Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Aenghus" data-source="post: 6075232" data-attributes="member: 2656">IMO system mastery has much higher rewards and punishments for the tier 1 spellcasters than the other classes. This comes done to leveraging options, monster knowledge and synergy for increased power.The Tier 1 classes with poor system mastery, and/or a lack of patience can be surprisingly ineffective.I think non-spellcasting classes on average need much less skill and knowledge to play effectively. This is a consequence of their lesser options and better passive defenses such as hit points and AC. A fighter who misses every attack but absorbs punishment is doing something useful to the party. A spellcaster who chooses inappropriate spells, and/or casts them at the wrong targets isn't being useful (though they may be fun to play providing everyone else in the group is on board with the "ineffectual" character concept), and a wizard who absorbs damage is  more likely to be killed or knocked unconscious).The players of spellcasters are rewarded much more than non-spellcasters for a voluminous knowledge of all the ins and outs of the game. The most effective spells against particular opponents given the party composition, the weak saves of various monster types, monster abilities, defenses against monster abilities (mostly spells), exploiting spell storage devices and spells, what magic items give the best bang for the buck, etc etc. This knowledge can help optimise play of any PC, but spellcasters have more options and so have more room for optimisation (or failure or mediocrity).Knowing the house rules and playing style of the GM is also more important for spellcasters who want to be effective. A lot of GMs fudge save or die rolls for monsters at least some of the time - which means the spellcaster player is wasting his time casting such spells in that game every time the save is fudged. This affects players of spellcasters more than non-spellcasters because spellcasters have more Save or Die/Suck effects at their disposal.in 1e and 2e I prefered clerics and fighters at low level, especially if the game wasn't going to last long. If the campaign was going to reach 5th level I preferred wizards, especially if it started higher than 1st level.</blockquote>

Verification