To be fair, a wizard would keep his book in a waterproof bag just like a fighter would maintain his sword. And such statements are irrelevant anyways, as this wizard exists solely for this encounter, and had no chance to say something beforehand.No, that's not fair. I used to be a soldier. We relied on our gear to keep us alive. And yet you still have plenty of idiots who lose their comsec, night vision goggles, rifles, etc. Plenty of them don't clean their weapons. Tons of them don't waterproof their books.
Unless it happens IC, it doesn't happen. Including poop.
Oh, sorry. I was being unclear - I was saying assume that most NPC wizards would do it. You don't write out every little detail for NPCs. Ain't nobody got time for that.
Would you kindly point me to the place where I claimed FR was low magic?
Yes, there is quite a bit of magic in Faerûn. No, that does not automatically mean you will be facing vast numbers of spellcasters.
And I'd like a source for those 'fairly common' planetouched, please. Preferably something better than a population breakdown listing "Other" at 2%. Not even Calimshan (and Calimport) have them listed in 3E, which is pretty much THE place for genasi.
Though why we argue about it is beyond me. Games differ. Some places will support non-core races and lots of magic, some will not. Even within the same setting. Even within the same place in that setting, depending on the kind of game you run.
A bestiary line up does not translate into equal opportunity prevalence. There's only so many demon lords, archdevils and great wyrms around. A demon lord is not automatically just as common as an orc. Pit fiends popping up are a major event. In some games, thats not just "one of those four encounters of the day". So yes, even in high magic Faerûn, you will not run into them around every corner. You are in fact more likely to meet an advanced wyvern than a balor, or a humanoid opponent.
You're entirely free to play otherwise, but thats your game, just as the above is my game. Neither of us has claim to THE WAY things are supposed to be played.
And yes, that makes Witch Hunter heavily dependent on circumstance.
And just for emphasis: CR20 creatures in the bestiary are not all possible monsters. You are excluding all opponents with class levels, all PC races, all advanced monsters, all templated creatures, and the option of grouping up multiple opponents instead of a single creature.
In other words, you are excluding 95% of what I, for instance, regularily encounter at all levels of play. Your game isn't my game, and not the standard.
While I consider myself a big advocate of "Hey guys, tables DO actually vary," mostly playing in low combat, high skill challenge games, I do think this point loses a little bit of luster when comparing the Fighter to the Barbarian. Once you are playing the "my game is different than yours" card then all sorts of other things can be brought up.
Specifically, I happen to play in a campaign sans magic mart, and the fighter is more dependent on gear than a Barbarian. Gloves of the Duelist is the most universally applicable example, but I'm sure people could come up with others. Or if your DM is a dick who keeps taking away your best weapon groups and forces you to improvise with a bathtub, for example. Barbarians don't need highly specific gear and weapons, if they need weapons at all. And that's before you get into the Barbarian getting rage power advantages like Pounce which tend to translate to more average DPR. In a lot of these circumstances, the Barbarian will probably perform better.
At a certain point, you do need to figure out a base line. Of course it's possible to build a specific Fighter which will outperform a specific Barbarian in a specific setting. It does sound to me that Witchhunter is a common enough thing to factor in as much as say, Gloves of the Duelist are.
witchunter / gloves of the duelist comparison
This is a good analogy. It's popular and applicable enough in most published campaigns and published settings to be generally expected in standard builds.
witchunter / gloves of the duelist comparisonThis is a good analogy. It's popular and applicable enough in most published campaigns and published settings to be generally expected in standard builds.
Thank you kindly. :) We do what we can.
im afraid i dont understand what retconing does a spellcaster doWell of course I have [insert spell here] prepared! (Despite never having mentioned it before.)
Well of course I have a scroll of [insert spell here]! (Despite never having mentioned it before.)
Well of course I have a contingency active! (Despite never having mentioned it before.)
Well of course I keep my spellbook in a waterproof bag! (Despite never having mentioned it before.)
Etc, etc, etc.
that seems easy fixed by making players show you what they prepare each morning