Because I think this actually gets us a lot closer to what is at the heart of a lot of these (sometimes quite heated) discussions.
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| And remember, both are quite useful. |
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Flexibility Versus Reliability
Before we get too deep into things, I have played through a variety of characters on all sides of these arguments, as well as middle ground concepts like paladins, rangers, magi, etc. who combine the martial and the magical. With that said, I do have a noted preference for brutes, bruisers, and bludgeoners. However, when people hold up full caster classes as "god tier" options for character power level, and treat martial characters without magic as sub-optimal choices hardly worth considering, I find that it's usually because of two major differences.
The first is player philosophy. The second is player goals and ideals, which may or may not be in-line with the goals and ideals of the plot and the game. But we'll get into that.
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| Let's begin at the beginning, shall we? |
The most common reason I've seen people argue that spellcasters are inherently better choices for characters in terms of mechanical advantages is that they have more options; more tools they can bring to the game. A wizard, sorcerer, or cleric, properly equipped, can often overcome problems with a wave of their hand, and a whispered word. The guards don't want to let the party in? A simple enchantment spell can make you their best friend for a little while, or leave them staring off into space while you just walk by. The next stage of the journey is atop a sheer cliff? A spell can easily fly one up there, allowing them to keep progressing with minimal interruption. And if a creature proves hostile, well, there's always a lightning bolt to reduce them to ash.
Now, having both watched and played the utility caster who acts as the party's Swiss army knife, I am not hating on this path. It is astonishingly convenient for all concerned to have a wizard who can magic away problems so that you can progress. It is the flexible solution, allowing you to subtly alter the rules of a given situation so that you can more forward.
However, as a counterpoint, magic is not a reliable solution. This is something that I always keep foremost in my mind as a player, and it is something that I feel entirely too many folks forget when they settle down at the table.
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| There's a six on each of these dice... just need them both to come up! |
Magic, as a solution, has inherent weaknesses that can undermine its usefulness as a tool. For example, a lot of spells give their target a saving throw, and often that means the target walks away unscathed if they make it. There are entire creature types that are immune to certain kinds of spells and effects, and there are a lot of creatures with inherent resistances to spells (in Pathfinder, at least, this doesn't apply as much to the 5E players reading this). Not only that, but a given character only has so many spell slots per day, and they need to have the proper number of the proper spells available to cast. Lastly, an aspect that's often forgotten, spellcasters need to have the proper materials and focuses in order to make their magic work; if these materials are lost, stolen, destroyed, etc., they're rendered powerless. Spells have specific durations, as well, and if you use them too soon they'll wear off before they're needed. On the other hand, if you wait till you're in the thick of danger, you may have to choose between which spells are going to be most effective, finding you're hampered by action economy. Then there's the usual issue with anti-magic fields that always seem to crop up when they're most inconvenient.
Now, none of that is to say that magic isn't useful, or that you can't solve problems with it. That was merely to show that it is not a blanket solution that always succeeds... especially since magic is a limited resource. You can only cast so many spells of each level per day before you're tapped out.
The abilities of martial characters, on the other hand, tend to be far more reliable. The fighter's feats don't run out, the barbarian's damage reduction is always there, and while they might not be a strictly martial class, a rogue's sneak attack is always going to be effective in bringing a target down. Any martial character could just as easily solve the issues mentioned above, as well. The guard doesn't want to let the party pass? Perhaps the charismatic fighter manages to bribe them, using Diplomacy to defuse the situation. It's possible the barbarian swings their reputation around, making an Intimidate check to get the guard to step aside. Or the rogue just knifes them, or uses a poison to render the guard unconscious or dead, allowing the party to walk on past.
There's a mundane solution to most issues in a game. Because yes, you can cast knock, but you can also just pick the lock, or bash down the door. You could fly up a sheer cliff, or onto the roof of an enemy stronghold, but you could also just climb up there, possibly with the aid of a rope and a grappling hook. You can make yourself invisible to avoid detection, that's true, but a decent Stealth roll can do wonders for you. And unlike with magic, these mundane solutions usually don't have built-in limitations on how often you can use them to solve a problem, nor is there a save to resist them. You can Intimidate one guard, or 5, or 10 as need be. You can huck that grappling hook as many times as you need to, and you can haul yourself up an entire mountain hand-over-hand if the need arises. You can pick every lock you come across, if you so desire, and never once worry about needing to rest to regain your daily uses.
The drawback for most martial characters is, of course, they are more limited in the resources they can swing around. As a result they tend to be very good at a select few things, but those select few things don't require them to have a spell component pouch, to worry about anti-magic fields, spell resistance, or saving throws. They just have to hit the target, or beat the DC. But the flip side of this is that you may find yourself trying to solve a delicate problem with a blunt instrument, because when you're a hammer that's the tool you brought to the game.
White Room Power Play
The second part of this debate is one I honestly find odd, but it's something I run into time and time again so I thought I'd comment on it. Now, "white rooming" is when you set up an ideal situation where you have all the time, resources, and preparation you need to achieve a specific thing. Basically it's the RPG equivalent of asking what Batman could accomplish if you gave him a challenge, and enough time to build a specific solution to overcome it.
And things can get rather out-of-hand when it comes to what you can do with spellcasters in a lot of games. From an archmage creating their own demiplane, to clerics creating an army of undead minions, to a sorcerer crafting enchanted items powerful enough to shake the foundation of the setting, these are sometimes held to the gold standard of what the possibilities are of a particular character.
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| Phenomenal cosmic power! |
Sure, that's neat if that's the story you want to tell. However, most of the time accomplishing these things will require massive hoards of treasure in costly spell components, months-to-years of in-game time to complete, and for a character to achieve extremely high levels just to gain access to the spells in question... which are all rather extreme limitations in your average campaign.
This is my way of saying sure, you'll be able to do that eventually, but it likely isn't going to affect the campaign we're actually playing in because you don't have the time, resources, and power you'd need to accomplish those goals.
This is where we get into player goals versus game goals. Because if you're in a game you might have the stated goal of, "Stop the lich king from rising," or, "End the war between these two nations." And if a player wants to uncover the eldritch secrets to folding reality in order to make their own private plane of existence where time stands still, that's cool... but how does that solve the problem of the campaign? More to the point, if the campaign is set to end at level 13-14, but the spellcaster needs to be level 17 before they can even begin to accomplish this goal, it's all epilogue that's out of the realm of the here and now. It would be no different than saying the barbarian became king of his own border nation, or the monk achieved inner perfection and rose to the position of a demigod; it wasn't a part of the campaign, so it's just a part of your personal story and narrative.
To be clear, this is not to knock anyone's preferred storytelling flavor or fun. If that's the kind of narrative that gets your wheels turning, and you enjoy telling the story of just how your character eventually achieved that goal (along with the spreadsheet of how you did it once the campaign was over), then more power to you. However, that kind of setup may do nothing for other players, who get far more excited about the idea of burying an ax in a demon lord's skull, or eventually worming their way into the position of Master of Whispers in a shadowy spy network.
It's just important to remember that if you're comparing toolkits that you need to look at the game in question. Because if this plot is going to benefit from the use of a Hammer, then it's important to have at least one big, ugly sledge at the table.
Check Out Some Gaming Stories!
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