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Message: <blockquote data-quote="James Gasik" data-source="post: 8603700" data-attributes="member: 6877472">The problem with the Book of Nine Swords is really twofold.  The Warblade, Swordsage, and Crusader were far better designed than the Fighter, Monk/Rogue, and the Paladin.  They could compete with the more powerful classes while obsoleting other classes.Then add on top of that, those players who adamantly reject non-caster fighting classes (often referred to as "martials") as having any abilities that cannot be replicated in real life.  They don't want people able to ignore DR or teleport without explicit magic.Add the fantastic naming scheme for the various Manifester powers, which is highly reminiscent of Exalted, or the special attacks of anime characters, and the myths about the Book of Nine Swords being overpowered garbage that has no business in D&D appeared.  It was a paradigm shift that many could not accept- having renewable, encounter-based resources and abilities that allowed someone to knock on the door of what spellcasters have been doing for decades.These people clutched their Fighters and Rogues like pearls, completely ignoring that said pearls had long since lost their luster.  Then WotC trotted out an entire edition based on the principles developed on Tome of Battle, Tome of Magic, and even the Warlock class, and the base finally broke in half.Even now, 5e struggles with the same disparity between casters and non-casters, but the only way WotC can keep the players more or less unified is by catering to the dynamic that casters are just better.You can totally create a party consisting of entirely spellcasters, and completely ignore the existence of the Fighter and Barbarian.  Even the Rogue's niche isn't totally protected, as really, the game doesn't need a super skills expert anymore.It's not that these classes are worthless, but they are confined to a narrower design space, and have less ability to solve problems and interact with the game world than is afforded to spells.  Add to that WotC giving us very little guidance on how to add magic items to their games (the traditional mechanic for allowing non-casters to keep up with casters), and you have the current state of the game.</blockquote>

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