I know there’s a bit of a mechanical difference between them in how the cast, slots, sorcery points, spell lists, etc.
I know there’s a membrane-thin fluff difference between them in one is born to power, one trades for power, and one studies for power. But that has effectively zero impact on the mechanics or actually playing one of the three.
But is that all? Even over a decade in to 5E and they just read like excuses to include different casting mechanics.
So fans of these three classes, besides the mechanics, what’s the draw?
There are four pathways to power.
Earned power: you studied, you labored, you put in the time.
Inherited power: your physiology, or your inheritance, confer power upon you.
Inflicted power: power
sought you, rather than the other way around.
Purchased power: You literally paid something to receive it.
Inflicted power is rare in D&D (the Invoker is one of the only classes to ever address it), but Wizard, Sorcerer, and Warlock are neatly covering the other three. Those are worthy archetypes to explore. Those are meaningful, tangible,
compelling stories people want to talk about.
Consider Harry Potter. Hermione is a nothing; her parents are muggles, she has no existing standing within the magical world. And yet she rises to become not just one of the greatest witches of her time, but Minister for Magic, and a
young Minister for Magic at that. She
earned her power, every last bit of it.
Harry, on the other hand, has both inherited and inflicted power. He is--through no fault of his own--marked by Voldemort, becoming his prophesied destroyer. He gains all sorts of weird abilities because his soul and Voldemort's have connected. The world both bends to him and pursues him ruthlessly. But he also inherits an
enormous fortune, and his parents are famous for having died opposing the Dark Lord. He represents both archetypes. (One could also argue that Ron represents inherited power, but his family is explicitly poor, despite being one of the ancient wizarding families, so he doesn't really fit the paradigm, and the story addresses this.)
But
Draco Malfoy? He'd be a nobody without his family's money. The Malfoys aren't strong enough nor (whatever Lucius might argue) smart enough nor skilled enough to be famous. They would be background nobodies if they weren't wealthy, with nearly all of their clout deriving from that wealth and the connections it opens. Crabbe and Goyle would never have been Malfoy's friends if he came from a family background as poor as the Weasleys, and he might've actually been a decent sort without that corrupting influence.
Purchased power is almost always presented as
suspect in some way, even if the person who purchased it is actually the hero of the story. There, it's usually portrayed in terms that verge on inflicted power, but extra nasty because the infliction is a sapient deal-maker who is often outright evil or
literally Satan.
This is why these things won't die. This is why people keep coming back, time after time after time after time, wanting to make them work, wanting to make them different, flipping switches and turning dials and otherwise rejiggering things. Because these four pathways are all
worth telling stories about, so people feel compelled to make them pathways worth
playing by game rules.
Because that's what TTRPGs do. They allow us gameplay
by roleplaying, and they allow us roleplay
by gaming. No other game can achieve this--not even computer RPGs.
