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Message: <blockquote data-quote="N'raac" data-source="post: 6171228" data-attributes="member: 6681948">First off, I agree we've drifted far from our original topic.  I think we moved from "make Blasting a competitive choice to other Wizard choices" (ie in-class balance) to "make the classes competitive - don't make the wizard overshadow the fighter" ) (ie cross-class balance), which could mean "drop Blasting a bit and other options more to bring them down to the level of the fighter, rather than enhancing Blasting to be just as (over)powerful as other Wizard options".I don't find Blasting a great selection for wizards in 3e on, but I never liked the idea of spells that just do damage in any edition - let the fighters handle that while the spellcasters do things the fighters can't.  I agree with the initial poster that Blasting should be a competitive choice.  To me, that means Blasting as a specialty should be as powerful as any other specialty.  It also means a non-specialist should find a Blast spell or two just as useful as the occasional spell from any category outside their area of specialization.I also note that your recent posts have talked a lot about Buffs, but not a lot about those Dragons being Blasted out of the sky after being spotted a few moves away.  That, to me, also says something about how powerful Blasting was as an option.To the dragons, a "tactical" move would be the BW as a strafing run, but their description makes it clear they are overconfident, and tend not to lead with the BW for fear of damaging the treasure.  If they can see the little bipeds casting spells and standing their ground rather than panicking, are pelted with arrows which are having a real impact (most little  biped groups would have a pretty tough time hitting, much less hurting, a dragon with arrows) and maybe doing some harm with a Blast, I think that would cause such highly intelligent creatures to reconsider their tactics.  Maybe swoop in with that breath weapon, maybe try a spell or two of their own (and if I were a red dragon, I wouldn't learn a lot of fire damage spells - maybe another type or two for you loaded for bear fire resistant dragon hunters...).  If that's ineffective, maybe wheeling back up to reconsider is more appropriate than charging blindly into the meat grinder and becoming Dragon sausage.A lot of this discussion has been about overpowered abilities, but any ability looks overpowered if the opposition consistently plays right into its strengths.  If the GM thinks only in terms of two dimensional melee, a lot of the Dragon's options, and thus its strengths, get ignored.  If every opponent is noticed at a good distance, obviously hostile, and immediately closes for battle, right into melee, then a melee brute and close range buffs seems very pretty effective choices.  If some opponents fight from range, delay or stall out spell durations, and otherwise adopt tactics that aren't best opposed by buffed melee brutes, those choices start to look less effective.</blockquote>

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