ancientdm wrote:This may be the case in your gaming group but I find even the high level wizards to not be so difficult should you be able to get close to them, A simple improved disarm will more often then not cause them to drop the staff or wand they are using and if in spell casting will cause them to drop the spell component needed to cast the spell they are attempting thereby causing them to lose the spell altogether. Now should they attempt to retrieve the item be it staff wand or component it leaves them open to an attack of opportunity as well as if they attempt a new spell. A simple magic item with blinking or teleport on it will get you right next to the caster without having to suffer any deadly attacks. And regardless whether you have taken your action or not, when the wizard takes his casting turn you get that free AOO. If he casts defensively you have now forced him to make a DC which is still better then letting him cast freely. This method if done wisely and with a 2nd or 3rd party member has felled many powerful wizards in a number of our campaigns. When it works its a beautiful thing when it doesn't it gets messy real quick.
It just doesn't work that easily.
a) You're assuming you can detect the Wizard in the first place. (Etherealness, Invisible,...)
b) You're assuming you can hit the Wizard. Godly AC thank to spells, Miss chances.
c) You're assuming you can reach him. (Flying, ...)
d) You're assuming he cares about his staff or component pouch. (Eshew Materials, and why not take it?)
e) Most importantly: you're assuming there's anything left to threaten the Wizard after his turn. (He will go first, because he has very decent initiative, due to spells, feats and items; most non-casters need their feats & money to purchase more necessary things, like Power Attack, Two Weapon Fighting,(Ha!), Improved Trip, Combat Reflexes and weapons are damned expensive.)
f) The DC for casting defensively is neglible.
g) Ever looked at what Polymorph can do?
On the lower levels (up untill 10th orso), your tactics *can* work. Mind the stress on *can*. Spells like Glitterdust or sleep end an encounter right from the start. But, granted, a 1st lvl Wizard isn't that impressive once he exhausts his spellslots.
The higher the level, the more the above points hold true.
Also, in most parties, the Wizard isn't alone, and the rest of the party will defend him, just as he will help his party members.
As for the spellbook argument: a wizard has almost 50% of his wealth by level to spend on spells. That's a lot of money. Combine it with Boccob's Blessed Book, and the weight and space issues are reduced severely. Moreover, you don't need "every spell". Six per level are enough. I think it's safe to assume a Wizard will learn many, many more than this.
Also, why would a Wizard leave his spellbook unprotected? There's his familiar, there's the Geass spell (just make it a Geass that forces the un-rightfull owner of the book to return it), there's Ropetrick, and there's plain common sense: would you be willing to risk the wrath of someone capable of slaying the Tarrasque on lvl 13 by stealing his most precious possession? (It can be done, and rather easily, google it.)
Stealing a spellbook (no matter how improbable) is a great plothook, but if it occurs all too often with DM's fiat, he stopped being fair to that player.
If you want to learn more about Wizards, visit [url="http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=394.0"]here[/url]. Many D&D-smart people there, and if you post your houserule there, I'm pretty sure you'll get better arguments than from me.
So, by your rule, you gave the Wizard all the advantages of the Sorcerer, without the drawbacks. At higher levels, you'll never run out of spells, so the "less spells" isn't really valid.
Does this also apply to Metamagic? You simply have to use a higher level slot, without preparation?
The more I think about it, the less I like the fumble rule on multiple attack: the more experienced a warrior gets, the more often he fails?
I don't like nerfs to melee/archery anyway, since casters are already so overpowered.
P.S.: Almost everything I said about Wizards goes for other fullcasters too. Also, I do not doubt you can find very specific situations where casters will get trumped. Judicious use of Anti-Magic Field seems the best bet, but that's only in a very limited area. Then again, outside of Core, I know of ways to get around Anti-Magic Fields.
