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Message: <blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 8855340" data-attributes="member: 6790260">Yep. The way D&D handles Vancian spellcasting has problems, but those problems could in theory be addressed through other aspects of design. Classes which are focused on Vancian spellcasting above other things naturally embody these problems most, because full casters have less room for other features to address the issue and are more likely to use spells to address challenges. Wizards are far and away the most reliant on, invested in, and intensifying the issues of Vancian spellcasting, having:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The best spell list, and certainly the longest spell list;</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The second-best means of accessing that list (list is not universally accessible, like Cleric, but once you have it recorded it's yours as long as you keep your spell book, and Wizard players rightfully dislike DMs screwing with their spell books)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The second-best ritual casting options after Tomelocks, who can learn more rituals than even Wizards but don't get the free rituals Wizards do</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Arcane Recovery, meaning Wizards cast more spells than even other full casters and thus rightfully expect to be able to solve problems via their one and only core mechanic, Vancian spellcasting</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Literally nothing else. Wizards don't get class features that do things independent of spellcasting, and even subclasses are notoriously thin and change little if anything about the experience of play.</li> </ul>At every opportunity, the Wizard eschews the kinds of design that would mitigate the issues of Vancian spellcasting, usually in the name of making a more "traditional" Wizard, or to make the Wizard more exclusively "magical." And of course the irony is that the one thing which does help mitigate these problems, cantrips, is something many people want to axe because they find frequent-but-basic spellcasting "un-magical." Thus forcing Vancian spellcasting even further into the problematic corner, where its faults can be almost trivially optimized out with even a little bit of clever thinking.Wizard isn't just an easy and archetypal example. It is also by design the most intense demonstration of the problems with how 5e handles spellcasting (and 3e, which 5e copied almost verbatim on this front.)</blockquote>

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