D&D General why do we not have an arcane half caster?

[Mind of tempest]

why do we not have an arcane half caster? not like the endless homebrews or the classes from other game like magus (which has so little to lean in to)
in a 50 year old game how has one not carved out a role for itself yet?
have no books come out with a sufficiently thematic one to rip off yet?

it bugs me as it seems like such an obvious class idea?

 

[Asisreo]

why do we not have an arcane half caster? not like the endless homebrews or the classes from other game like magus (which has so little to lean in to)
in a 50 ear old game how has one not carved out a role for itself yet?
have no books come out with a sufficiently thematic one to rip off yet?

it bugs me as it seems like such an obvious class idea?

Forgive me if I'm mistaken but is Artificer not the current Arcane Half Caster?

And if I recall correctly, bards also used to be Arcane Half Casters in previous editions.

 

[Scribe]

Yeah, Bard was. Not sure why the change..

 

[Swarmkeeper]

Forgive me if I'm mistaken but is Artificer not the current Arcane Half Caster?

I think Artificer is kind of a mish-mash like the Bard. Mostly Arcane spells but a decent smattering of Divine spells, too.

So maybe the Artificer is half of a half Arcane caster? Or maybe more than half... someone else can do the math to figure out the actual arcane:divine spell ratio... lol

 

[Retreater]

Wouldn't an arcane trickster, Eldritch knight, etc, qualify? I feel like most classes have magical options.

 

[tetrasodium]

why do we not have an arcane half caster? not like the endless homebrews or the classes from other game like magus (which has so little to lean in to)
in a 50 ear old game how has one not carved out a role for itself yet?
have no books come out with a sufficiently thematic one to rip off yet?

it bugs me as it seems like such an obvious class idea?

For whatever reason wotc made them full casters in 5e. Bard & maybe warlock used to be arcane half casters. Artificer used to be 2/3 caster & is now half caster

 

[Michael Linke]

why do we not have an arcane half caster? not like the endless homebrews or the classes from other game like magus (which has so little to lean in to)
in a 50 ear old game how has one not carved out a role for itself yet?
have no books come out with a sufficiently thematic one to rip off yet?

it bugs me as it seems like such an obvious class idea?

In the games 50 (47?) year history it HAS had arcane half-casters. The Paramander is one example.

 

[CleverNickName]

It's been argued here on ENWorld that the Bard, the Artificer, the Eldritch Knight, and the Arcane Trickster are all different flavors of "half caster" that use arcane magic. The Warlock also, but I think that argument is a bit weaker than the others.

 

[Alzrius]

Getting rather obscure here, but the 3.5 Dragon Compendium Vol. I presents the updated Jester class (from Dragon #60) as a half-caster, in that it can cast up to 6th-level arcane spells.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

In 3e there was the annoying tendency to make spells different levels for the Bard to have them fit as the 2/3 caster. Something that was normally a 9th level spell, became a 6th level spell so that Bards could use them. Not only that but there was a prestige class for Bards called the Sublime Chord who's entire reason for existence was "Shouldn't the Bard have 9th level spells?" So in 5e, they just made the Bard a full caster, no more needing to change around spell levels because it was something that suited the class. They just made sure the Bard got appropriate spells fit the class (barring Magic secrets), and there's no need for a Sublime Chord anymore.