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You could ask the same question about rogues.
Technically you can "play" a commoner, so the answer is "all the way".
If the question you are really asking is "how far should you 'nerf' spellcasters to make them comparable to martial characters?" the answer is 42.
Or, to be less disingenuous, it's a question that can't be answered. The nature of magic is that it changes the QUALITY of power of a character, not just the QUANTITY.
You can't "balance" any purely mundane, martial ability against magical spells. That's what makes them magical.
Nerfing their longevity and spell progression isn't really a fair nerf I don't think. In fact I think the longevity could be buffed. Nerfing partial spellcasters too is just kinda' kicking the not so overpowered 6 level casters in the face. You'd still end up with a caster who can dimensional door or teleport across great distances faster than anyone can walk in a few days, and he'd still be able to toss out some spells that martials would never hope to compare to. He'd just do it a whole lot less.
A lot of the problems are in how spells can solve just about any problem, which isn't inherently a bad thing, but your playing a game where the guy who flies all day and summons in demon overlords is supposed to play side by side with a guy who hits things hard with a sword. The guy who hits things with a sword should probably get some nice things too, no?
You can't "balance" any purely mundane, martial ability against magical spells. That's what makes them magical.
I think you could! Your just likely to make the 'mundane' look super human(defeating the point?) or spell casting look comparable to cheap tricks that don't solve anything(Card tricks aren't as cool as fireballs).
Rather than nerf the czsters directly I'd instead do something like restrict them from just taking levels in the class.
For example, make full casters (including magus and summoner) take at least 1 level in 4 as a non caster.
Nerfing their caster level into oblivion would make you ask why you play a caster in the first place...
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You can't "balance" any purely mundane, martial ability against magical spells. That's what makes them magical.I think you could! Your just likely to make the 'mundane' look super human(defeating the point?) or spell casting look comparable to cheap tricks that don't solve anything(Card tricks aren't as cool as fireballs).
Making martial powers the same as magical powers isn't balancing purely mundane martial ability with magical ability. It's just making both the same thing and pretending they are different.
That's what 4e did.
I repeat myself. The entire point of magical spells is that they DO things that purely mundane characters CANNOT. This changes the very nature of the power of the character, not just the scale of power.
Being able to teleport is not "10x more powerful than cleave", it's absolutely impossible to compare the two in any meaningful way in terms of power. It's not apples and oranges, it's rocks and supernovae.
Let me put it this way. On the real planet earth, the one where we all actually live, breathe, work and recreate, a human being with the powers of a third level wizard would be able to rule the world in weeks.
THAT'S how much more "powerful" magical spells are than mundane martial abilities.
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Personally I dont think the nerf bat is how you fix the disparity. Weakening casters isnt going to fix the problem, it is just heaping a different problem on the other side of the issue.
The problem isnt just about how high numbers are, or how x or y spell suplants ability z. Its about the very nature of magic and non-magic in the game. There is the mentality that magic is the do anything ap, that works every time and can potentially accomplish anything. Where as skills, and mundane abilities must fit within a very specific window of what they can accomplish.
This means that for the most part, mundane powers act within the situation, and magical powers (particularly utility, and control spells) CHANGE the situation.
The imbalance is about narrative power, and about level of investment to gain that power. For prepared caster, a spell choice is pretty much a negligable or non-existant investment. The wizard spends some gold (assuming he can get ahold of the spell) or the cleric just has it ready to be memorized. The fighter, rogue or monk have to spend far more permanent and limited resources (feats and class abilities) to accomplish what they choose to do.
In addition, at all levels (not just high levels) the caster has the ability to alter the situation as opposed to just acting within it. For example, the party is ambushed while trying to cross a rope bridge. The situation is the party is being attacked while trapped in a difficult location. The fighter can try to balance on the now shaking bridge and shoot at the enemy. The monk can try to jump off the bridge to the ledge and take the fight to the enemy. The wizard casts fly, and is no longer fighting on a rope bridge. The druid wildshapes into a bird, and again is not fighting on a bridge anymore. This is what I mean by narrative power (on the encounter scale). There are such abilities among 1st and 2nd level (sleep, charm person, invisibility, glitterdust, grease, create pit) these spells all have the power to change the situation the party is dealing with. Skills and combat abilities dont do that, they just move within the situation in an attempt to resolve it.
Reducing spell level progression, wont fix this, and it will cause issues in terms of the classes functioning as they are supposed to. I think if you really want to create balance, the answer is to redesign magic, not try to hammer the current magic system's round peg, into balance's square hole.
