Automatically winning is boring for me, not fun. It's also totally in control of the DM and what the group considers "winning". If always winning is fun for the group, who am I to tell them they're playing wrong? Who are you?
Good, so since we're in agreement that no one can tell them that isn't fun, we
must design the game to suit their fun.
Right?
So? I don't see how a wizard can bypass encounters on a regular basis. Other posters have questioned it as well.
It literally only requires a few spells, rarely more than five or six. E.g.
fly can bypass all sorts of things.
Tongues or
comprehend languages eliminates the vast majority of language issues, and the latter is a ritual.
Misty step fixes a ton of things involving crossing a barrier.
Sending is one of the most powerful communication tools ever.
Identify (ritual) nixes any mystery regarding spells or magic items.
Floating disk (r) obviates carrying capacity.
Tiny hut (r) obviates survival challenges.
Phantom steed (r) makes the Wizard a self-sufficient rider who doesn't need feed or storage or have risk of losing her horse (and, with 10 minutes to resummon it each time, you can ride 60 miles in 7 hours without spending a spell slot.)
As far as versatility, yes in some ways wizards can be more versatile. But it doesn't matter, I can have a hundred options as a wizard but my 9th level wizard only has a little over a dozen spells they can memorize. Every wizard I've ever seen in play focuses on either damage or support.
Only because you somehow think you can't do both of those things
and the other stuff with Int mod+level prepared spells. And remember, rituals don't need to be prepared.
Just
slightly smart spell selection goes a huge way. Very few things resist(/higher) both fire and cold. Almost nothing resists both of those and a third type (e.g. acid or lightning, which will get you over 80% of all monsters at least being not resistant to all three.)
Again, I can only point to a neutral arbiter of combat effectiveness as measured by DPR that I have in Solasta. The only time the wizard was top of the heap was when I was given a wand of fireballs and every fight was mobs in an enclosed space. Unless you have better measurements other than you stating your perception as fact, I'm done.
I have ignored these comments for a reason. They are a game, not the actual book rules. I refuse to use Solasta (or BG3) to discuss actual 5e. The two are different.
