| vangrue |
A 10th level wizard using a mace gets +10 to hit, plus str + wpn magic etc.
A 10th level fighter gets a +2 bonus due to mastery, otherwise the same.
It seems far too close to me.
A fighter should have a considerably better to hit than an equivalent wizard.
Same thing with knowledge skills. How can someone trained in them have such a small advantage, especially at higher levels? A 15th level wizard trained in arcana has a +15 proficiency + master so +17 + int
An untrained fighter would be 4 behind? Why would the fighter have any clue about arcana??????
I think you're greatly discounting the difference from ability score bonuses. Wizards are very unlikely to increase strength and aren't generally going to have the proficiency bonus in weapons that a fighter does, by default, and in fact are untrained in maces anyway.
Using a +1 magic mace:
Wizard (untrained, 10 str): 10 -2 + 0 + 1 = 9 to-hit
Fighter (Club mastery, 20 str): 10 + 2 + 5 + 1 = 18 to-hit
Now, for Arcana, while the fighter may be allowed to make an Arcana check untrained, he can only Recall Knowledge. Even then, it's going to be pretty modest knowledge picked up from adventuring, recalled from overhearing someone mention something in passing, etc. It's up to the DM to determine what their check reveals, and whether the DC might be higher for the fighter than for the wizard. So, untrained, the fighter has +8 to their roll. Not nothing, but not close to the trained Wizard with Arcana as a signature, master skill proficiency and 20 Int, gaining at least +17 to their arcana roll, and they gain advanced uses of the skill. That's a pretty distinct advantage in my book.