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This is why I keep saying that the only way to "balance" the classes is to balance them for fun.
In other words, give each class things that are fun and exciting to do on their own merits, in their own context, to address a given situation.
And for the most part, that's what PF has tried to do.
I have fun playing rogues. Everyone rags on the rogue, but I love the flavor. I love to use skills.
I don't expect my 10th level rogue to be able to do the world-altering things my 10th level wizard can do. But what my rogue can do is still just as much FUN as the things my 10th level wizard can do.
Lol no. I doubt they could do it in their lifetime if they stay lvl 3. When you can start controlling weather and call angles well, things can change.Let me put it this way. On the real planet earth, the one where we all actually live, breathe, work and recreate, a human being with the powers of a third level wizard would be able to rule the world in weeks.
THAT'S how much more "powerful" magical spells are than mundane martial abilities.
You are seriously underestimating the powers of a third level wizard Drift.
There have been charlatans who have almost taken over entire countries just based on PRETENDING to have magical powers. Just simple things like invisibility, charm, sleep, magic missile....
Maybe YOU couldn't take over the world with those powers Drift, but I damn well guarantee you I could.
Don't forget, there are several CANTRIPS that have a good shot at killing a commoner. And here on earth we are ALL commoners.
Lol no. I doubt they could do it in their lifetime if they stay lvl 3. When you can start controlling weather and call angles well, things can change.Let me put it this way. On the real planet earth, the one where we all actually live, breathe, work and recreate, a human being with the powers of a third level wizard would be able to rule the world in weeks.
THAT'S how much more "powerful" magical spells are than mundane martial abilities.
I don't know, I think they would make charming politicians and businessmen. Lots of ways to take over the world.
Maybe YOU couldn't take over the world with those powers Drift, but I damn well guarantee you I could.
Better hope you find a way to have Bullet Shield up all the time.
Maybe YOU couldn't take over the world with those powers Drift, but I damn well guarantee you I could.Better hope you find a way to have Bullet Shield up all the time.
If you are allowing people to KNOW it's you taking over the world chaos, such that you have to worry about bullets, then you probably couldn't take over the world.
I wouldn't let anyone know who was doing it. Until it was done.
I have to say, I am seeing a very alarming lack of imagination here. Are you thinking that the way to take over the world is to jump up, spread your arms and say "Look out world! Here I am!" and blow your three or four spells in five minutes?
Seriously? That's how you think it would be done?
I think you're just seriously overestimating the power of 2nd level spells.
There are so many spells and so many ways to build your power base in a completely anonymous fashion that it would be child's play to become the wealthiest person in the world. Within days you could have dozens of major world leaders blackmailed into doing your bidding.
I mean seriously, a third level wizard is vastly, immeasurably more powerful than any human on this planet.
This is entirely on topic drift. The question being asked is really how to "balance" spellcasters against martial.
The only answer is to either get rid of magic, or make martials casters too.
Nerfs are definitely not the way to deal with this. The solution is to give martials something to boost their own power. Paladins and Rangers are martials, but are still considered better choices than Fighter or Cav due to their varying class features and their limited spell casting. It's similar in the way that Ninjas are (generally) considered better than Rogues due to the casting like power their ki pool gives them. You could even argue that Monks have a better chance against casters than a Fighter due to their variety of class features that give them things like D-Door and SR (this isn't a monk thread, take the argument somewhere else).
The way to close the gap of power is to give the classes without spell casting, or other special abilities that mimic spell casting, more utility in every-day situation. Whether it is giving them spells, or limited x/day class features, this would help ease the disparity between casters and martial. Barbarians might be an exception, due to their rage powers giving them many different bonuses, from AC, to energy resist, to fly, climb, and swim speeds. You never here people complain of Bards, Inquisitors, or Magus's being weak or bad, because they have a decent selection of spells and class abilities to provide utility to their kit.
Wizards will still be the gods of the party, and the Fighters will still be primarily DPS, but that one time the wizards forgets to prepare a spell, or doesn't think polymorphing a enemy into a giant cock (rooster) is a good use of his action, then there will still be someone who can step in and get the job done. And it might just be the Fighter.
Just imagine: New Fighter class feature announced! Polymorph (Rooster)
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Just thinking about the relative power and utility of full casters, I was wondering how far they would have to be nerfed before people thought they became too bad to play.
What if Wizards and clerics had a spellcasting progression like the Magus, gaining a new spellcasting level every 3 levels, would they still be 'tier 1'?
