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<blockquote data-quote="Neonchameleon" data-source="post: 5884293" data-attributes="member: 87792">See LogicNinja's guide.&nbsp; Spells like Glitterdust and Black Tentacles can make the rest of the party the cleanup crew.&nbsp;&nbsp;No.&nbsp; But both Merlin and Gandalf are NPCs.&nbsp; Gandalf is quite literally <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maia_(Middle-earth)" target="_blank">middle earth's equivalent to an angel</a>.&nbsp; And yet he is considered about the equivalent caster of an AD&amp;D 4th level druid.&nbsp; That is how overpowered D&amp;D magic is.&nbsp; Merlin is more like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keisuke_Miyagi" target="_blank">Mr. Miyage</a> than a protagonist - and certainly isn't a D&amp;D caster in most of the myths. &nbsp;&nbsp;You didn't.&nbsp; All the Harry Potter protagonists are wizards.&nbsp; Muggles are NPCs.&nbsp; You don't need balance between PCs and NPCs in an RPG.&nbsp; What you need is balance between PCs.&nbsp;Now try looking at the sword and sorcery that is D&amp;D's root.&nbsp; Conan eats spellcasters.&nbsp; The Grey Mouser might be a caster but he behaves more like a rogue.&nbsp; Even Jack Vance's wizards are ridiculously less powerful than D&amp;D ones - they could hold at most half a dozen spells at a time.&nbsp; And needed a lot of training - i.e. were high level.&nbsp;&nbsp;I'll dig up my Gygax quotes later.&nbsp; But he considered balance to be essential to good game design.&nbsp;As for the assumption in the rules, what else does &quot;level&quot; mean other than a measure of power?&nbsp; And if all characters have a level measuring their power then this is at the very least implied to be a standard across PCs - otherwise it's almost meaningless.&nbsp; (This is doubly true in games with differing XP tables as an obvious measure of balance).If you want to balance across the party while allowing wizards to be stronger in the world, just cap the power level of non-casters at level 6 or level 10 or whatever and give the casters unlimited advancement.&nbsp;&nbsp;Magic resistant foes aren't much of a problem in 3.X.&nbsp; Just pick your spells with care.&nbsp; And &quot;the only answer to magic is magic&quot; is not a good way to make the fighters relevant.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Neonchameleon, post: 5884293, member: 87792"] See LogicNinja's guide. Spells like Glitterdust and Black Tentacles can make the rest of the party the cleanup crew. No. But both Merlin and Gandalf are NPCs. Gandalf is quite literally [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maia_(Middle-earth)]middle earth's equivalent to an angel[/url]. And yet he is considered about the equivalent caster of an [i]AD&D 4th level druid[/i]. That is how overpowered D&D magic is. Merlin is more like [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keisuke_Miyagi]Mr. Miyage[/url] than a protagonist - and certainly isn't a D&D caster in most of the myths. You didn't. [I]All[/I] the Harry Potter protagonists are wizards. Muggles are NPCs. You don't need balance between PCs and NPCs in an RPG. What you need is balance between PCs. Now try looking at the sword and sorcery that is D&D's root. Conan eats spellcasters. The Grey Mouser might be a caster but he behaves more like a rogue. Even Jack Vance's wizards are ridiculously less powerful than D&D ones - they could hold at most half a dozen spells at a time. And needed a lot of training - i.e. were high level. I'll dig up my Gygax quotes later. But he considered balance to be essential to good game design. As for the assumption in the rules, what else does "level" mean other than a measure of power? And if all characters have a level measuring their power then this is at the very least implied to be a standard across PCs - otherwise it's almost meaningless. (This is doubly true in games with differing XP tables as an obvious measure of balance). If you want to balance across the party while allowing wizards to be stronger in the world, just cap the power level of non-casters at level 6 or level 10 or whatever and give the casters unlimited advancement. Magic resistant foes aren't much of a problem in 3.X. Just pick your spells with care. And "the only answer to magic is magic" is not a good way to make the fighters relevant. [/QUOTE]

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