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<blockquote data-quote="Clint_L" data-source="post: 9354121" data-attributes="member: 7035894">Part of the point of spell casting is that it requires you to manage opportunity costs.Yes, you can prepare &quot;Knock&quot; or &quot;Spider Climb,&quot; or both. And that means two other spells can't be taken. Spells that may have turned out to be much more useful on the day.The OP asks &quot;how often&quot; do you normally need to do a particular task. Probably not that often. But they frame this as a problem with on demand abilities and a strength of spell casting. I find that odd.Because &quot;how often&quot; do you need to open a lock in a situation where a loud, echoing &quot;KNOCK&quot; is not going to be a problem? How often do you need to climb a sheer surface? If the answer is rarely, then probably most days you've wasted a spell slot, which is a valuable resource. Where the rogue has lost nothing. The opportunity cost is much higher for the spell caster.Basically, for the rogue it's low cost (you've always got the ability), low reward (since you don't often need the ability), and for the spell caster, it's high risk (since you are wasting a finite resource), high reward (when you need it, it's great). Think of arguably the most iconic D&amp;D spell, fireball. Most of the time, it's a lousy spell. It does poor damage against single targets, such as a BBEG, it causes significant collateral damage, and it has to be carefully managed so it doesn't blow up your own guys. But when the situation is right, it's amazing. How does that compare to being able to whack someone with an axe whenever you need to? Usually, the axe is better. But sometimes, the fireball is incredible.Spell casters don't just have whatever spell they need, whenever they need it.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Clint_L, post: 9354121, member: 7035894"] Part of the point of spell casting is that it requires you to manage opportunity costs. Yes, you can prepare "Knock" or "Spider Climb," or both. And that means two other spells can't be taken. Spells that may have turned out to be much more useful on the day. The OP asks "how often" do you normally need to do a particular task. Probably not that often. But they frame this as a problem with on demand abilities and a strength of spell casting. I find that odd. Because "how often" do you need to open a lock in a situation where a loud, echoing "KNOCK" is not going to be a problem? How often do you need to climb a sheer surface? If the answer is rarely, then probably most days you've wasted a spell slot, which is a valuable resource. Where the rogue has lost nothing. The opportunity cost is much higher for the spell caster. Basically, for the rogue it's low cost (you've always got the ability), low reward (since you don't often need the ability), and for the spell caster, it's high risk (since you are wasting a finite resource), high reward (when you need it, it's great). Think of arguably the most iconic D&D spell, [I]fireball.[/I] Most of the time, it's a lousy spell. It does poor damage against single targets, such as a BBEG, it causes significant collateral damage, and it has to be carefully managed so it doesn't blow up your own guys. But when the situation is right, it's amazing. How does that compare to being able to whack someone with an axe whenever you need to? Usually, the axe is better. But sometimes, the [I]fireball[/I] is incredible. Spell casters don't just have whatever spell they need, whenever they need it. [/QUOTE]

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