Partial casters would of course be berfed as well, in proportion.
If you are so convinced that casters are overpowered, simpley bar them from your game completely.
It will save everybody a lot of heartbreak when they realize you've destroyed everything they enjoyed about playing casters to begin with.
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This is entirely on topic drift. The question being asked is really how to "balance" spellcasters against martial.
The only answer is to either get rid of magic, or make martials casters too.
In classical Western fantasy, the wizards are vastly more powerful than swordsmen. Wizards throw fireballs, can teleport, create force fields, etc. Fighters just swing their sword... they're lucky if that sword is magic.
In classical Asian fantasy, fighters can "slice" the air and release waves of force when swinging their swords. They can cut down a wizard's fireball in midair. They can move so fast, it's like they teleported behind you.
However when you see a melee class with such powers in a Western fantasy RPG, it upsets gamers for being too anime or trying too hard to make fighters like wizards.
IMHO: The foundations and expectations of what make Western fantasy what it is, are the reason why swordsmen (and other meleers) are crippled as they are.
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In many ways, the problem isn't with the spellcasters, per se ... it's with the spells. They do too much, too effectively and too easily. Plot-breaking spells, spells that you have to take into account for every significant bad guy ('I'm going to retire and sell Rings of Mind Shielding. I'll make a fortune!'). Getting rid of spells like that (and metamagic feats like Dazing Spell) would help a lot.
IMHO: The foundations and expectations of what make Western fantasy what it is, are the reason why swordsmen (and other meleers) are crippled as they are.
We sum it up as "Martials can't have nice things". Though there are some exceptions here and there, like tome of battle, but ToB had eastern fluff in it.
('I'm going to retire and sell Rings of Mind Shielding. I'll make a fortune!').
I'll take your ring of mind shielding and raise you a tin foil hat! For half the price your offering too.
IMHO: The foundations and expectations of what make Western fantasy what it is, are the reason why swordsmen (and other meleers) are crippled as they are.
I don't consider that to be remotely a valid reason to do it as it has been done. We're not reading a story, we're making one; it's an entirely different medium. PF et al should not try to copy fantasy bit-for-bit, because many tropes (this one especially) work fine in literature where one man controls everything, but not in a game with free-willed people running each protagonist.
Example: In writing, if the protagonists get in a tight spot and another character swoops in and saves their bacon effortlessly, they are grateful and happy.
Example: In gaming, if the PCs get in a tight spot and the DMPC swoops in and saves their bacon effortlessly, the players get ticked off.
Example: In writing, if the protagonists get in a tight spot and another character swoops in and saves their bacon effortlessly, they are grateful and happy.
Example: In gaming, if the PCs get in a tight spot and the DMPC swoops in and saves their bacon effortlessly, the players get ticked off.
Not everyone hates deus ex machine. In one group I was in three of the other players loved the DM for it when it happened and he had to do it because he was terrible at understanding what the group could take. They saw it as this defining moment for an NPC and always cheered him on when it happened. I... hated his guts for it.
A different example of why it doesn't work is that the 15th level wizard is supposed to work with the 15th level fighter. The 15th level fighter hits things, just like he did when he was level one, though a bit harder. The 15th level wizard has learned to rip reality a new one since level one and summon in demonic overlords and archons. One of these things is not like the other...
Ok... Mr. Fishy isn't educated well enough to say this with out being offensive so...If full casters are OP or breaking your game learn to play and or DM better. Player competence is not a class issue.
A dispotic warlord with a tank COULD take over a small town quickly and easily. He could also be sniped, poisoned, knived, or choke on a cherry pit. He's one guy he has to sleep/rest every day. He has to eat. He needs WATER er, AIR!!
You don't need to nerf casters? Out think them. Or, just do as they do. They pre-buff and battle field control do it back.
This is going to blow some minds...Counter spell...It's like spell parrying; if you succeed no spell if you fail you still get SR and saves. Also smoke, mirrors, and bluff are all NON magical. If you are attacking a fire creature you get fire resistance if you can. If your fighting a spell caster get your our or prepare for him. Force spells of your choosing water breathing, resistance to elements. Darkvision works though scrying but scrying can see though smoke, and scry requires known of the target, fake name and mundane disguises. The villain is a human woman with blonde hair named Alisa, Scry reveals no such creature or only finds Alisa "on the job" never at rest. Because Alisa don't exist. Transvestite elf with a waxed bulb and a wig collection.
