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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 6017094" data-attributes="member: 4937">I've often stated that in 1e, the Fighters were the strongest characters in the game.  This was because they just so far excelled everyone else at durability that it was no contest.  They had far and away the best saves, had more than twice the hit points of the other classes, and were the only ones to get iterative attacks.  To make matters worse, once weapon specialization became widely accepted they tended to have far and away the highest damage dealing capacity.  That being said, the same basic points could be made by pointing to 1e/2e thiefs - who were outshone in everything by 10th level or so.  Or you could make the same points by noting that even in 1e, the fighter classes were heavily gear dependent, still lacked the ability to deal with environments, and sans gear lacked out of combat spotlight.I think it is right to note that a lot of the caster/non-caster problem begins at 3e, but it would be wrong to assume that there weren't already problems in 1e.  Some of the problems here are rule set specific, but not all of them.For example, in my game, one rule change has done a lot to restore caster/non-caster balance and that's doing away with the rule that adds the spell's level to the DC to save against the spell.  This greatly reduces the ability of casters to dominate the action economy.  As my caster's note, 'Hold Person is still worth trying.', but that 3 reduction in DC often translates to 50% or more reduction in the chance that it will win outright.  Restoring the notion that the higher your level gets the more likely you will save helps a bunch.  But by itself I don't think it makes up for the fact that at 17th level in any edition, your wizard can cast 'Wish' and your fighter is still hitting things with a sharp stick.   More work is needed.As a practical matter, I've never ran a campaign in any edition that has gotten past 10th level, so much of the problems of high level play never effect me.  This is because I deliberately choose to linger in what I consider the edition's sweet spot.  We are now 2 years into my current campaign, having had more than 40 sessions, and the characters are 5th level.  By the time we hit 10th level, the campaign might well have been going for 4 years or more.  At low levels, I've gotten the balance issues whipped, but fixing it at high levels is a theoretical excercise for me.  This strategy might not work for everyone, but it works for me.</blockquote>

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