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Message: <blockquote data-quote="dcollins" data-source="post: 1107705" data-attributes="member: 876">I disagree and I'll reply briefly. Your points can be broken into a few broad categories:- More spells (1, 2, 5, 11)This is a nice but minor benefit. A few extra spells don't make that much difference except to maintain player interest after the first has been cast. Regardless of the number of spells, if those spells are being nerfed the potency is being dialed back.- Better cast spells in melee (3, 4, 6, 7)True, but again a very minor benefit. Wizards should avoid melee in the first place, even if the details of exactly how bad it is have been tinkered with.- Buffs, AC (8, 9)Buffs help all character types, and seem to be used more for assistance of non-wizards than the wizards themselves. AC stacking in 3rd Edition is in truth fundamentally the same as it was in 1st Ed ( <a href="http://www.superdan.net/adndfaq1.html" target="_blank">www.superdan.net/adndfaq1.html</a> )- Haste (10)Quite true, this anomalous spell did help casters a lot in 3rd edition and has been promptly retracted by the designers.But, next to the minor benefits noted, so many spells have been nerfed (as noted above) that that far outweighs the other modifications. And finally, the massive, key element is that all of the wizard's damage-producing spells have at best remained the same while hit point have skyrocketed. Case study, say a 12th level Wiz using fireball on 12th-level Ftr (with 14 Con). 1st Edition: damage 12d6 (avg. 42, note no upward limit on dice in 1st Ed.) versus Ftr average 68 hp = 62% of Ftr hp. 3rd Edition: damage 10d6 (avg. 35) versus Ftr average 113 hp = 31% of Ftr hp. That's reduced the effective damage by exactly half, and this is repeated all up-and-down the line for every one of the wizard's damaging spells. Meanwhile, say, the starting one-handed bastard sword damage for a 1st-level fighter has doubled from 3.5 to 7.5 points on average. Total damage by proportion is, in very broad terms, that the wizard has had his output about quartered compared to the fighter from 1st-3rd edition. There's very little case to be made that the wizard has gotten anything but much weaker from previous editions.In short, the hugely improved ability bonuses and hit points for all classes, with wizard spell effects overall capped or reduced, is much, much more important than the entire list of minor benefits that was posted above.</blockquote>

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