And if the wizard is get upitty step aside and let the monster though to the wizard. Who should be target 1 since they're so powerful and world shaking. Armor, Armor, Squishy! You goning to jump the guy in plate mail with a great sword or his grandpa in a bath robe.
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Player competence isn't a class issue no, nor does it have to do with the games balance.
Also, did you just suggest letting a monster kill your teammate?
Yep. If the wizard is so OP one little monster should be no problem.
Just go all "YOU SHALL NOT PASS," on his ass. I wait. If you win you win. Yeah. If you lose I cry at you funeral...maybe. You're a mighty wizard you should be fine. GO WIZARD!
I don't consider that to be remotely a valid reason to do it as it has been done.
The 15th level fighter hits things, just like he did when he was level one, though a bit harder. The 15th level wizard has learned to rip reality a new one since level one and summon in demonic overlords and archons.
I'm in agreement. However we're fighting an uphill battle on that front.
Western RPG's draws a lot from great sagas like LotR, Greek/Roman mythology, and Conan. Warriors can beat wizards in these settings, but doing so is a herculean task... and most often the warrior does it after finding a chink in the wizard's spells or somehow out thinking him: not in a direct head on confrontation.
Look at Conan for example. He's one of the greatest warriors -- if not THE greatest -- of his setting. Sure, he's taken out wizards, but he struggles against what D&D would consider a suboptimal 4th level build. Even a weak spellcaster in Conan is considered MAJOR bad news.
And it's things like that, which Western RPG'ers have ingrained themselves with.
You don't get this with Japanese book RPG's like Arianrhod and Alshard, because they see meleers quite differently. Don't get me wrong, D&D is popular in Japan (Record of Lodoss War was spawned from it), but the vast power of magic and the vast weakness of warriors was (and still is) a major point of contention. Sword World is seen as the Japanese version of D&D -- and it makes warriors more like the kinds we see in anime, than what we read in LotR.
To over generalize...
American Fantasy Mindset: A legendary superpowerful fighter can slay a dragon singlehandedly... but NOT in any d20 I've played in.
Japanese Fantasy Mindset: A legendary superpowerful fighter can slay an entire legion of dragons singlehandedly, while cleaving a mountain and emptying an entire lake of water with the same singular swing... and I've played one of those.
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Yep. If the wizard is so OP one little monster should be no problem.
Just go all "YOU SHALL NOT PASS," on his ass. I wait. If you win you win. Yeah. If you lose I cry at you funeral...maybe. You're a mighty wizard you should be fine. GO WIZARD!
Given that so many threads say that martials are only good at one thing: fighting, and that they still suck at that, then the fighter just letting the monster past to attack the wizurd directly shouldn't really change a g%**#*n thing, should it?
Or maybe the wizurd's ungrateful ass should learn to appreciate what the fighter does for him, and stop reeking of self-importants, condescension, and arrogance.
Or maybe the Wizard should have had his caster friend the Druid doing the fighting since he's going to be better at it than the Fighter anyway and be able to back up the Wizard with fullcasting. Also an animal companion. And more skill points. Also better saves. While being a dinosaur.
When a "fighter" can "slice" the air and release waves of force when swinging their swords that can cut a fireball in half, they are no longer "mundane" martials. That is essentially making the "fighter" a magical creature.
Sure, you can do that. That's what 4e does. But they're no longer martial characters in anything but name. They are now magical creatures doing all sorts of super powerful things. If you want to play a game where sword fighters can do superpowerful things with no magical help, there are plenty of games that provide that.
Pathfinder is not one of them.
But it should be. Charles Atlas Superpowers can be found in any medium, unless you think Batman could ride a nuclear missile without them...
I mean are you accusing Batman of being a magical creature?
But it should be. Charles Atlas Superpowers can be found in any medium, unless you think Batman could ride a nuclear missile without them...
I mean are you accusing Batman of being a magical creature?
If it "should be" for you, then you "should be" playing one of the game systems that provides exactly this.
I've played 4e. It is this. It's fun.
And yes, in any rational sense, many things the Batman has done over the years in comics, movies and cartoons are truly superhuman and beyond the capacity of any human who has ever lived. In that sense he is "supernatural" which is just another way of saying "magic."
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You don't get this with Japanese book RPG's like Arianrhod and Alshard, because they see meleers quite differently. Don't get me wrong, D&D is popular in Japan (Record of Lodoss War was spawned from it), but the vast power of magic and the vast weakness of warriors was (and still is) a major point of contention. Sword World is seen as the Japanese version of D&D -- and it makes warriors more like the kinds we see in anime, than what we read in LotR.
