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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 5968164" data-attributes="member: 996">I think the double-standard I'm talking about is being extremely well-illustrated at this point.  Casters & items are able to draw from any remotely fantasy source of inspiration, from any mythology of any culture, from high fantasy or S&S fiction, from TV or movies, heck, from extra-genre sources like science-fiction.  It's all on the table, and it often greatly exceeds the variety and power of what's out there.Fighters (and other non-casters), OTOH, have an uphill battle for any abilities whatsoever.  It's not enough that some source of inspiration display an ability, it's not enough even if many of them do.  Unless an ability meets some arbitrary standard of 'realism,' it's objected to.Wizards are supposed to be Gandalf or Merlin - and, actually, tend to do a lot more than both of them put together ever did - but fighters aren't supposed to be Heracles or Beowulf or Fergus mac Roith.  That's a double-standard if ever there's been one.And, it needs to die.  It has no place in a game.  D&D, as has been pointed out, isn't out to simulate myth or legend or even a specific fantasy setting.  It is thus free to put game play and game balance before setting or story or genre.  If it is so vital that fighter meet some arbitrarily strict concept of 'verisimilitude,' fine - it'll limit the appeal of the game, but OK, start with that - now, having done that, you'll have to bring casters /down to the same level of power, versatility, and 'realism.'  Given the standards applied to fighters, that'd mean wizards who are little more than charlatans and alchemists, with a few anachronistic tricks (a handful a flash powder here, a hallucinogenic herb there), or it'd mean magic-user using magic that is quite dependable, straightforward and limited in what it can do, and ultimately pretty 'mundane' to those who live their lives around it.I honestly think 4e did a decent job striking that balance.  For the diversity and power of spells/prayers/invocations/disciplines it had, it could have done with more martial exploits along the lines of Come & Ge It and Blinding Barrage, and more varied utility exploits, but it wasn't too far off the mark.If the level of realism needs to be tightened from there, casters are going to have to be brought down even further.  Then there's 5e's goal of inclusiveness. Surely, it should allow for characters with more remarkable abilities, as well as those that stick to some starker standard of mundanity?</blockquote>

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