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Message: <blockquote data-quote="SKyOdin" data-source="post: 5968226" data-attributes="member: 57939">And how does this magic work? What is it's mechanism? Why can only spell-casters access it?Those questions don't have answers. Magic in D&D is a stupid thing to lean on as an explanation, since it isn't codified or systematized or structured whatsoever. There is literally no given reason in the history of D&D that explains why a Wizard can turn a lump of bat guano into a fireball. Even attempts like the Weave from Faerun don't get into a detailed technical explanation of how things work.If you can accept magic that works with no in-universe explanation or structure, why do you need some fancy explanation for why fighters can do cool things? D&D is the result of Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson, and company just tossing every random inspiration and cool idea they liked when they were young and tossing them in a blender. "Dying Earth is pretty cool!""Lets use some of that then."Why can't modern fans of D&D just do the same thing with the stuff they find cool? That is ultimately the heart of D&D: an awesome hodgepodge of a hundred random influences brought in by generation after generation of fans.I really like mythic fighters, so why shouldn't they be in? I also happen to be a huge fan of anime and videogames, which further makes me like awesome, powerful fighters.Of course. I only mention it because it is easy to draw clear parallels between D&D monsters and the greek monsters they were originally inspired by. I wager a quarter of the basic monster manual is based on stuff from Greek mythology and subsequent medieval interpretations thereof.Greek mythology only comes up because it is easy to draw comparisons between D&D heroes who fight hydras and the original Greek hero who killed the Hydra.My overall point though is much broader, and is based on material from myth and fiction that is world-wide, and as diverse as ancient myth and modern videogame.The 3E fighter doesn't fail because it fails to depict what Heracles can do, it fails because it fails to depict much of the most fundamental archetype that is common to all of fantasy, world-wide, of all time; this goes from Greek myth, to classical Chinese novels, to the pulp space operas, to modern videogames and anime.D&D is simple false advertising if it bills itself as heroic fantasy and then imposes realism on the fighter.</blockquote>

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