Today is a strange day. For the second time, I must agree with hong, and this time fairly strongly. Perhaps the solar radiation on my planet has shifted in wavelength.
As for all of the "literature" referenced (and I do not consider anything by Weis and Hickman to be elevated to the level of "literature"), there is one basic but profound fault that I fear Celtavian has in converting those stories/concepts to 3E: character level.
* Yes, Gandalf is more powerful than Samwise, because Gandalf is effectively a celestial or half-celestial, with many levels of spellcasting and non-spellcasting classes. Samwise is a Commoner 2, at best, at the start of the story. Sauron is not even a spellcaster - frankly there are almost no "spells" except for a couple flashes of light on Gandalf's part, in any of Tolkien's writing, either that he published or his son.
*Yes, Allanon is more powerful than Shea Ohmsford, because Allanon is probably close to epic levels, and Shea is a Commoner 2 at best.
*Yes, Merlin is more powerful than King Arthur (as an individual), because Merlin is Merlin, the definition of an epic spellcaster, and King Arthur is only a high level fighter or paladin, maybe even low epic.
So, if you assume that all of the characters in the book are of the same level (like the typical D&D party), then yes, the spellcasters are more powerful because of their class. But clearly, the balanced party is only a figment of the RPG genre, not the fantasy literature genre.
What does this have to do with Haste? Not a dang thing. If the poll about spellcasting archetypes won't work, perhaps we need a new poll about haste to kick things off again?
-Fletch!
