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

[Mecheon]

I am leaning towards getting rid of Monks (never liked them and the new ones are not getting any better), Bards (never liked them, too magical for this), Barbarian and Fighter get rolled into one and buffed slightly, Rogue stays, not sure what happens to Ranger yet but at a minimum they will be de-magicked. Druid disappears altogether / gets rolled into Cleric. Sorcerer and Wizard get the axe (too magical), Warlock becomes the only mage type spellcaster and uses the 2024 half-caster approach, with probably a slight buff over that. As the sole survivor, they will get more spells, but the half-caster puts them into the right place while the other half allows for some competence in battle despite this.

I'll defo fight on some of those as there's gaps they fill. Fighter will never be able to fill the sheer mass of wuxia that the monk has, and a pal of mine, every time I brought up folks saying the cleric should be merged into the druid, has laughed and called everyone who thought so crazy. Those two at least have so much more sheer mass in the wider fantasy and RPG space that folks will just completely re-invent them as split classes, because the existing classes will fail to live up to what they can do or they'll be weighed down with unfitting parts. The wider fantasy RPG take on a druid is incredibly far from D&D's cleric. If anything, I'd be looking at ditching the Cleric entirely and moving it as more of something like the White Mage or Warcraft's Priest as I'd say those are the wider accepted 'this is the healer/anti undead' one out there

And, well, as my friend says, the Cleric moreso gives the vibes of the Druid's enemy rather than its base

Ditching the fighter and keeping Barbarian around and basically doing similar to the split of Wizard/Warlock/Sorcerer may be better though, so something like Barbarian/Knight/Lancer for your big heavy hitter with little armor, your heavy armored juggernaught, and your longer ranged one who moves in and out

 

[Neonchameleon]

not new, but I am starting to lean more drastically towards nerfing casters / the proliferation of magic.

My version of this is much simpler. Ban all full spellcasters. And not only do warlocks have pact magic, they can't recover it by short resting more than once per long rest. And no they aren't half casters - for powerful magic sell your soul.

 

[Tony Vargas]

for powerful magic sell your soul.

"Hey, kid, you want a d10 cantrip?"
"Get thee behind me, a d8 cantrip is good enough for me"
"How about access to Wish?"
"..."

 

[Micah Sweet]

But that's still like arguing The Muppets have more realistic injuries and healing than Bugs Bunny.

Overnight insta-heal is always going to feel worse to me. One of many reasons why I add an injury system to my game.

 

[Micah Sweet]

not new, but I am starting to lean more drastically towards nerfing casters / the proliferation of magic.

I am leaning towards getting rid of Monks (never liked them and the new ones are not getting any better), Bards (never liked them, too magical for this), Barbarian and Fighter get rolled into one and buffed slightly, Rogue stays, not sure what happens to Ranger yet but at a minimum they will be de-magicked. Druid disappears altogether / gets rolled into Cleric. Sorcerer and Wizard get the axe (too magical), Warlock becomes the only mage type spellcaster and uses the 2024 half-caster approach, with probably a slight buff over that. As the sole survivor, they will get more spells, but the half-caster puts them into the right place while the other half allows for some competence in battle despite this.

Spells, I will have to go through, but some will be thrown out, others nerfed. The whole list needs pruning.

Good first step of cutting casters down to size, details tbd

That's a lot of player-side changes. How do your players feel about it (particularly any that like spellcasters)?

 

[Micah Sweet]

My version of this is much simpler. Ban all full spellcasters. And not only do warlocks have pact magic, they can't recover it by short resting more than once per long rest. And no they aren't half casters - for powerful magic sell your soul.

Looking forward to Casters Drool! The RPG coming soon to Drivethru!

 

[Neonchameleon]

Looking forward to Casters Drool! The RPG coming soon to Drivethru!

But do they really? Just because most of them only reach fifth level spells? Are you saying half-casters drool in 5e?

 

[Tony Vargas]

Looking forward to Casters Drool!

Well, Feeblemind could be pretty brutal....

 

[TwoSix]

But do they really? Just because most of them only reach fifth level spells? Are you saying half-casters drool in 5e?

Out of curiosity, would you modify their Mystic Arcanum so that level 6+ spells were off the table?

 

[Micah Sweet]

But do they really? Just because most of them only reach fifth level spells? Are you saying half-casters drool in 5e?

What I think is that you have a personal problem with magic in general, and full-casters in particular.