D&D 5E The core issue of the martial/caster gap is just the fundamental design of d20 fantasy casters.

[RareBreed]

Is it?

The core fantasy of the D&D Wizard to me is "I'm a studious caster, looking for old lore and spells to increase my power and contribution to the group."

Look at Raistlin from Dragonlance, or even the "colored" wizards from Middle Earth who basically truly are demigods. I could probably also add Elric (doomed though he may be, and servitor of the Gods rather than a competitor). Heck, what about Voldemort? Though he may not be a God, he (and Dumbledore) was the most powerful person on the planet? In the Conan books, sorcerors are rare, but usually the most powerful person in their kingdom that even the Kings leave alone or are puppets to them (and Conan seems to be the only person able to kill them who is not also a sorceror). I'm not even an avid Fantasy reader, so I wouldn't be surprised if there are others.

Other than the Middle Earth mages (who I guess would be Sorcerers?), in many fantasy settings, the quest for digging up old lore and legends was just the means to an end: to fulfill the potential of their true power.

So I don't think overgeeked was far from the mark.

 

[Voadam]

But, ultimately, anemic a full caster as it was, the 3.5 Bard was still a full caster,

Two Thirds caster.

Spells at level 1 but topped out at level 6 spells and fewer spells per level than full casters (Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard) got.

I was happy to see them become full casters in 5e.

 

[Scribe]

Look at Raistlin from Dragonlance, or even the "colored" wizards from Middle Earth who basically truly are demigods. I could probably also add Elric (doomed though he may be, and servitor of the Gods rather than a competitor). Heck, what about Voldemort? Though he may not be a God, he (and Dumbledore) was the most powerful person on the planet? In the Conan books, sorcerors are rare, but usually the most powerful person in their kingdom that even the Kings leave alone or are puppets to them (and Conan seems to be the only person able to kill them who is not also a sorceror). I'm not even an avid Fantasy reader, so I wouldn't be surprised if there are others.

Other than the Middle Earth mages (who I guess would be Sorcerers?), in many fantasy settings, the quest for digging up old lore and legends was just the means to an end: to fulfill the potential of their true power.

So I don't think overgeeked was far from the mark.

Raistlin was a singular example within the setting though. Sure the other example have power, and by the ends of their arcs are juiced up, but there are leagues of other 'Wizards' in many of those settings who have no capacity to reach the plot driven heights of all of them.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Two Thirds caster.

Spells at level 1 but topped out at level 6 spells and fewer spells per level than full casters (Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard) got.

I was happy to see them become full casters in 5e.

I was not. Half caster is thematically stronger for a class predicated on the idea of learning a bit about a lot of different things.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Raistlin was a singular example within the setting though. Sure the other example have power, and by the ends of their arcs are juiced up, but there are leagues of other 'Wizards' in many of those settings who have no capacity to reach the plot driven heights of all of them.

Yup. Raistlin was explicitly an outlier by the standards of every other wizard in the setting (except his predecessor and patron/power battery Fistandantilus) including his nominal bosses in the Order and his own apprentice.

 

[Voadam]

Raistlin was a singular example within the setting though. Sure the other example have power, and by the ends of their arcs are juiced up, but there are leagues of other 'Wizards' in many of those settings who have no capacity to reach the plot driven heights of all of them.

You are ignoring the first other wizard we meet in the Dragonlance novels and adventures, Fizban the Fabulous.

 

[Scribe]

You are ignoring the first other wizard we meet in the Dragonlance novels and adventures, Fizban the Fabulous.

A literal God. Not a Wizard at all.

 

[FrozenNorth]

You only need to counterspell the revivify.

Counterspelling revivify is completely ineffective if at least one PC also has counterspell. (Or the revivify caster has more than 1 slot of 3rd level or higher).

 

[TwoSix]

Of course, WotC isn't going to make a warlord class anyway, so the point is moot.

I recommend the Level Up Marshall. The Captain from Mage Hand Press is good too.

Laserllama and Kibblestasty both have excellent Warlord classes that are completely free on GMBinder and only a Google search away.

 

[overgeeked]

Let’s be honest here, baddies never have enough actions to make counterspell a viable strategy. It’s entirely plausible that the pcs are casting three to five spells per round. Nothing has that many reactions.

That's probably one reason they're moving from legendary actions to extra reactions in monster design going forward.