I know it's off-topic and really is moot since it's been a long time since I played AD&D, but could you explain this one to me? How do you get 2-3 rounds for a 9-segment spell? IIRC, a round is 10 segments long so at most the spell should overlap two rounds. I feel like this was one of many rules my group may have misinterpreted back in the day.
Yeah, I'm also a little rusty, been playing basic lately, not 1E. There are no segments in Basic.
9 segments, plus the initiative roll. So, theoretically, he can get it off in one round, if he's lucky and rolls well. But he's still going dead last. If he rolls a 6, that's 15 segments, so he'll go on segment 5 on the second round. So 2 rounds, generally, not 3, but my point still remains. If he's careful or lucky, or both, a magic user is stupidly powerful, but it's quite easy to ruin his day. Now,of course, if he plans well, he can be invisible, mirror imaged, etc, to hedge his bet, but he can't do this nearly as often as a 3e wizard. Even mid level spells are a problem because generally speaking, a spell has a casting time equal to it's spell level. There are exceptions, such as the power word spells, but it's generally true. So that cloudkill spell will still go late in the round and possibly on the second round of combat.
Again, I'm NOT suggesting 5e should incorporate segments, just that something needs to be done to reign in spellcasters. Make them work to get their spells off, or introduce a mechanic like WFRP wherin their's a casting roll that can be failed or make it dangerous to cast a spell. Something. Magicing up the fighter is the poorest solution they could have come up with. I play a fighter because I want to deal death with my sword, not magically hold aggro and have wounds spontaneously appear on the enemy because he decides to wack on the thief. 4e may have balanced the classes, but at what cost?
