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Message: <blockquote data-quote="apoptosis" data-source="post: 4333592" data-attributes="member: 3226">Really depends on what the game is trying to do.If you want all players to have significant actions every round of and encounter and all actions are of comparable scope with identical number of  actions availableThen the 4E design is probably the best design for this (and this is why people consider the classes abilities very similar).They are different in that some of the fiddly bits are different which is either significant or not based on your focus and perspective. I dont find them highly different but i am not looking for an encounter-based game.If you are looking for an encounter-based game then the design is very good and you can see how the differences play out.In my other post I mentioned several different ways of handling this. Of course they all have their weaknesses.1. limited uses based on slots or ability drain (really limited not 3.5 limited; say 5-10 spells total a day) - problem is the casters will not do magic stuff every round and will be a bit all or nothing2. dangerous magic or  costly magic (say you get -1 to your next roll that is cumulative for the next week or somethign..just making stuff up) - many players prefer magic as a tool and not dangerous3. unpredicatable magic (might work might not) - see #24. Long regeneration time - might take week or even month to get magic back to full - same issues as #1 and if a player blows their entire wad and cant do magic for the next week/month they might not like that5. non-magic characters have access to more narrative powers like action points or drama points - if you are trying to balance by characters it wont go over well and some people hate narrativist mechanics.I think there are many ways to balance things. 4E is one of my least favorite ways of doing this (based on the style i play and how I want magic to feel in a game) but at the same time for the style they are going for it was probably the best way to do it.</blockquote>

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