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<blockquote data-quote="Cadfan" data-source="post: 4933887" data-attributes="member: 40961">I think Vancian magic could have been done well if it had been more Vancian.&nbsp;The big problems with vancian magic as done by D&amp;D are&nbsp;1. If the wizard doesn't have very many spells, he runs out of them way before he runs out of rounds of combat.&nbsp; Then he's got nothing he can do well.&nbsp; He sucks at using a crossbow, and he probably won't invest resources in getting better at it because those resources will be wasted when he reaches higher levels and encounters problem 2.&nbsp;2. When the wizard has more spells than expected rounds of combat, he can afford to memorize spells to cover just about every contingency with an &quot;I win button&quot; spell.&nbsp; This ironically makes combat even shorter.&nbsp;This could be fixed by giving wizards something worthwhile to do when not casting spells.&nbsp; And then making that something worthwhile stay worthwhile for their entire careers.&nbsp; You'd also need to reduce the number of spells per day drastically.&nbsp;The result might look something like a 4e fighter who's daily powers are all magical effects.&nbsp;I don't know if WotC should have done that.&nbsp; But it would probably work mechanically.&nbsp; They could still do it now, in fact.&nbsp; But they probably won't because in 4e Thou Shalt Not Mix Power Sources.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Cadfan, post: 4933887, member: 40961"] I think Vancian magic could have been done well if it had been more Vancian. The big problems with vancian magic as done by D&D are 1. If the wizard doesn't have very many spells, he runs out of them way before he runs out of rounds of combat. Then he's got nothing he can do well. He sucks at using a crossbow, and he probably won't invest resources in getting better at it because those resources will be wasted when he reaches higher levels and encounters problem 2. 2. When the wizard has more spells than expected rounds of combat, he can afford to memorize spells to cover just about every contingency with an "I win button" spell. This ironically makes combat even shorter. This could be fixed by giving wizards something worthwhile to do when not casting spells. And then making that something worthwhile stay worthwhile for their entire careers. You'd also need to reduce the number of spells per day drastically. The result might look something like a 4e fighter who's daily powers are all magical effects. I don't know if WotC [I]should[/I] have done that. But it would probably work mechanically. They could still do it now, in fact. But they probably won't because in 4e Thou Shalt Not Mix Power Sources. [/QUOTE]

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