Thirdly, there's more than a bit of Wish-Fulfillment here. In essence, the mages study under the promise of a dull and complex path with great profits at the end. Meanwhile, the Conans and Beowulfs have the run of the place, being able to both solo and group.

Secondly, in such a setting, there may be dozens if not hundreds of small-time mystic dabblers, but they quickly thin in numbers, only to resurface as potent adventuring wizards, culminating in the classic mystic powerhouse like Gandalf or Elminster, or the Evil Sorcerer in the Evil Tower of Ominousness. Since warriors don't have magic, how is physical force supposed to beat, say, an intangible ghost or some supernatural baddie with the magical ability to ignore it? Basically, warriors can only be so fantastic, so even as they improve, those improvements mean less. They hit the limits of human (or near-human) ability and can't bend physics any farther. This isn't just a Sour Grapes complaint against Squishy Wizards or a lack of Competitive Balance throughout the game, but can be a deliberate thematic choice.Р”Р‡irst off, the idea that warriors hit a development celing at some point. Whether it's the game designers intentionally 'making up' for lots of frailty for many levels, or a quirk that comes up during play, the wizard simply outpaces all but the most Min Maxed and Munchkined out warriors. In the meantime, they are nearly defenseless in a fight. Wizards, on the other hand (especially young/low level ones), have no such easy shortcuts to massive magical power they have to study, find or invent spells, and discover magic items that aren't so powerful they cause them to go into a Superpower Meltdown. Magical weapons aren't required but can (usually) be used immediately and give amazing bonuses. The fighter just needs decent armor and a weapon, and with their marvelous Hit Points, they can get into the thick of things and do reasonably well. The divide is usually exacerbated by the ease with which a young warrior can go wading into combat compared to a novice mage. However, the trend reverses at higher levels, when the magic users gain a breadth of both versatility and pure power over simplistic hack and slash heroes.

Magic users gain power quadratically as they level up.Р”Р„ quirk some Video Game and especially Tabletop RPG game systems share is that melee classes are more powerful, versatile or useful at lower levels than casters or magic-using classes. Melee classes gain power at a linear rate as they level up.

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