Plus, the Ac scale only went to -10 (although you could certainly flimflam it higher if you wished). That's the equivalent of AC 30. Fighters in 1E hit stuff as easy then as now. +5 sword, girdle of Giant Str, and double spec made To-hit problems go away.
Sure, we've all done the Bracers AC 2 + 18 Dex + cloak +5 + ring +6/+1 + shield spell and gotten to -20 or so, but remember in 1E you had the magic the DM gave you...making magic items cost you a permanent Con pt, which for a class with sucky hit points, was a nasty loss.
==Aelryinth
Gotta say that since I've been playing D&D since about 1984 or so that this list really brought a lot of memories back. Might have to houserule some of this into 3.X. Good post!
The main problem with the melee/wizard is the 3.0 'revising' of the spellcasters and melees.
1) Melees lost their ability to do full attacks, all the time, even while moving.
2) Melees lost exclusive access to great strength, great con bonuses.
3) Ability scores were uncapped for everyone.
4) Everyone got multiple attacks.
5) Every other class improved it's BAB and at/rd.
6) Melees went from best avg saves to one good save.
7) Melees lost full Dex with armor.
8) Monsters got bigger, tougher, with Con and Str bonuses. Melees didn't really get anything to kill them faster with or be less hit by.Spellcasters...
1) Now got to cast with standard actions, instead of full round actions. I.e. they are NEVER INTERRUPTED.
2) Spellcasting became a whole lot more flexible.
3) Spellcasting became far more SUCCESSFUL with scaling saves required.
4) Scaling Con bonuses for everyone meant no melee has a HP advantage.
5) Unlimited ability score scaling means that if you get your Str/Con high enough, you can replace a fighter.
6) Spells mean you are not equipment dependent.
7) Getting spells is like getting handed a crapload of 1/day magic items...it's a huge bunch of gold handed your way. Everyone improved in melee, but melees didn't really improve at all in magic. If anything, they lost exclusivity.
8) The number of ways to get AC increased dramatically, and the melee has a much harder time accessing them then a wizard.Seriously, go back to 1E. A wizard getting into a fight with a fighter was going to die. Any spell he started went off at his NEXT initiative. If he got hit at all in the interim, he lost the spell...AND he couldn't move while casting! Against a competent fighter, a wizard was a push toy, and a single archer could lock him down completely unless he could get out of line of sight.
Nobody but fighter-types could get a natural str of 18%, or use a Girdle of Giant Str for 19+.
Only melee-types could get +3 or better HP to Con.
Multiple attacks were a CLASS FEATURE, not an...
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
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Weapon vs. AC was weapon vs. AC TYPE.I remember thinking it should be that way, but actually wasn't.
I don't have my 1E books remotely handy, though, so I'll concede the point.
I actually happened to have my 1st Ed PH on the shelf in my office and pulled it out to check it.
Ignoring your frankly wrong 4e stuff (I think? I don't know what you went into with "case play?"), I was refering to the fighter being dominated, with all his lovely terrible will score.
Even ignoring that though, what heroic things can martial classes do? Well, they can't rip off a monster's arm and then dive underwater for hours unaided like Beowulf. They can't go into horrible warp spasms that cause their very body to twist and mutate like Cu Chuulain. They can't do a lot of things, really.
In fact, the only thing they can do is charge the enemy and try full attacking it and then finding that most of the iteritive attacks miss and then they get dominated or hit with an attack that ignores their AC and killed.
The problem is that the only thing fighters can do is "Deal damage with one weapon I have specialized in," which is about as far from awesome mythological heroes as you can get. Yes, you can describe it in different ways, but at the end of the day, that's still all you're doing.
Don't overstate. It brings nothing to the discussion.
I want high level meleers more heroic and I see the problems of some spells, but in the same time, I want magic feel like magic and different mechanics for every class. The way 4th edition "fixed" the problem don't appeal me. This is what I meant. There are people that are not appealed by that kind of game. get over it, PLEASE.
Secondly, take a look on the barbarian. Rage, and rage powers that increase dramatically his performance and appearance (fangs and claws grow). You CAN have Chuchulainn with the current system. Choose at best your rage powers.
It's annoying have feat that don't scale and could be very useful more help in the action economy department, and less need of specialization.
But think that everything a fighter can do is full attack, IME means not being able to understand and use the fighter properly. BTW, think that full attack is always the same kind of action means do not understand how melee works at all.