D&D 5E Is It Time to Partition Ritual and Non-Ritual Spells?

[MoonSong]

Well, they can't do it /as often/.

That's a very clumsy way of balancing. When the adventure is obviously tending towards combat, the caster preps all combat spells and obviates the fighter, when it's obviously going to be non-combat, he preps the right spells and overshadows the rogue at the most important moments. Sure, sometimes, when he has the wrong spells prepped or the day drags on, the fighter or rogue might get to pitch in by dealing with the second- or third- most important thing so the caster doesn't have to bother with it. Plus, when the campaign tends heavily towards combat, the thief is just useless, while the caster can prep all-combat; when it goes heavily towards non-combat, the fighter might as well not show up, while the caster just preps a different set of spells.

Now that we've heard the "three pillars" articulated and the concept rings true, it would make sense to start equipping every class with balanced features and abilities /for each of those pillars/. Rituals would correspond to the 'exploration' pillar to a high degree, while prepped spell stay combat-oriented. You'd still have how casters deal with interaction to hammer out, but it would be a fair start.

The issue of casters not overshadowing other characters would have to be confronted head on: by making spells that are actually balanced.

The problem I find is, Thieving Sorcerers are a valid character concept and one shouldn't be stopped from creating one, they possibily outshinning the rogue is offset by the fact they are built to do the same thing and still lack the flexibility to turn into goblin toasters overnight (and the rogue is way more flexible overall). But they become impossible to build if you overnerf the spells. No sir, the spells are right, the problem is in the wizard. Nerf the wizard, leave the spells alone. Don't hurt specialist in order to attack the generalists. And every sorcerer is by definition a speciallist and needs access to the spells that will help him be viable on different pillars, just not all at the same time.

Just be honest, you don't have a problem with casters, you have a problem with wizards. Only a very optimized sorcerer could hope to begin to break the game as any run of the mill wizard, druid or cleric can without breaking a sweat (or wanting to). The rest of them are just fine, leave them alone.