower case e, so I'm not just talking about after 20th level) fighting heroes do tend to be or become superhuman. Cuchulainn, the Russian Bogatyr, Arthur's knights of the round table, and many other classic heroes of myth had straight-up magical and superhuman abilities, despite not being wizards or casting spells as such. And that's not even getting into Wuxia or the similar folkloric sources anime originally draws from. [/QUOTE]

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