Class being penalized for doing its thing?

[frankthedm]

Perhaps traps stop doing HP damage and focus more on ability drains or power suppression?

Maybe they focus more on killing, as they should have in the first place.

 

[Dinkeldog]

I agree with this.
The unlimited magic missile may be good for a continual combat type of game, but makes no sense from a concept of world-building.

When I was DMing, the big break came at 9th level with the advent of Teleport. From that point forward, the game went from being driven at my operational tempo to single encounter blowouts teleport out to rest and return. Sure, I could (and did) teleport to them, but that just has TPK written all over it. The game became much more difficult to manage.

 

[Redclaw]

I don't know. I've seen an issue with almost every class in different situations. Fighters, once they get to certain levels, are much less effective in terms of doing damage to opponents than wizards, barbarians, or even clerics. On top of that, clerics can be just as effective in terms of defense, if they so choose. The fighter was mostly made insignificant by the crazy increase in SA damage for rogues and the powerful offensive spells of the cleric. A high level party is much more effective with two clerics or two rogues than a fighter and one of the others. Feats are great, but they just don't keep pace with the other classes' benefits.
Wizards have a long history of sitting certain combats out, in my experience. They often hang at the back of the battle and say "Okay guys, you take care of it." The fact that they run out of any magical options makes them less wizardly, at least for some of the encounters each day.
Rogues are great in most combats, but become useless in others, as has been mentioned above. The one thing that could affect this is the oft-overlooked Use Magic Device skill. A rogue carrying a wand of disrupt undead becomes much more usefull, let alone something more powerful.
Nothing hurts the player of a cleric more than having to convert that flamestrike that they've waited seven levels to be able to cast into a cure critical wounds. Those offensive spells are nice, but they don't get used as often as we'd like because they make way for the healing spells.
These are just the basic four, but I have seen plenty of similar examples for the other core classes. I know that the game isn't broken, and I don't think that any of these problems make any class unplayable (although the fighter is close at high levels). However, if 4E can fix some of these concerns so that every encounter is fun for every player/class, then why shouldn't they do so?

 

[SkidAce]

In my experience, good DMs in all editions of the game made sure that wizards' intelligence and knowledge could be useful, not just their magic.

Hear, Hear!

 

[SSquirrel]

Sure, he gets the glory of getting the point, but it couldn't be done without you.

In our current D&D game, I'm a mage that steals the spotlight from time to time. But mostly, I cast Haste, Bull's Strength, or other buffs on my allies. I like the support roles, what can I say?

When 3E first came out I played a Wizard in a world where magic was very heavily frowned upon. A friend of ours played a paladin w/lots of heart, but no brains. I kept casting spells like Daze and Blindness to make the enemies easier to hit, Grease at a distance to make them fall down, etc. Which made the Paladin start yelling insults at our enemies for their lack of ability to stand and fight like men. It was great fun.

I also play a L70 Paladin in WoW, so yeah I cover the support angle a lot, but from time to time, I just enjoy making a nasty fighter

 

[Stalker0]

About the unlimited spells for a wizard, I don't it will be magic missile or eldritch blast. More like ray of frost at will. Sure its at will, but at a 1d3 damage your not going to be killing all the commoners at 1st level

 

[Geron Raveneye]

Something I wonder by now...will the "penalty" of Death due to unsuccessfully attempting a challenge also be removed?

I mean...come on, my favorite character dying on me because I fumbled the stupid Fort save, or because the Ogre Barbarian with the greataxe was faster on the draw than my wizard...is NO FUN! And since "NO FUN" obviously are the trigger words for a severe rules change in a new edition...maybe immortality is just around the corner.

 

[RFisher]

I've never seen wizards use a crossbow in any fantasy genre stuff outside of 3e D&D.

Right! They use swords!

 

[Aus_Snow]

Right! They use swords!

Yes. Or daggers. Or longbows, even.

No, I am not kidding.

And no, it's not (IMO) a bad thing, necessarily.

 

[Voadam]

The wizard is typically the smartest person in the party. He's got a genius-level intellect and access to all Knowledge skills. How is that like being a commoner? In my experience, good DMs in all editions of the game made sure that wizards' intelligence and knowledge could be useful, not just their magic.

Mechanically the high int and (in 3e) knowledge skills are not that big a deal on adventures outside of spellcasting.

In the dungeon the 3e wizard with no spells can ID some monster traits during combat. Otherwise he is a d4 HD, 1/2 BAB person with limited simple weapon skills and no armor proficiency. That is how it is like a commoner.

Playing a wizard with no magic in D&D is like playing Call of Cthulhu while everyone else is playing anime heroes, you die quickly from contact with monsters while everyone else is doing heroic combat.