Tiberius
Explorer
I don't see any reasonable way this class could develop in game. In a standard D&D world, where magic is nigh-ubiquitous, a group of people who went around destroying one of the foundations of society to power their abilities is going to be put down very quickly as a threat to public order. How well would a group of militant Luddites fare in our world? If, instead, we have a magic-poor world, then there are insufficient magical items to destroy for power. They would be slain either by monsters or the rare caster for depleting an already-scare resource.
From a gameplay perspective, I concur that they're giant pains to deal with. Your proposed remedies would, I think, not go over well with a majority of groups. I suspect being told "Hey, guys, don't bother to show for the next couple of weeks. Grothnir the Unsorcelled needs to walk the couple thousand miles you just teleported, and running him through that will take a little time. Also, don't be surprised if he's leveled a couple of times in the interim, as he'll be soloing all his encounters" is unlikely to curry player favor, and players tend in my experience to object when their characters are left to die (on account of not accepting magical healing).
In short, there's no good reason for WotC to do it. Revising classes for 3.5 costs time and pages, which ultimately cost money. Judging from the responses I've seen online to the class, it holds a place of infamy among the fan base. Wizards wants their books to sell. Updating and reprinting a hated class does not increase the odds that a customer will purchase the book. As such, it is unprofitable for Wizards to do this, absent a groundswell in Forsaker love. I wouldn't expect businesses to deliberately do unprofitable things, as a general rule.
From a gameplay perspective, I concur that they're giant pains to deal with. Your proposed remedies would, I think, not go over well with a majority of groups. I suspect being told "Hey, guys, don't bother to show for the next couple of weeks. Grothnir the Unsorcelled needs to walk the couple thousand miles you just teleported, and running him through that will take a little time. Also, don't be surprised if he's leveled a couple of times in the interim, as he'll be soloing all his encounters" is unlikely to curry player favor, and players tend in my experience to object when their characters are left to die (on account of not accepting magical healing).
In short, there's no good reason for WotC to do it. Revising classes for 3.5 costs time and pages, which ultimately cost money. Judging from the responses I've seen online to the class, it holds a place of infamy among the fan base. Wizards wants their books to sell. Updating and reprinting a hated class does not increase the odds that a customer will purchase the book. As such, it is unprofitable for Wizards to do this, absent a groundswell in Forsaker love. I wouldn't expect businesses to deliberately do unprofitable things, as a general rule.
