D&D 5E [+] Ways to fix the caster / non-caster gap

[overgeeked]

Yeah, they should just flat out say it. Would solve a lot of debates and would also help people to decide where to cap their campaigns if they don't want that.

You'd think the mechanics making it explicit would help too, but unfortunately no.

A fighter can intentionally swim in lava and survive...repeatedly...and people will continue arguing with a straight face that the fighter is completely mundane. Sorry, nope. They're explicitly supernatural.

 

[TwoSix]

A single sentence in the PH that explains the idea that reaching high levels means moving into the supernatural.

I'm surprised it isn't there already, but yea, totally fine with that.

 

[FrozenNorth]

in theory I could kill a million Orcs in an arena too and get to the same level. The exotic exposure is not giving me XP. This is nothing like what happened to Spiderman

Do you want One-punch man? Because thst is how you get One-punch man!

 

[FrozenNorth]

Orrr..

We could generalize that whatever experience the campaign offered, it was sufficiently exotic to justify the capabilities the PCs recieve.

It's simple, clean, and matches up with the existing model for leveling up in D&D.

You mean like we pretend the wizard was really studying new spells during the “Dungeon of Interminable Filth and Moldy Mildew” so he automatically learns two spells on level up? But my verisimilitude!

 

[Raiztt]

You'd think the mechanics making it explicit would help too, but unfortunately no.

A fighter can intentionally swim in lava and survive...repeatedly...and people will continue arguing with a straight face that the fighter is completely mundane. Sorry, nope. They're explicitly supernatural.

It's more likely that what the devs and authors of DnD consider the genre/aesthetic to be is just not coherent with the rules they wrote.

The tone of what they write and the rules are don't mesh together.

They don't write or illustrate anything that would suggest that swimming in literal lava is a "meh" occurrence despite the fact that the rules allow for it.

 

[TwoSix]

You'd think the mechanics making it explicit would help too, but unfortunately no.

A fighter can intentionally swim in lava and survive...repeatedly...and people will continue arguing with a straight face that the fighter is completely mundane.

The idea that needs to DIAF is the idea that Conan is a 20th level barbarian or that Ned Stark (or any GoT character) is a 20th level anything. Being at the top of your game in your respective story means nothing when figuring out the D&D equivalent.

20th level characters can solo demons and dragons. How you explain that is up to you, but your concept needs to accept that reality.

 

[Gammadoodler]

You mean like we pretend the wizard was really studying new spells during the “Dungeon of Interminable Filth and Moldy Mildew” so he automatically learns two spells on level up? But my verisimilitude!

Oh..he was studying?? We all thought he was doing paper mache for some reason.

 

[Micah Sweet]

You mean like we pretend the wizard was really studying new spells during the “Dungeon of Interminable Filth and Moldy Mildew” so he automatically learns two spells on level up? But my verisimilitude!

To be fair, I always thought that was silly too.

 

[TwoSix]

To be fair, I always thought that was silly too.

Honestly, this one always bothered me more, since spells in a spellbook is one of the most obviously diegetic class features in the game.

 

[FrozenNorth]

people keep raising Thor and Hulk - the thing is that neither are good models of whats being discussed as Thor is a god with a magic weapon and the Hulk is a monster.

People keep up bringing up Gandalf for wizards, and he’s an angel. I’m seeing a bit of a double standard.