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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jeff Wilder" data-source="post: 5509938" data-attributes="member: 5122">See, what I keep seeing is descriptions of the "problem" that assume absolutely unfettered access to every possible spell.That's simply not how we have always played the game.I can see how, if you play the game that way, things could become imbalanced.  I can also see that it would then be tempting to advocate either (a) removing every possible spell that can combine to cause problems, or (b) give fighters unfettered access to some equivalent resource.I am against both "solutions" to the "problem."The problem I have with (a) is that it throws the baby (the wizard having access to truly spectacular magic, and I like that about D&D) out with the bathwater (the wizard being allowed to abuse that power by operating without limits).The problem I have with (b) is that I like playing the guy who doesn't rely on truly spectacular magic.  I'm not interested in being a fighter who can pick up a bridge and hit someone with it, or who can leap a quarter-mile at a time.  (Or, to be more precise, I am often interested in being that kind of fighter; I enjoy Mutants & Masterminds.)  I also really dislike "arms race" situations in RPGs.This complaint is similar to the complaints about optimization, except that (IMO) optimization is a real, actual, in-play issue.  Optimization can be a pain in the ass, and it can ruin the fun for some people.  In our games, on the rare occasion it happens, the GM handles it by saying, "Uh, no," sometimes after having mistakenly allowing it.  For whatever reason, nobody in our games even attempts to create or run wizards in the way described in this thread.  I don't know for sure why, or why it differs from optimization in that respect, but maybe at some level it simply comes down to respect for the other players' fun.  I don't think it would succeed, if anybody did attempt it, but it hasn't happened.Kamikaze Midget seems to assume that I'm talking about control by the GM, but I'm not.  I'm talking about the playstyle of the entire group.  If nothing else, this thread is valuable to me as insight into a certain type of player and GM that I am extremely grateful I don't experience locally.So here's your fix to the "problem": Play with better people.</blockquote>

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