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Message: <blockquote data-quote="GSHamster" data-source="post: 5501337" data-attributes="member: 20187">I haven't read the entire thread, only up to page 20 or so. But the discussion kind of reminds me of a quote from The Matrix:Agents = warriors. Neo = wizard.The world or setting has physical rules. Only magic can break those rules. So by definition, a character without magic is bound by those rules.In literature, the countering force to this is the Narrative. Warriors defeat wizards because the story demands that they do. In a game, you really have four options if you want to keep Warriors on par with Wizards. Otherwise, the wizards end up like Neo: untouchable gods.1. Give warriors some direct control over the Narrative. This greatly annoys the "simulationist" audience, because for the simulationists, the Narrative falls out of the interaction between rules, player choices, and dice, and should not be controlled directly by the players.2. Restrict magic greatly. For example, imagine a setting where the only magic is enchantment or illusion. In such a setting, it is easy to imagine that warriors can defeat wizards, if only through sheer force of will. Downside of this is that wizard players greatly dislike being restricted in such a manner, and it goes against the wizard archetype that the game is used to.3. Give wizards a significant weakness. I.e. they can be killed by a single weapon blow. Or maybe there is an element which nullifies magic. (For example, a'dam in Wheel of Time.) But this is sometimes hard to balance. If the weakness is in play, the wizard is too weak. If the weakness is not in play, the wizard is too powerful. So encounters have the potential to be very swingy for the wizard, as the example of a'dam in WoT illustrates.4. Give the warriors magic. For example, I think it's much easier for us to imagine a paladin taking down a wizard. The paladin is imbued with the might of her god, and that "magic" allows her to break the physical rules when necessary. But the problem with this is that a lot of people are attracted to warriors and rogues because they specifically do not have magic, and obviously giving them magic would make those players unhappy.</blockquote>

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