But isn't that what magic is all about? Making the impossible possible? What can those who do not have such magic do to be on equal footing with their magical counterparts?
This is a hard question to answer. In part I think you really need to respect the space of what defines the martial character. A fighter is not just someone who knows how to use a sword. They dedicate a significant portion of their mental energy towards different ways to kill people. They can see combat play out in their head before it happens. Martial characters are hyper focused. No spell caster can match them in their area of expertise without dedicating a significant portion of their allotted power and then not for very long.
Another element of the equation in my mind is removing the ability for spell casters to completely reinvent themselves everyday. They shouldn't be as focused as martial characters, but they should have to chose a couple areas to excel in. 5e Domains are a step in the right direction here. Generally I'm fine with plot magic like teleport, turn undead, planar travel, raise dead, some healing and the like. It's one area where casters can differentiate themselves without stepping on toes. It's spells like knock, long term invisibility, and powerful combat magic that make martial PCs blush that I take issue with. Spell casters should have an edge in a single encounter, but not too strong of one.
Another area that can easily improve upon things as they stand is to embrace the supernatural elements of hybrids like monks, paladins, etc. You can justify a lot more interesting abilities if a paladin is more than a fighter with smite evil and a few weak divine spells. Give them some flexible mechanics all their own.
The final element for me is the level playing field of mechanically interesting play. Skill use and combat need to at least be as interesting of a challenge for fighters and rogues as spell management is for casters. Through whatever mechanical means martial PCs need the ability to make interesting decisions that have real opportunity costs. Smart play needs to be rewarded from all participants.
I think this goes two ways. The wizard does need to be constrained, but the fighter also needs to be raised. Personally, I think it should be more difficult for a wizard to cast spells in combat. Keeping up a rate of 5 spells in 5 rounds should not be typical, regardless of at-will magic. There should be times in combat where wizards know they are in too much danger to risk casting a spell. Spellcasting should not be the automatic action it has become in the most recent editions.
However, I think two of the biggest issues with the fighter are:
- The rogue has sucked out the natural room for the fighter to be highly skilled (and has sucked out the room for all characters to be highly skilled). I would love to see the rogue as a derivative of the fighter with a suitable background/theme.
- The fighter as a possible leader (ala warlord) should be encouraged (and at this stage is not). With this, the fighter should be hitting but they should also be getting an additional effect that their allies can use to their advantage. Opening up battle management for the fighter is a very important area of design space I would like to see taken advantage of.
This is good stuff. I'd XP but I need to spread. Part of the issue here is that so far there has been reluctance for the rules to address what is happening in the wider fiction. I think at a certain level you need to move past the game rules only handling personal action resolution. I favor something similar to FantasyCraft's Reputation mechanics with an edge given to martial characters to reflect that they're more active in the world than spell casters tend to be as absorbed in magic and religious politics as they tend to be.
High level 3.x play is certainly it's own beast. I think if the fighter is taking on an important social role (a leader of men and cities), then their capacity to bring along armies with them can be very important. This is of a scale completely different to regular play. I think Sepulchrave's Wyre stories on these boards encapsulate this perfectly.
However, this style is certainly not what many players are after and the fighter in such circumstances will usually be left very far behind.
Best Regards
Herremann the Wise
I'm also a fan believe it or not. Probably wouldn't be interested in playing a game like that, but it makes for good fiction. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the fact that Eadric occupies the same level of relevance in the fiction as a near godling as Mostin does.