Huh, I've never seen any of those books for sale at the local stores, nor in the hands of any of my friends. I have a ridiculously hard time convincing people to play something other than DnD, or even try it. That's always been a major part of the issue for me.
Pathfinder is not one of them.
3.5 had ToB, which had maneuvers. Warblades were martials without the power to shoot sword beams, scar the earth, or cut fireballs in two. They did however have the power to ignore DR and hardness on a slash, do an attack that did decent damage as a standard, and shake off or deny status effects. Nothing supernatural, but they were pretty awesome without ceasing to be mundane I felt.
Player competence isn't a class issue no, nor does it have to do with the games balance.
Yes it does. Game balance requires player and DM competence, Monsters has higher AC at higher levels, more HP and have move powerful attacks and improved special abilites. A fighter isn't likey to one shot a monster of the equal CR, But a wizard isn't likey to survive a round of melee with the same creature.
Some post hold to the idea (not belief) that wizards are OP and should be nerfed or martial characters are some how under powered, Pathfinder is a rules system and any one with the time energy and will can make a OP monster character.
Game Balance is the responsibility of the GM and the group. If you come into a game with a solid knowledge of the rules and the abilities of the characters you should be able to keep the party's challeges balanced and fair. If the group allows the wizard to sent the pace of the game and stop when their spell count is down then yes the wizard is always going to "look" OP because his weakness is never exploited, unlike the rogue flank dependents or the martial classes need for full attacks to gain the full benefit of multiple attacks.
@Kthulhu
Not cool, one monster on the wizard at a time. Go to your corner and wait your turn...if you get a turn. How much did wizard weight? Clean up on level 6, clean up on level 6.
You don't get this with Japanese book RPG's like Arianrhod and Alshard, because they see meleers quite differently. Don't get me wrong, D&D is popular in Japan (Record of Lodoss War was spawned from it), but the vast power of magic and the vast weakness of warriors was (and still is) a major point of contention. Sword World is seen as the Japanese version of D&D -- and it makes warriors more like the kinds we see in anime, than what we read in LotR.Huh, I've never seen any of those books for sale at the local stores, nor in the hands of any of my friends. I have a ridiculously hard time convincing people to play something other than DnD, or even try it. That's always been a major part of the issue for me.
Pathfinder is not one of them.3.5 had ToB, which had maneuvers. Warblades were martials without the power to shoot sword beams, scar the earth, or cut fireballs in two. They did however have the power to ignore DR and hardness on a slash, do an attack that did decent damage as a standard, and shake off or deny status effects. Nothing supernatural, but they were pretty awesome without ceasing to be mundane I felt.
I guess we might have different definitions of what constitutes "supernatural" but all of that aside, I don't hear anyone claiming that in 3.5 any martial class was comparable to a full caster.
Even in Pathfinder martial classes gain super powers in any rational comparison to human beings on earth. But while those abilities vastly exceed what any actual human could do, and therefore meet the definition of "supernatural" there is still at least a pretense of keeping things in the mundane realm and as such they don't compete with the reality altering cosmic power of spells.
Certain people are not going to be satisfied until they have all the benefits of a caster while retaining all the benefits of a martial (AC, HP, melee capabilities, etc.) They've min/maxed the heck out of their characters to do the most possible DPR, now they want everything else too.
Okay? We don't have to talk about them though. That's taking an extreme. No one suggested that.
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When a "fighter" can "slice" the air and release waves of force when swinging their swords that can cut a fireball in half, they are no longer "mundane" martials. That is essentially making the "fighter" a magical creature.
I disagree. It's a bias of Western fantasy.
In Western fantasy, a warrior is limited to what a real human (albeit at Olympic performance) can do -- never mind the setting is not constrained by real world physics. There is a limit to his strength. There is a limit to his endurance. There is a limit to what a steel sword can do. Only wizards can weave and pull on the threads of Reality. Magic is the ONLY means to defy physics.
In Eastern fantasy, a warrior is only limited by his willpower and training. A warrior can train to cleave through a mountain. A warrior can learn to reflect lightning off his sword. Magic is just another tool to achieve the same effects. In Eastern fantasy, there isn't a limit to what a "mere human body" can achieve... because the setting is not constrained by real world physics.
Certain people are not going to be satisfied until they have all the benefits of a caster while retaining all the benefits of a martial (AC, HP, melee capabilities, etc.) They've min/maxed the heck out of their characters to do the most possible DPR, now they want everything else too.Okay? We don't have to talk about them though. That's taking an extreme. No one suggested that.
