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Message: <blockquote data-quote="thecasualoblivion" data-source="post: 5320813" data-attributes="member: 59096">Another place where OD&D/1E/2E does a better job at balance than 3E/3.5E is niche protection and everyone having a specific role to play. In older editions:1. Fighters(and Paladins/Rangers/ect) completely outclassed other classes at trading hits with big sacks of HP with sharp claws. It wasn't even close. 2. No other class could match the utility of Thief skills3. Wizards had a clear role as artillery and problem solvers, and their role was important enough and their resources limited enough that they had a responsibility to fill it and not dabble in other people's stuff. In addition, many monsters where heavily and unavoidably resistant to magic.4. Clerics healed.In 3E/3.5E:1. Monster HP inflation lessened the impact and effectiveness of the Fighting classes offense, and as the levels increase the Fighter becomes more and more fragile thanks to monster offense increasing faster than his defenses and his weak saves compared to the earlier editions Fighter who was fairly invincible at high levels.2. Low level Wizard spells do a better job at the Thieving type skills, and at higher levels wands and scrolls become trivial. 3. The increased effectiveness of Save or Die effects combined with the reduced effectiveness of damage spells reduced the resources a Wizard needed to contribute to offensive magic. 3E/3.5E Wizards also typically face fewer encounters between rests, and have bonus spells from high Intelligence. Combine this with greater access to scrolls and wands, and the Wizard can now do it all by itself without much hassle. There were also such strong tools against magic resistant monsters that a well designed Wizard wasn't really hassled by them.4. The most efficient form of healing in 3E/3.5E is not the Cleric, but the Wand of Cure LIght Wounds. On the other hand, with a modest investment, Clerics and Druids can nearly match the Fighter classes as meat shields, and combine the meat shield role with a big pile of spells for utility the Fighting classes can't hope to match.</blockquote>

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