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<blockquote data-quote="BryonD" data-source="post: 6829067" data-attributes="member: 957">Some may recall that WotC made note to point out the common presence of crossbows in the preview art for 3E.It was a big deal that low level casters would have more ways to &quot;do things&quot; (i.e. - kill kobolds after their 2 1d4+1 magic missles were gone)At the time I was positive on it.&nbsp; But it didn't take long at all before I &quot;invented&quot; basic magic &quot;wands&quot; which caster could readily obtain.&nbsp; Anyone who could cast spells could spend a move action to focus energy into the wand.&nbsp; They could then make a ranged attack for 1d8 damage with that energy.&nbsp; In other words I reskinned the light crossbow (less ammo) into an at-will.I agree that the progression from early 3E (crossbows), through 3.5 (Warlocks and others) led to the &quot;at-will&quot; assumption that was present in both 4E and PF.&nbsp; And people ENJOYED it.&nbsp; As you said this thing called &quot;fun&quot;.I'd be completely on-board with the opinion that a game lacking &quot;ubiquitous&quot; magic has a ton of merit.&nbsp; But even before 3E existed, I never thought D&amp;D ever did, low magic well.&nbsp;&nbsp; Low level spellcasters sucked as part of paying the price for being a badass later on.&nbsp; I'm not saying it couldn't be a ton of fun.&nbsp; But there was a disconnect and it was easy for it to be &quot;not fun&quot;.&nbsp; When I went through my low magic fantasy phase I simply played completely different systems.&nbsp; The fact that a L2 wizard was little more than a glorified commoner didn't make D&amp;D feel any less &quot;high magic&quot;.The embracing of &quot;at-wills&quot; has certainly nudged things further down the dial.&nbsp; But I'd call it no more than a nudge.&nbsp;&nbsp; If you want 1st level warforged and dragonborn in your game, then constant magic is already on the table.&nbsp; You can go a different direction, RPGs are adaptable that way.&nbsp; But you would be cutting against the grain rather needlessly.People want their wizard to feel like a wizard.&nbsp; And in the context of D&amp;D, being down to only mundane options in short order will fall short for the majority of groups.Give the people what they want.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="BryonD, post: 6829067, member: 957"] Some may recall that WotC made note to point out the common presence of crossbows in the preview art for 3E. It was a big deal that low level casters would have more ways to "do things" (i.e. - kill kobolds after their 2 1d4+1 magic missles were gone) At the time I was positive on it. But it didn't take long at all before I "invented" basic magic "wands" which caster could readily obtain. Anyone who could cast spells could spend a move action to focus energy into the wand. They could then make a ranged attack for 1d8 damage with that energy. In other words I reskinned the light crossbow (less ammo) into an at-will. I agree that the progression from early 3E (crossbows), through 3.5 (Warlocks and others) led to the "at-will" assumption that was present in both 4E and PF. And people ENJOYED it. As you said this thing called "fun". I'd be completely on-board with the opinion that a game lacking "ubiquitous" magic has a ton of merit. But even before 3E existed, I never thought D&D ever did, low magic well. Low level spellcasters sucked as part of paying the price for being a badass later on. I'm not saying it couldn't be a ton of fun. But there was a disconnect and it was easy for it to be "not fun". When I went through my low magic fantasy phase I simply played completely different systems. The fact that a L2 wizard was little more than a glorified commoner didn't make D&D feel any less "high magic". The embracing of "at-wills" has certainly nudged things further down the dial. But I'd call it no more than a nudge. If you want 1st level warforged and dragonborn in your game, then constant magic is already on the table. You can go a different direction, RPGs are adaptable that way. But you would be cutting against the grain rather needlessly. People want their wizard to feel like a wizard. And in the context of D&D, being down to only mundane options in short order will fall short for the majority of groups. Give the people what they want. [/QUOTE]

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