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Message: <blockquote data-quote="N'raac" data-source="post: 6091257" data-attributes="member: 6681948">And laterBut the gear, as you note, is a tiny component.  A single Fox’s Cunning spell will give them the same +4 INT for the duration of the combat – and the enemy doesn’t need to maintain that bonus over a full day.It’s not the rules’ fault if you find an imbalance when you don’t apply the rules.  Encumbrance gives STR some relevance to non-melee characters. 8 STR gives you Light encumbrance at 26 lb, and heavy from 54 – 80.  Do you want that 30’ move?  Then stay under 26 lb.  Backpack 2 lb; 2 scroll cases 1 lb; 1 day rations 1 lb; waterskin 4 lb; spellbook 3 lb; clothes say 4 pounds (2 if you wear monk or peasant gear), component pouch 2 lb.  That’s 17 lb – well over half way to Medium.  No weapon (waste of that Elvish bow proficiency) or light source, nothing to write with or on, no camping gear and one day’s food and water (all that other stuff can go on a mule – or a Barbarian – unless you want to carry the light source or weapon).One spellbook?  How many spells you got?  1 page for each cantrip, plus another for each spell level, fills 100 pages pretty quickly.It’s do-able.  You don’t need THAT much gear.  But you don’t have much gear, and as your level (and junk carried) rises, you get to spend gold on carrying items.  And this ignores the possibility your character might actually carry non-combat items – a bedroll, tent, cooking pot, mess kit, etc., but we’re ignoring any flavour to max out combat effectiveness anyway.A short term problem, and a question of group style. I trimmed or moved some of your points – I don’t think I changed their thrust (hope not).  I removed the 3e vs 4e discussion, as I don’t want to be in an edition war.Sure.  The one guy we’re upset with who sacked Charisma – it’s OK for everyone else to sack CHA, though.  Why is that?What did the Druid and Barbarian sacrifice?Sounds like it hasn’t happened to the Druid or Barbarian either.  And to me, Enchantment spells to resolve social situations aren’t risk free.  Any more than the Druid threatening to sick a bear on the locals, or the Barbarian threatening to beat them half to death.  I’m not overly familiar with Kingmaker, but I would think “we have 5 guys running the kingdom but only one ever talks to anyone” seems a little off.Is it?  Or is it that your DM is more skilled at challenging melee monsters than spellcasters?  I can’t speak to your group.  High save DC’s have never been that big an issue in ours.  So our GM’s are not finding the same need for more effort to challenge casters.What’s the save DC for his L4 spells?  10 + 4 + 8 + 2 (that 2 in only one school) = 24.  8[SUP]th[/SUP] level character will have +6 good saves, +2 weak saves, plus stat bonus, so fat chance making a weak save, maybe 25% chance to make a good save.  So the Wizard’s spells, especially his higher level spells, will generally work.  Take them out of that one school, and we get better save odds (how well does enchantment work against the Undead?).I’d be more concerned if the Wizard’s only real ability – his spells – only succeeded on rare occasions.He has a high INT so he’s good at INT skills.  Not that surprising.  Elves are skilled and knowledgeable about magic.  Are you suggesting the Witch has no advantages in other areas?  I’m not sure where the WBL rant comes from, especially since we seem to have established gear is not the big issue.Another campaign dynamic/GM skill thing, but I’d agree a spellcaster benefits quite a bit from getting a free action to prepare for or initiate combat - more so than a melee monster.Once he casts an offensive spell, he’s no longer Invisible.  You’ve harped on save DC’s consistently, but Black tentacles has no save.  By the way, Witches also have that spell on their list.  Is your Witch ineffectual?  I don’t think the problem is that the Wizard is optimized. I think it may be that he is more optimized than the other characters in the same game and/or that he is violating unwritten and unspoken table rules about how spells are used in a manner that your DM is having difficulty coping with.  But that’s largely speculation on my part.Another possible difference in unspoken expectations - some groups require absoolutely that characters be provided in advance for vetting, and others just work on a "show up and play" basis - as long as it's rules-legal, it plays.  Is there some reason this player would be less familiar with your group dynamics? Normally I'd suspect someone new to the group, but some of your comments imply he's played a number of other games with you.One other element - the other characters, at least the ones you note, are probably better suited to deal with several encounters a day.  If the wizard is allowed to get away with an encounter then a rest period, he can blow all his powerful spells in every encounter.  The 15 minute work day can be a definite issue in balancing resource-constrained characters with less constrained characters (like a Witch whose hexes just keep on working, battle after battle).</blockquote>

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