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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dannyalcatraz" data-source="post: 4976422" data-attributes="member: 19675">Really, spellcaster disruption isn't a binary thing.  Or at least, it doesn't have to be.IME, 1&2Ed Wizards might have a couple of spells disrupted in a session, but by and large, didn't fail to have an impact.  When their casting was disrupted, it was, in a word, an interesting time!3.X spellcasters, OTOH, seemed almost imperturbable...and that in an RPG that introduced formal rules for countermagic, inspired by the company's other game of note, M:tG.However, if <ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">the Concentration skill hadn't been so effective at letting spellcasters avoid disruption, and</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">The counterspelling system was more robust- more options (including dedicated anti-spellcasting spells, feats, and powers), more chance of success, possible side effects to disruptions (for both caster and counterspeller), and</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Disruption could result in diminished or wild magic effects rather than simple fizzles</li> </ol>You'd still have spellcasters with fearsome potential, but with identifiable weaknesses that could be exploited by PC and NPC alike, without the game devolving into a simple "Wizards AWESOME/Wizards SUCK" binary game-state.Well, it depends upon how you define "contribute round after round in combat."One of my best buds plays Wizards almost exclusively...has done so since I met him back in 1984 or so.  His PCs usually have a spell-list that is about as optimized as anything Thanee ever posted.His playstyle is one reason our group almost never sees the "15 minute workday": He'll cast a spell for impact, then maybe one more...then wait, staff or dagger or dart or whatever his main weapon was, at the ready.  Often, his PC was looking for "targets from unexpected directions"- and make no mistake, trying to anticipate the unexpected is a valuable contribution- "evaluating the battlefield" or simply "conserving his energy."  Or some such.IOW, his PCs typically spend most of a combat "holding."And he's perfectly fine with that.In fact, he's not the only player in the group who feels that a PC can contribute without doing an action every chance he can, that sometimes, "holding" is the best thing you can do.  (I'm another, and I tend towards melee-focused PCs with caster/roguish elements.)This isn't to say this is the way we all play.  Make no mistake, we have at least one guy who is Wolverine on Meth when it comes to combat...(and yet hasn't played a Barbarian- go figure!).</blockquote>

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