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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The Crimson Binome" data-source="post: 7747749" data-attributes="member: 6775031">It changes the tone of the world thematically, because magic goes from something that most people will probably never witness, to something that they very probably will. If an AD&D wizard walks into town, then even if they announce themselves as a wizard, it's something that the townsfolk pretty much have to take on faith; they're still just some weirdo, who might know some interesting things, but the likelihood of them doing anything magical is remote. It makes the world feel more like a realistic Medieval European setting, where people also believed in magic even if they never saw it, and which nevertheless continued to operate as though magic was not actually real. (Granted, of course, that is entirely a matter of taste; but it's a taste which AD&D catered to better than PF does.)Mechanically, at-will magic gives a spellcaster even more incentive to focus on the one stat that they already care about, at the expense of something else. With at-will magic, a wizard with Int 20 and Strength 8 is just better than a wizard with Int 18 and Strength 14; where, without at-will magic, the stronger wizard might actually get some mileage out of their less-than-optimal abilities.There's also an issue which was extremely apparent in 4E, and which could potentially reappear in PF2, where everyone has the same bonus to whatever one thing they do. If the fighter has Strength 20 and a +3 sword and weapon focus: sword, and the wizard has Int 20 and a +3 wand and spell focus: evocation, then they both end up with exactly +10 on everything they do every round (which further contributes to the same-y-ness). When a wizard has to rely on a different stat for their basic attacks, you get a much wider variety of competence. If the fighter is at +10 to hit all-day every-day, but the wizard is sometimes at +7, then it's extremely obvious that the fighter is better in those specific circumstances.</blockquote>

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