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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ruleslawyer" data-source="post: 1298361" data-attributes="member: 1757">Darn skippy.The point about extensive development of the setting is also an important issue. Keep in mind that each authorial add-on to the Realms (whether via a novel, supplement, or contribution to a new-edition FR rulebook) is going to ADD to the magic level; it can't really subtract, by definition. Keep in mind also that it was never Ed Greenwood's original intent to actually apply rules to many of the story drivers present in the setting (spellfire, Netherese and High Elven Magic, circle casting), but that the creation of rules for those forms of magic were in part a response by other authors to fan demand, and in part a requirement under the guiding principles of 3e, which barred "NPC-only" benefits. Finally, keep in mind that there are wildly inconsistent definitions of levels and powers in the setting due to a multiplicity of sources; Ed's original incantatrix, for instance, was a weaker but interesting NPC-only arcane spellcaster, not the metamage developed by Sean Reynolds. Likewise, the levels given in the Volo's Guides differ radically from those in previous and later supplements (and seem to represent Ed going more than a bit overboard, if you don't mind my saying so.)Also, those epic-level wizards and Chosen benefits were never meant for popular circulation in the setting; Elminster and the other Chosen are supposed to be Macguffins and plot devices, not characters with whom PCs regularly interact. The culprit in making them more PC-interactive parts of the setting is really the novels, in which El and the Seven get to be protagonists. If you just ignore the novels and focus on the supplements (i.e., the actual rules), those high-level spellcasters really are supposed to stay in the background.</blockquote>

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