D&D 5E Should we let the 'Wierd Wizard Show' begin in 5e?

[Tony Vargas]

"If magic is unrestrained in the campaign, D&D quickly degenerates into a weird wizard show where players get bored quickly" - E. Gary Gygax

Is it time to just be honest, and make this a game about wizards, clerics and druids, and put the poor non-casting fighting men and theives out of their misery?

 

[Arytiss]

"If magic is unrestrained in the campaign, D&D quickly degenerates into a weird wizard show where players get bored quickly" - E. Gary Gygax

Is it time to just be honest, and make this a game about wizards, clerics and druids, and put the poor non-casting fighting men and theives out of their misery?

Not really. The quote is about magic "unrestrained". The only edition where the restraints were really off was 3.x and we can see that the result was, indeed, everyone and their pet moose playing a wizard.

As long as D&D Next keeps the restraints on, everything should be fine.

 

[ExploderWizard]

"If magic is unrestrained in the campaign, D&D quickly degenerates into a weird wizard show where players get bored quickly" - E. Gary Gygax

Is it time to just be honest, and make this a game about wizards, clerics and druids, and put the poor non-casting fighting men and theives out of their misery?

If thats all you want for your campaign then go for it. I like playing fighters so I wouldn't choose that route.

 

[Dannager]

Not really. The quote is about magic "unrestrained". The only edition where the restraints were really off was 3.x and we can see that the result was, indeed, everyone and their pet moose playing a wizard.

Ironically, requiring a Druid to cast Awaken first. But yeah.

 

[marleykat]

If I want to play an all magic user game I play MtAw. I don't like 4e's implementation of balance but there does need to be some version of it. Pre 3.0 DnD's kind worked well enough for me.

 

[I'm A Banana]

The balance between martial and magical classes doesn't hinge entirely on the existence of "dailies."

Personally, I think the charming rogue should get abilities that are like unto Charm Person, and that the trailblazing ranger should get abilities that are not dissimilar from Teleport and that the heavily armored fighter should get abilities that aren't dramatically different from Cure Wounds.

I guess I find a lot of the criticisms about "overpowered wizards" to be kind of overblown, to boot, but then I don't play with a lot of twinks or munchkins, so perhaps I just haven't seen the ugliest head of the beast.

 

[Oni]

Restrained magic is fine as long as it's because decisions have consequences, opportunities have cost, and magic isn't treated permissively simply because it's magic.

On the other hand if the idea to restrain magic is to take away everything that's interesting, different, or unique about it and hand everyone the equivalent of a fork with a cork on it so they can't hurt anything, no thanks.

 

[Invisible Stalker]

The casters can just hire some red shirted flunkies.

 

[Minigiant]

Not really. The quote is about magic "unrestrained". The only edition where the restraints were really off was 3.x and we can see that the result was, indeed, everyone and their pet moose playing a wizard.

As long as D&D Next keeps the restraints on, everything should be fine.

Pet moose play clerics. They're all about healing and removing poisons.
Now pet tigers. They always play wizards. And don't try talking them out of it.


As long as the restraints are kept and casters don't hog ever effect, it'll be fine.

 

[kinem]

There are no decent choices listed in that poll.

Note that Gygax's quote implies that his edition - 1e - did not suffer from the mentioned problem.