shilsen said:
Best suggestion on the thread. Wizards and fighters (or any pair of classes) in D&D aren't designed to balance out in a one-on-one fight. They are designed to support each other and fill various niches in a group, since D&D is focused on group play. If you want to know if two classes are even in strength, consider what kind of abilities they bring to the group and how much each are required.
Perhaps some form of gauntlet challenge? Each contestant makes, say, 10 challenges of an encounter level rating eqaul to the Effective Character Level of the two characters, and run both characters through all 20 challenges, in sequence (Player's A and B - Player A faces them in B1, A1, B2, A2, ... order, while B faces them in A1, B1, A2, B2, ... order). For each encounter overcome, gain one point. For every time the character dies, lose two (but you no longer need to face that challenge, and you get a free full restoration). For every time the character rests between encounters (special: resting does a full restore - all HP recovered, all effects removed), lose one point. Bypassing an encounter gains 0 points, and you aren't allowed to bypass more than one encounter with a given action (so you can invisibly teleport to the other end of the room and continue without facing the Mighty Green Dragon, but your score does not increase, and you are down two spells for doing so in the next room - you aren't allowed to use the same effects). There is assumed to be a 1 hour walking delay between encounters (long hallway, say) so that most combat buffs wear off, and must be re-cast. The character is not assumed to have warning that THIS door is the one with the encounter behind it, and isn't permitted to buff up before a combat-type encounter. If a character beats every challenge without resting, dying, or bypassing any encounters, it has a full 20 points at the end. If a character bypasses them all, 0 points; if a character always dies, it has -40.
