If you cannot find ways to make martials stronger without making them "supernatural" maybe you have a problem with your setting.
Note that DnD wizards easily outshine gandalf, on level 3.
I dont even say casters should be nerfed, im saying they shouldnt be able to do EVERYTHING. Right now they do, this needs to go in order to nerf them.
its something almost every DM does in one way or another.
Either by restricting spell components, by banning certain spells or by enforcing a houserule that you can only pick spells from certain spellschools.
Why? because otherwise the entire Campaign becomes trivialized by the sheer ammount of utility a wizard has.
I can tell you how to make Martials better: Combine 4E style Maneuves and exploits and pre 3rd edition out of combat progression.
Give Fighters a castle, by the rules. dont make it an optional thing "the party may gain .... "
No, make a rule that on a certain level, the fame of a Fighter will cause one of the powers in the setting to recognize him and to bestow upon him knighthood.
Give him political clout, give him soldiers he can bring with him, give the Barbarian his own horde like he used to have.
Make him a leader of men.
Right now hes none of that, right now the fighter is a guy who hits hard and the barbarian is a guy who hits hard but doesnt quite run as fast as usain bolt.
Make martials push the boundries of Human physicque, the inspiraiton for Fighters should not be "a guy who lifts hard in the gym", the inspiration for the wizard are gandalf an merlin, so the inspiraiton for a fighter should be King Arthur and Beowulf.
And no its not "ironic" that i mention other RPGs.
Magic is far weaker than DnD in almost any fantasy RPG. World of Darkness is not a high fantasy setting.
Im talking about Warhamer FRPG, The Dark Eye, GURPS fantasy if you wanna go there, even older DnD editions.
And yes, they are all bad. They are bad because they can only solve a problem that is Combat or their very specific class niche, which is Intimidation for a barbarian, tracking for a ranger, opening locks for rogues or, well nothign realy for a fighter, Meanwhile wizards can solve any problem with a spell and without having to roll for it AND solve combat without even participating in it, and if they do, they are no weaker than anyone else.
Last edited by Sordak; 10/07/19 08:01 AM.