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Message: <blockquote data-quote="doctorbadwolf" data-source="post: 8762408" data-attributes="member: 6704184">I disagree with most things [USER=7030563]@ECMO3[/USER] says, as much as I respect their perspective. They have a very “numbers don’t lie” mindset, whereas I view the math of the game as only indicative of a broad idea of balance, and in some places simply wrong. Which leads me to your question. IMO, 1. Wizards are in the top tier of classes, but they aren’t significantly more powerful than other top tier classes like the cleric and Paladin, and I’m not convinced they’re more powerful at all than the cleric. 2. Tier 2 isn’t significantly behind tier 1 in power, and in fact, the entire suite of classes just doesn’t have that significant a power differential. 3. What “imbalance” there is, is intentional in the sense that the game is designed so asymmetrically that power level is always fuzzy, and within a pretty solid scale of difference. 4. Any actual imbalance (ie, one character actually makes other characters feel useless generally, not just in a thematically appropriate circumstance) is generally the result of wildly different character building priorities between PCs, or poorly matched gameplay between DM and players. It’s a flexible game with a solid amount of depth, which unavoidably means that it’s a different game at different tables, which also means that one table can’t be right for every potential player. A good example is the Bladesinger wizard, and the idea that it’s a better “tank” than a Barbarian. Without diving into the weeds, there is a disconnect between folks who agree with that and those who don’t, because at a game I’m running, an unhittable PC with little oomph to punish an enemy with is a bad tank, and being unhittable isn’t so beneficial that it’s worth more than using spell slots outside of combat would be. The Illusionist is going to contribute much more outside of combat, and not be much behind in combat, while the Barbarian is going to also survive every fight, while also being better at punishing enemies for ignoring them. At the table where ECMO3 plays, the game is run differently enough that their strategy works very well for them. Their table and mine are essentially different games. At my table, the wizard is top tier but hardly top of the list.</blockquote>

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