Huh, and here I was thinking that once you gave a fighter the ability to "slice the air" with such force that they send a shock wave that negates a fireball, that's exactly what we were talking about...
When a "fighter" can "slice" the air and release waves of force when swinging their swords that can cut a fireball in half, they are no longer "mundane" martials. That is essentially making the "fighter" a magical creature.I disagree. It's a bias of Western fantasy.
In Western fantasy, a warrior is limited to what a real human (albeit at Olympic performance) can do -- never mind the setting is not constrained by real world physics. There is a limit to his strength. There is a limit to his endurance. There is a limit to what a steel sword can do. Only wizards can weave and pull on the threads of Reality. Magic is the ONLY means to defy physics.
In Eastern fantasy, a warrior is only limited by his willpower and training. A warrior can train to cleave through a mountain. A warrior can learn to reflect lightning off his sword. Magic is just another tool to achieve the same effects. In Eastern fantasy, there isn't a limit to what a "mere human body" can achieve... because the setting is not constrained by real world physics.
This is not an Eastern vs Western fantasy bias. It's a mundane vs supernatural bias. Period. Attempting to claim that this is some sort of cultural bigotry is just silly. Pathfinder has incorporated Eastern and other cultural mythology into the game.
The issue is that Pathfinder has carried on the original D&D idea that some character classes are not magical.
That's all. Full stop. No need to drag cultural bias into this. If this were an Eastern game with the same design constraint, it would have the same issue.
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Not really, Charles Atlas Superpowers don't compare to reality warping, but they would certainly help close the gap. Pathfinder characters all have some measure of Charles Atlas Superpowers (you can fall from the stratosphere and be fine sometime around 10th level), so its not that Pathfinder is the wrong system, it just that it needs to go farther to help bridge the gap between and reality warper.
Player competence isn't a class issue no, nor does it have to do with the games balance.Yes it does.
To clarify what I meant, GM's shouldn't have to rebalance the game for its inherent flaws, and using the example of what a skilled player can do ignores how intuitive something is, and any inherent issues with the class if the example requires things outside of the class's features. I don't believe houserules and the like should be required to rebalance things to make them reasonably. I also believe x/day "I win buttons" are a terrible balance, and its not fun to 'play against weakness' in that case. Do everything or do nothing... was that supposed to be fun?
In Eastern fantasy, a warrior is only limited by his willpower and training. A warrior can train to cleave through a mountain. A warrior can learn to reflect lightning off his sword. Magic is just another tool to achieve the same effects. In Eastern fantasy, there isn't a limit to what a "mere human body" can achieve... because the setting is not constrained by real world physics.
While I think that the idea is absolutely awesome and I have nothing against it personally, its definitely running on a different definition of mundane than AD is talking about.
Actually Mr Fishy, I'd disagree. Player competence IS a class issue. Casters are no problem even for fairly inexperienced GMs in the hands of players of low competence and system mastery. The majority of the caster-martial imbalance comes when the levels of competence and system mastery are high. While martials benefit a fair bit from having a better player, casters benefit exponentially.
Agreed.
But player competence isn't a rules problem. It's a player balance issue, good player, bad player both have the same rules. Weekend hunter vs Army sniper, give them the same weapon, WAAAAY different effect. The rules aren't the problem; the class isn't more powerful. Game balance is a player/GM issue. A Dev can't account for house rules, skill level, feat combos, and dozen of other X factors only found on your table.
Rule are constant. GM allowance and player skill aren't.
Not really, Charles Atlas Superpowers don't compare to reality warping, but they would certainly help close the gap. Pathfinder characters all have some measure of Charles Atlas Superpowers (you can fall from the stratosphere and be fine sometime around 10th level), so its not that Pathfinder is the wrong system, it just that it needs to go farther to help bridge the gap between and reality warper.
And some (like me) would argue that once you can fall from 10,000 feet and bounce on cobblestone like a rubber ball without being killed, it has gone way, way too far.
IF the character in question is truly mundane.
Yes, I agree that PF has many aspects that already blur the distinction for existing martial characters. But there is still a desire in the PF case for a purely martial character to at least appear to be constrained by mundane physical limits.
I really don't see the issue. The game system has addressed this for decades with classes that combine martial and magical. Play a paladin, ranger, cleric or any of an ever-growing list of characters who swing pointy sticks but also command reality altering cosmic power.
If it bugs you that much, just don't play fighters or rogues. Problem solved.