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Message: <blockquote data-quote="James Gasik" data-source="post: 9772191" data-attributes="member: 6877472">You can have games where spellcasters can cast all day long and still be balanced with non-casters.  Earthdawn does this, for example, however it balances this in other ways.*Spellcasters have a mental construct called a "spell matrix" that they place a spell into.  You don't need to use one of these to cast a spell, but, doing so is incredibly dangerous and can attract the attention of eldritch entities.*You have a limited number of spell matrices available to you.  A starting character has two.*You can swap the spells you know in and out of matrices outside of combat with a fairly simple skill roll.  In combat, however, is incredibly difficult, so if you suddenly find yourself needing to change out heat food for earth darts, you need to take an action to do so, and there's a good chance you could fail, wasting your turn.*Casting a spell requires you to make a Spellcasting test, which could fail.*Powerful spells take more than one turn to cast.  Earth darts, for example, takes two actions to cast, but is the strongest First-Circle offensive spell.  You need to make two different rolls to cast it as well, a "thread weaving" test (literally plugging magical energy into it), then the actual Spellcasting test.  The system eventually gives you options for making this easier, but spells that require multiple threads appear at higher circles.*Your number of spells is limited, much like a D&D Wizard.  You start with a certain amount, and must find grimoires and the like that contain others to add them to your repertoire.  You may find yourself technically able to cast fifth-circle spells but not actually know any!Meanwhile, fairly quickly, non-casting Adepts are getting multiple attacks as well as innumerable specialized attack abilities.  They are able to attack every turn, which a spellcaster might not be able to do.  An Archer can easily attack from longer ranges as well.  Enemies have different defenses against Physical, Magical, or even Social attacks, so a given foe might be stronger or weaker against a spellcaster or a non-spellcaster, giving the system a rock/paper/scissors feel at times.</blockquote>

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