Averting Linear Warriors Quadratic Wizards and its effects on culture

I think the implication he was going for was that the wizards brought everyone down to levels of strength we are familiar with rather than from those levels, which, in a world that operates like ours, would probably be beneficial rather than harmful. It's actually a pretty good idea I might have to take into consideration.

Yeah, that's what I was going for. Originally all people (and possibly plants and animals) had what we would consider to be superhuman levels of strength, speed, agility, etc., and the wizards' spell reduced everyone down to levels we would consider normal.

It could be one of those "can only be cast when the stars are right" sort of spells. Or it might take a couple decades of performing rituals beforehand. Or maybe the wizard who cast it realizes they won't be around forever, and wants to leave their fellow wizards in a position of strength when that happens.

Or, heck, maybe it's a spell where affecting the entire world is actually easier than trying to narrow the effects down to just the people you want; like how it's easier to knock down a door than to pick a lock.

edited 21st Oct '13 2:13:29 AM by RavenWilder

Wizards aren't quadratic because they are inherently more powerful, or because they learn in discrete increments (which is really only true in games like D&D; point-buy systems like Champions don't have that issue). They are quadratic because they have access to a wide variety of abilities that allow them to fill any niche in the party...and, at high levels, allow them to *do better* at any niche than the people who are specialized for it. A wizard can use Invisibility and Silence (not to mention Shapechange into a mouse) to beat a Rogue at sneaking. A wizard can use Mage Armor, Shield, Tenser's Transformation, Bull's Strength, and Enlarge Person to beat the fighter. A wizard can use Wish to beat...well, basically everyone.

If you want to make fighters quadratic, they need to get access to an equally wide array of powers. I don't know how you do that without effectively turning them into wizards.