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<blockquote data-quote="Fanaelialae" data-source="post: 4727271" data-attributes="member: 53980">Unless you mean by decent math background that one has discovered the Unified Theory, I respectfully disagree.Certainly, in an closed environment objective measurements can be made.&nbsp; You can calculate realistic odds as to whether a given fighter will survive a fight, assuming you know his statistics.&nbsp; This is because he can be assumed to behave in a predictable manner.&nbsp; While he could sunder the BBEG's sword and thereby swing the battle in an unexpected direction, the fact that he doesn't have Improved Sunder suggests that he either won't attempt a sunder or will fail if he does attempt it.A spontaneous caster is a bit more trouble, but still reasonably predictable.&nbsp; He might have a significant number of options, but they are still limited.Casters who memorize are where the real trouble lies.&nbsp; They often have a large permutation of possible spells, and can alter them from day to day.&nbsp; Certainly, they might have a standard list that they usually memorize, so some calculations can certainly be made, but these can prove notoriously unreliable.&nbsp; Oops, Eduardo the Mage got the mistaken impression that today's adventure would be mostly investigation, so he neglected memorizing his usual complement of combat spells, bringing his overall effectiveness way below what you anticipated.&nbsp; What!?&nbsp; Priestess Sara has never prayed for Holy Word, but today she apparently had a &quot;feeling&quot; and the BBEG might find his ambush turned against him before he knows what has hit him (guess her deity really is looking out for her).As a player I've thrown DMs these curve balls and received my fair share of &quot;karma&quot; when I've DM'd.&nbsp; A single spell change from a typical spell list can be enough to throw off the expected difficulty of an encounter.&nbsp; Of course, that only applies to casters who have typical spell lists, and I've known a few who changed their list almost daily.&nbsp; Unless you have the ability to prognosticate the future and know when planning a game what spells your wizard and cleric players will memorize each day, it can be impossible to make more than an educated guess with respect to these characters.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Fanaelialae, post: 4727271, member: 53980"] Unless you mean by decent math background that one has discovered the Unified Theory, I respectfully disagree. Certainly, in an closed environment objective measurements can be made. You can calculate realistic odds as to whether a given fighter will survive a fight, assuming you know his statistics. This is because he can be assumed to behave in a predictable manner. While he [i]could[/i] sunder the BBEG's sword and thereby swing the battle in an unexpected direction, the fact that he doesn't have Improved Sunder suggests that he either won't attempt a sunder or will fail if he does attempt it. A spontaneous caster is a bit more trouble, but still reasonably predictable. He might have a significant number of options, but they are still limited. Casters who memorize are where the real trouble lies. They often have a large permutation of possible spells, and can alter them from day to day. Certainly, they might have a standard list that they [i]usually[/i] memorize, so some calculations can certainly be made, but these can prove notoriously unreliable. Oops, Eduardo the Mage got the mistaken impression that today's adventure would be mostly investigation, so he neglected memorizing his usual complement of combat spells, bringing his overall effectiveness way below what you anticipated. What!? Priestess Sara has never prayed for Holy Word, but today she apparently had a "feeling" and the BBEG might find his ambush turned against him before he knows what has hit him (guess her deity really is looking out for her). As a player I've thrown DMs these curve balls and received my fair share of "karma" when I've DM'd. A single spell change from a typical spell list can be enough to throw off the expected difficulty of an encounter. Of course, that only applies to casters who have typical spell lists, and I've known a few who changed their list almost daily. Unless you have the ability to prognosticate the future and know when planning a game what spells your wizard and cleric players will memorize each day, it can be impossible to make more than an educated guess with respect to these characters. [/QUOTE]

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