Zardnaar
Legend
Fire proof suit time. Incoming!!!
In the fine tradition of Bards Do Suck type threads and Wizards are Boring threads I thought I would start a Wizards suck thread.
This is mostly a 5E type thing but I've noticed a distinct lack of Wizards being picked since 3.0. It's become even worse since 5E.
I've had my suspicions why for around 20 years. They take to long to ramp up to their potential power. Not to long ago WotC revealed 70% of games online are level 1-10 and 10% hit level 10 and only 1% are epic levels. A wizards true capstone ability is level 10 not 20.
This also over laps a bit with 4E reception and focus on balance. They "fixed" problems the vast majority of players never experienced.
The Wizards never got to the levels required to really break the game. And casual players never really knew how to break them anyway. They'll just be happy dropping a fireball (which hasn't really been a that good since 2E).
The other issue is the power creep on the other classes and less of exclusive access to key spells starting in late 2E. Once upon a time to drop a fireball you had to be a wizard or to cast a level 8 spell.
5E wizard has to deal with all of that and compete with the power levels of the charisma based assessment in 5E. It's one redeeming thing assuming one even has the required knowledge to build it is ritual casting and exploration pillar. Tome lock says hi though. Exploration is also the neglected 5E pillar and charisma based classes are a lot better in the social pillar.
Wizards versatility is also over rated along with more spells. Both a mostly hypothetical concepts and a simple twinned spell puts even the most spells claim in doubt. The other classes may not have an many spells true but they can cherry pick the good ones the wizard should be casting anyway.
Another example is the invoker vs light cleric. Boh can cast fireball on paper the wizard is better at it. With two short rests though the light cleric is going to have 3-6 uses of radiance of the dawn to use at levels where it matters. The Wizards going to run out of resources first. Replace radiance of the dawn with metamagic, bard dice, other channel divinity options or invocations and you see what I'm talking about. Hell even Druids might give them a run for their money.
Even the saving throws suck
Intelligence is a rare save category and wisdom saves whole proficient use a tertiary stat at best. A Sorcerers charisma+ con saves are the best combo in the game imho.
The charisma classes are just sexier as well. Tashas power creep as well (Sorcerers, Druids and Peace and Twilight domain's).
TLDR version. To many competing class option have access to wizard spells, more resources and switch on earlier in the game at levels that matter. A Wizards power is mostly hypothetical requiring system mastery and higher levels to achieve.
In the fine tradition of Bards Do Suck type threads and Wizards are Boring threads I thought I would start a Wizards suck thread.
This is mostly a 5E type thing but I've noticed a distinct lack of Wizards being picked since 3.0. It's become even worse since 5E.
I've had my suspicions why for around 20 years. They take to long to ramp up to their potential power. Not to long ago WotC revealed 70% of games online are level 1-10 and 10% hit level 10 and only 1% are epic levels. A wizards true capstone ability is level 10 not 20.
This also over laps a bit with 4E reception and focus on balance. They "fixed" problems the vast majority of players never experienced.
The Wizards never got to the levels required to really break the game. And casual players never really knew how to break them anyway. They'll just be happy dropping a fireball (which hasn't really been a that good since 2E).
The other issue is the power creep on the other classes and less of exclusive access to key spells starting in late 2E. Once upon a time to drop a fireball you had to be a wizard or to cast a level 8 spell.
5E wizard has to deal with all of that and compete with the power levels of the charisma based assessment in 5E. It's one redeeming thing assuming one even has the required knowledge to build it is ritual casting and exploration pillar. Tome lock says hi though. Exploration is also the neglected 5E pillar and charisma based classes are a lot better in the social pillar.
Wizards versatility is also over rated along with more spells. Both a mostly hypothetical concepts and a simple twinned spell puts even the most spells claim in doubt. The other classes may not have an many spells true but they can cherry pick the good ones the wizard should be casting anyway.
Another example is the invoker vs light cleric. Boh can cast fireball on paper the wizard is better at it. With two short rests though the light cleric is going to have 3-6 uses of radiance of the dawn to use at levels where it matters. The Wizards going to run out of resources first. Replace radiance of the dawn with metamagic, bard dice, other channel divinity options or invocations and you see what I'm talking about. Hell even Druids might give them a run for their money.
Even the saving throws suck
Intelligence is a rare save category and wisdom saves whole proficient use a tertiary stat at best. A Sorcerers charisma+ con saves are the best combo in the game imho.
The charisma classes are just sexier as well. Tashas power creep as well (Sorcerers, Druids and Peace and Twilight domain's).
TLDR version. To many competing class option have access to wizard spells, more resources and switch on earlier in the game at levels that matter. A Wizards power is mostly hypothetical requiring system mastery and higher levels to achieve.
