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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 4975909" data-attributes="member: 4937">One of the main issues that earlier editions had to deal with is that the Wizards of fantasy could do fantastic magical things.  The ability to do fantastic magical things is extremely powerful, and so some attempt to balance and limit that fantastic power was made.  The results were not completely successful, because at some point the Wizard still outgrew those limitations and become the phenomenally powerful character of myth, legend, and story.The problem in 3e got especially bad, because low level wizards got big ability boosts that carried over to higher levels.  Non-combat classes didn't have the huge edge in hit points, attacks, saving throws or levels that they would have enjoyed in earlier editions.  A high-level wizard didn't outshine a rogue quite as much as they would have in earlier editions (primarily because of huge boosts to rogue power levels), but they outshown a fighter to an even greater degree.  And because of huge boosts to the power of clerics, this was true of clerics as well (and by 3.5 also druids).4e fixes the spellcaster problem by giving them the same sort of abilities had by every other class.  It's a fix, albeit not the sort many people expected (which might have been reduce the power of spells and increases the defenses non-spellcasters had against them, for example).For many players, the old style was a feature, not a bug.  If the goal was to play Merlin, Gandalf or whatever, then the player at some point wanted to wield phenomenal cosmic power.  For these players, 4e is entirely unsuited to their gaming goals because a wizard can do nothing that isn't fundamentally mundane.   Sure, they can do damage, attack something other than AC, apply conditions, move the target, and move themselves and some of this impressive and perhaps can't be explained easily in mundane terms, but every other class can do all the same things and sometimes these things can't easily be explained in mundane terms either.   While it creates a level playing field, it isn't paying much attention to simulating either fantasy source material or, as is probably more important in the case of your friend, the flavor of the play experience he's used to for the last 20 years or more.I don't think this is a crossable gulf.</blockquote>

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