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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Remathilis" data-source="post: 4873181" data-attributes="member: 7635">Hey Chris, first off, love your work.But I've seen it happen. Unintentionally, and intentionally. In 2nd edition (which is where the bulk of my high-level play in OS D&D happened). The problem starts like this.1.) At low levels, a wizard primarily uses his 1st and 2nd level spell slots for either major combat spells (sleep, magic missile) or live-saving buffs (mirror image). However, once 3rd and 4th level spell slots roll around, most of these low-level spells begin to "outlive" thier usefulness. HD caps are exceeded, saves are too easy for all/nothing spells, and better, longer buffs replace short buffs. Those low level spell slots become useless except for some extremely good spells (magic missile) so they become breeding ground for a new type of spell: utility magic. It it here, where wizards begin their career of toe-stepping. A spell like sleep might have long been outdated, but when does spider climb lose potency? If there are no good offensive magic at 2nd level, why not load up on invisibility and knock? Clerics aren't immune to this either: there are no good buff or healing magic at 2nd level so find traps and silence 15 ft, are good alternatives. At the time when the thieves skills go from "barely possible" to mostly reliable, the wizard can step in and, at a crucial juncture, change "mostly reliable" to "1000% guarenteed". I've seen it happen too often. Thieves don't become the "go to" guy for crucial scouting or lockpicking, they do clean-up work for tasks the wizard doesn't find important enough to waste his spell slots on. And (depending on your DM) if you don't have X+1 locked doors (where X = number of knock spells prepped) the thief might not even be needed for said role. Ironically, 3e made this WORSE. Offensive spells go obsolete a lot sooner, characters have access to more spells/day and spells/known, and cheap magic item creation is a staple (wands of knock are cheap, easy to make, 100% effective, and good for 50 uses). Of course, it is 100% possible to run a mage without knock or such, or who focuses on just offensive magic, divinations, or illusion, but for the most part I see a lot of mages who, after a while, don't have anything better to fill those low-level spell slots with than thief-ruiners, intentionally or not.</blockquote>

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