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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CapnZapp" data-source="post: 7146209" data-attributes="member: 12731">Sigh. If all you can come up with is "they both deal roughly the same amount of damage, one is better at range, the other at melee" I really feel you have decided you are going to consider the rules balanced no matter what arguments you hear.For the rest of us, the addition of 120 frikkin feet range is immense, and definitely worth more than a piddly 4 DPR or thereabouts.(In fact, this isn't and shouldn't be solely about damage. I don't want to reduce archer damage to nothing. Its much better to have archers be exposed to drawbacks that monsters can capitalize on)Which brings me to my next point...Why do you say "Susan doesn't want to be in melee"? Yet another fallacy that prevents people from correctly concluding 5E is broken in this regard. Say after me: Susan is a competent fighter. She is neither squishy nor bothered by melee in any way.The only reason to wish not to be in melee is because then the monsters can no longer beat on you (most monsters are heavily melee centric) BUT THIS IS THE KEY TO VICTORY. Each point of damage not taken is the best kind of "dpr".Comparing Joe is better in a dungeon room, Susan outside of it is horrifically simplified. In ANY situation where you're not facing the classic Orc with a Pie in a featureless 30x30 room, Susan has infinitely better ways of damage mitigation than Joe, who needs to expose himself completely to enemy melee attacks in order to accomplish anything.Not only can Susan trade her almost-equal DRP to the inferior ranged fire of most monsters, she can often find something to spend the combat behind except during her own turns. This allows her to trade her best-in-class DPR for NOTHING AT ALL (except area attack spells where the damage area can reach around corners).This incentivizes canny players to play an all-ranged party.It moves the gameplay away from classic fantasy melee-centric gaming, into much more modern-seeming "duck and shoot" combat.Which is exactly why the lack of ranged restrictions is so bad. Not only does the game engine handle distance in combat badly, its monsters are built on the expectation of melee.</blockquote>

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