cross ofth carpenter
First Post
On Forums on 3.5, usually the topic of fighters and spellcasters (more narrowly wizards) with the most people saying that fighters are low tier
and don't do as well while magic-users dominate etc.
I think that is debatable and a good case could be made for fighters
and more narrowly against wizards but balancing the perceived power
some magic-users may have.
Now some aspects of this that are not considered are that
wizards in particular, perhaps due to their ego and power are
usually semi-antisocial and most likely to be feared and distrusted
by the community and society.
Whereas fighters, provided they have the same religion
as the community and are not a source of disorder are
likely to have the support and faith of the community
and society.
In addition wizards are physically not as strong,
which does have a major impact on survivability,
particularly in the levels to 10.
Another factor is the pyramid shaped scarcity of wizards by level.
The number of wizards of a given level is largely shaped like a
pyramid so that the higher the level, the less number of
wizards of that level exist so a 10th lvl wizard might exist
in a medium sized town but a 15th lvl wizard might only
exist in a much larger area and likely very few of them
would exist what to say of anything beyond that.
The scarcity of wizards is governed by another factor,
since the wizard is a knowledge based class and as
everyone knows in the D&D world of the middle ages
knowledge and learning were restricted to a few, the
wizard will most likely need an aristocratic background to
be able to acquire that knowledge and learning and
advance. Not something available to most people, but
only a select few individuals of aristocratic background.
Now different rule systems regard magic and spell casting
may exist, but it is not the case that a wizard is
able to use all of his spells at one, and the need
for scarce use of his prepared spells in a day
further limits his ability to be the dominant force
all the time or even most of the time.
That is why I think a good case can be made
for fighters and also the other non-magical
classes and against over-appraisal of
spell-casters which seems to be the case.
and don't do as well while magic-users dominate etc.
I think that is debatable and a good case could be made for fighters
and more narrowly against wizards but balancing the perceived power
some magic-users may have.
Now some aspects of this that are not considered are that
wizards in particular, perhaps due to their ego and power are
usually semi-antisocial and most likely to be feared and distrusted
by the community and society.
Whereas fighters, provided they have the same religion
as the community and are not a source of disorder are
likely to have the support and faith of the community
and society.
In addition wizards are physically not as strong,
which does have a major impact on survivability,
particularly in the levels to 10.
Another factor is the pyramid shaped scarcity of wizards by level.
The number of wizards of a given level is largely shaped like a
pyramid so that the higher the level, the less number of
wizards of that level exist so a 10th lvl wizard might exist
in a medium sized town but a 15th lvl wizard might only
exist in a much larger area and likely very few of them
would exist what to say of anything beyond that.
The scarcity of wizards is governed by another factor,
since the wizard is a knowledge based class and as
everyone knows in the D&D world of the middle ages
knowledge and learning were restricted to a few, the
wizard will most likely need an aristocratic background to
be able to acquire that knowledge and learning and
advance. Not something available to most people, but
only a select few individuals of aristocratic background.
Now different rule systems regard magic and spell casting
may exist, but it is not the case that a wizard is
able to use all of his spells at one, and the need
for scarce use of his prepared spells in a day
further limits his ability to be the dominant force
all the time or even most of the time.
That is why I think a good case can be made
for fighters and also the other non-magical
classes and against over-appraisal of
spell-casters which seems to be the case.