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Dungeons & Dragons	Dragon magazine	-	Classes	The Dragon #34

These words are especially for those of you who have read any of
the various articles which have appeared in The Dragon about the
“all-powerful Magic User and how to delete his power” and cried
“Unfair!” Even if you have agreed with those (supposed) words of
wisdom, please read on.

I have been playing and DMing D&D games for almost four years
and feel I have acquired a relatively good understanding of the game.
During this playing time I have developed both Magic Users and
Fighters (along with various other characters) and I take offense to the
continual criticism of the D&D magic system, mainly as it concerns
Magic Users.

Gary Gygax has written various pieces for The Dragon supporting
his magic system as well as Magic Users, but support for his positions
has appeared to be lacking.

It seems that a large majority of D&D players feel that the Magic
User wields too much power and thereby controls the tempo of the
game. This line of thought is in total contrast to mine. I’m sure most
people (even you anti-Magic User types) will agree that the lower-level
Magic User is not such an all-powerful character, with spells such as
Sleep, Charm Person, Magic Missile and Web being the major offensive
spells for the Magic User below 5th level. (This is not to degrade
these spells; even a Charm Person—if used correctly-is a very good
spell.) At the 5th level the Magic User can acquire more powerful
offensive spells such as Fireball and Lightning Bolt.

Most people who have played Magic Users feel that they finally
climb that first step to becoming powerful when they achieve the 5th
level and can use a 3rd-level spell. That’s when they start becoming
overconfident, which usually leads to their downfall and the downfall of
the party.

Take, for example, the case of a Thaumaturgist who casts a Fireball
(his only 3rd-level spell) at his counterpart in the Fighter Class, a
Swashbuckler. Even if the Swashbuckler takes the full effect of the spell
and fails to make his saving throw, the chances of his being killed are
next to nothing. With the Swashbuckler using eight-sided dice for hit
points and the Magic User using six-sided dice for his spell, his chances
of survival are very high.

“But wait,” some of you will surely say, “think of the damage that
he took. Our fighters would then finish him off.” And you would be
correct. But there is one thing you must remember: A dungeon adventure
usually takes a long time to play, and the Magic User will be unable
to cast that spell for another day. After a few encounters, even if he did
not sustain any damage, the Magic User would be worthless, for what
could be a long time, until he was able to use his spells again. Also
remember that it is not always advisable to obtain offensive spells. 
There are many times when a Read Languages or a Read Magic spell
would be more useful than Sleep or Charm Person spells. So, there are
many different factors which affect the strength and power that a Magic
User has.

With higher-level Magic Users, such as 8th, 9th or 10th level, the
same reasoning will apply. In a well run campaign, the opponents of
that level of character are going to have equivalent strengths and
powers. Along with the increases in strength and power goes the ability
to make saving throws more easily. That fact alone greatly reduces the
power of the higher-level Magic User.

The weakness of the Magic User must also come into focus. The
inability to wear armor makes him relatively easy to hit by even
low-level monsters; and the higher-level monsters are practically assured
of a hit.

With four-sided dice for hit points, the MU does not make a very
strong opponent. A Fire Giant (who would automatically score a hit vs.
A.C.9 opponents) would have a very good chance of killing a 10th-level
Magic User with one blow. On the other hand, the spells of the Magic
User would have a hard time affecting the Giant, due to his having an
easy roll to make to save vs. the magical incantations of the Necromancer.
Also, do not forget the time delay from the beginning of the spell
casting to when it actually takes effect.

The Magic User as I have described him is, hopefully, not that
“all-powerful” character that some people would believe him to be.
While his powers and abilities are a worthwhile addition to any party of
adventurers, he is also one of the hardest of character classes to play.
Many decisions await the player of a Magic User character, like when to
use those power spells you have, knowing that you will not be able to
cast them again for quite a while; also, deciding whether a defensive
spell such as Invisibility would be more desirable than a destructive
spell such as a Fireball or Lightning Bolt; and whether to take a possibly
worthless spell like Read Magic or a more useful one like Sleep.

To those of you who run campaigns where magical items are as
common as fleas on a dog, the Magic Users are probably the “all-powerful”
characters who have been described in some of the articles in
earlier editions of The Dragon. Even a Thaumaturgist is a powerful
character to be dealt with when he has a Wand of Cold, Staff of Power
or any of the other more powerful magical items. A 10th-level Lord
would rightly fear a 5th-level Magic User with a Wand of Lightning
Bolts.

Magical items should be limited and hard to acquire (especially the
more powerful ones). Too many or even one magical item can unbalance
the game and make the other characters’ actions of little or no
importance. Most people who play D&D enjoy
playing characters whose actions have some meaning and influence on
the outcome of the game. There is nothing more unenjoyable than
playing a game where one person’s character is so over-powerful that
the rest of the players feel like dead weight.

I say, let the Magic User alone. Allow him to use his abilities as
described in the D&D magic system. If played correctly, the Fighter,
Cleric and Thief all have as much power and influence on the play of
the game as the Magic User.

A final note, for those of you who want to know about the even
higher level Magic Users of the 14th-level-plus category:

I personally have not had the experience of playing with a character
that high in level. After playing in a campaign (a very well-run one, at
that) at least once a week for 2 years, I was pleased to have obtained the
levels of 8 for my Magic User and 7 for my Fighter.

It is hard for me to understand how a player can obtain those high
levels in less than 2 years, and sometimes in less than 1 year as I have
heard. If people are using Greyhawk’s “Guidelines for Awarding Experience <link>
Points for Monster Slaying,” reaching those levels would be a
tremendous feat! A 14th-level Wizard would have to kill 430 Red
Dragons or 925 Manticores or an amazing 60,000 Orcs to acquire the
needed experience points by monster-slaying.

But for those of you who have made it to those levels, there would
not be much difference in the relative power of the MU. The same
disadvantages of no armor, fewer hit points and the ability to use spells
only once per day make the higher-level Magic User no more powerful
than the other character classes at that level. Take a 14th-level Wizard,
pit him against 300 Orcs, and tell me whom you would wager on!