Just for my curious mind, how would the game change if magic spells just had a flat effect regardless of caster level? Fer instance, just like a sword does 1d8 forever and always, a fireball would do 5d6 forever and always. Or cure light wounds would cure 1d8 forever and always.
Would that underpower the spellcasting classes?
It would make casters much less effective at high levels, as monsters are built with the current CL staging of spells in mind...
It would make casters much less effective at high levels, as monsters are built with the current CL staging of spells in mind...
How does that work? My upper level game play experience is pretty sparse, which is why I ask these questions, but monsters can really be designed for 11d6 lightning bolts *and* 1d8 longswords?
Nutty?
At high levels swords don't do 1d8 damage. They do 1d8+50 or something damage.
At high levels swords don't do 1d8 damage. They do 1d8+50 or something damage.
Yikes! I really need to make it past 7th level one of these days.
Is that +50 from personal abilities and magic items or are you assuming a level of buffing from his spell-casting teammates?
I've heard of the disparity between what's called the "linear warrior" and "quadratic wizard" and assumed that was a reference to the wizard's spells increasing in effect as the wizard went up in level compared to the fighter's damage staying mostly the same. Did I misinterperet that?
Umbral's point is the key. If spells did not scale with level, then for magic users to be comparable to martial classes, they would need magic items which apply bonuses to their spells like magic weapons apply bonuses to martial characters' attacks.
I actually like that approach. 4e does that with their implements. I think it works great.
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The problem is not spells that do damage. The problem is just about every utility spell that allows a wizard to bypass problems.. and of course the various "I win" buttons they possess. The trick to making them "linear" would be to remove all the offending spells and make most of their spells just do direct damage.
As it is, generally, spellcasters can barely approach the level of destruction achieved by martial characters. On the other hand, martial characters cannot even begin to attempt the same utility and control utilised by spellcasters.
Attempting to bridge that makes some people want to start edition wars from what I've seen.
I guess it's my own misunderstanding of the argument. It sounds less like a "linear/quadratic" problem and more like a "binary warrior, hexadecimal wizard" deal.
I don't know. To me, it's more of a numerical fighter, alphabetical wizard problem. One has to do things in order and is limited, while the other can be all over the place and even replace the other in some situations.