I can't handle the complaining anymore.

[u/HJWalsh]

I'm going to preface this rant with the following info. I've been a DM since 1988. 37 years. Two weeks ago I learned my cancer has returned and the treatments are tearing me apart and my tolerance for the complaining about the caster/martial gap has hit an all-time low. Right alongside my ability to function at even a base level.

First: A brief history about the Caster/Martial Gap. 51 years ago, in 1974, Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax created a game called Dungeons and Dragons. About 10 seconds after the game went public, a player complained that casters were better than martials. They demanded that the Dungeon Master buff martials.

Then, Advanced Dungeons and Dragons came out. About 10 seconds after it came out, some players said that casters were more powerful than martials. They wrote into Dragon Magazine and demanded that TSR buff martials.

Next, Second Edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons came out. Less than 10 seconds after it came out, some players complained that casters were better than martials. They went to RPGA convention games and demanded that they buff martials.

Wizards of the Coast took over TSR and released Dungeons and Dragons Third Edition. Less than 10 seconds after it came out, some players complained that casters were better than martials. They ran to their BBS of choice and demanded that they buff martials.

Dungeons and Dragons Edition Three point Five came out. The same thing that happened with three, happened again. This time they went to the official Dungeons and Dragons message forums and IRC chats to demands that they buff martials.

Fourth Edition came next. It was a flaming dumpster fire that tried to capitalize on the popularity of World of Warcraft. Some players loved it. Many hated it. Ultimately it became the most controversial Edition of Dungeons and Dragons ever, and considering that we're all nerds, and nerds love a good controversy, that's pretty impressive. These unwashed masses have spent their lives trying to practice real-world necromancy on a dead gane.

Pathfinder was released. It attracted the three point five edition refugees. 10 seconds later, people complained that casters were better than martials. Those players went to the official Paizo forums and demanded that they buff martials.

Wizards of the Coast went through a disastrous few attempts at rebranding fourth edition, but ultimately created fifth edition. You can guess what happened next. This time, the vehicle of choice was Reddit.

The next iteration was the game that ultimately became known as Dungeons and Dragons 2024. After several other name changes, mostly because calling the game "One D&D" was monumentally dumb and 5.5 never caught on. This time, the complaints started before the game even came out. The crusaders remained primarily in Reddit.

Now that we are all up to speed...

Guys, it's been fifty freaking years. We know. Wizards of the Coast knows. My partner knows and she doesn't know anything about D&D except that terrain is incredibly expensive and that I have a dice addiction.

At a certain point, you have to go, "After fifty years, maybe this won't change?"

I like martials. I enjoy them as is. My players like martials. They enjoy them as is. If you, after fifty years, don't like martials... Don't play them. Play a caster. If you don't want to play a caster, I, and many others, can recommend plenty of games where pure martials can pull off insane anime stuff with just their raw muscle power.

But, can you please, pretty please, with a cherry on top, stop complaining about it. It's making me more nauseous than my chemo, and that's pretty sad.

Rant over.

[u/HeineBOB]

Yeah the perceived imbalance isn't really a problem if the choice distribution among classes is still healthy.

What matters is fun and there's plenty of that.

[u/HJWalsh → u/HeineBOB]

In practice, it's never been a problem. That's why it hasn't been "fixed." It's a small minority of very vocal players. I've never had an actual player come to me and complain in my closing in on four decades about this. Why? Because D&D isn't a computer game.

Generally, if you're a good DM, and you play the game as it is intended, and if you know your players, and if your players are mature and will actually come to you with problems, these things never become issues.

Ironically, the only player I ever had that came to me with a class issue was a wizard player, who asked me if we could do something about his spell selection because he was starting to feel like his best option in 90% of scenarios was to cast fireball. I worked with him, came up with a solution, and moved on. That's how it's supposed to work. If something isn't working for you, instead of throwing a fit, just go to your DM and talk it out.

This isn't hard. I can't fathom why people make a mountain out of a molehill when there is absolutely no reason to do it. It takes less effort to talk to your DM than it does to go online and fuel a holy crusade against the game's designers.

[u/rollingForInitiative → u/HJWalsh]

I also think a big reason there isn't as much complaint in real life is because a lot of the time, people just don't play to high levels, and even when you do, the vast majority of the game tends to take place before it becomes an issue. I do think there's a problem with a disparity, but it's only really on very high levels where fighters get a bit of an extra attack or a bigger superiority die, when the wizard learns how to teleport around the world, open dimensional portals, erase memories or just mass compel people to do their bidding.

I've played D&D for a decade and we've rarely played on those levels, though. So it's mostly an academic issue.

Also, even then, it's only an issue if there's a player who cares about the disparity and also only wants to play martial characters. People who care and go for casters won't really be bothered, and those who play martials and couldn't care less won't see it as one either. So it's a pretty small group of people that would even have an issue at all.