Hello everyone! Welcome home, to Rivervale! This is Garlic, and today we’ll talk about the Martial vs Caster divide in D&D.
First of all, what is the Martial vs Caster Divide?
The core concept is that Caster characters grow exponentially more powerful in higher levels, to the point where they completely outclass Martial characters, even in areas where Martial characters should excel.
Moreover, caster characters have enormous utility capabilities, where Martial characters are primarily focused on combat, an area in which they still fall short of Casters in high levels.
To understand how it came to be, let’s look at the main balancing theme of the game.
The game’s balance is based around the idea that Casters can be very effective, by spending valuable resources. They can do that a few times before they have to rest.
Martial characters on the other hand, do not have the same overwhelming impact in those specific moments, but they can be generally effective while spending few to none resources.
The key point here, is the word “Resources”, and this is where the balance of the game goes wrong.
Casters have an extra resource that Martials do not have: Spell Slots.
The intention is that:
~ Casters are more effective than Martials when they spend their high level spell slots.
~ Casters are equally effective to Martials when they spend their mid level spell slots.
~ Casters are less effective than Martials when they spend their low level spell slots.
And this right here is where the problem arises.
Casters usually have way too many spell slots, so we’re usually in the first category.
“Casters are more effective than Martials when they spend their high level spell slots.”
We’ll try to understand why this is happening.
Let’s read an excerpt from the Dungeon Master’s Guide.
THE ADVENTURING DAY
Assuming typical adventuring conditions and average luck, most adventuring parties can handle about six to eight medium or hard encounters in a day. If the adventure has more easy encounters, the adventurers can get through more. If it has more deadly encounters, they can handle fewer.
From this excerpt we can see that the game was designed in such a way, where players are expected to have 6-8 encounters per long rest.
However, in later years the way we play the game has evolved and the focus is no longer on combat alone, but also on roleplay and sometimes realism.
So these days, most parties have 0 – 2 encounters per long rest.
So, it this is you, then
This is, of course, not a bad thing, but it usually means that Casters will generally have their high level spell slots available for most – if not all – combat encounters, which means that they will be more effective than Martials.
The game itself actually explains this in the Dungeon Master’s Guide.
“The rules for short and long rests presented in the Player’s Handbook work well for a heroic-style campaign.
Characters can go toe-to-toe with deadly foes, take damage to within an inch of their lives, yet still be ready to fight again the next day. “
The conclusion here is that what causes the Martial vs Caster divide, is the fact that at most tables, the party gets to take a long rest more often than intended by the game’s designers.
The question we will try to answer is: How can we have a more narrative-focused game, with the pacing of a proper story, while still maintaining game balance?
First, let’s look at what the game itself has to say about this.
This is an excerpt from the Dungeon Master’s Guide.
“REST VARIANTS
The rules for short and long rests presented in the Player’s Handbook work well for a heroic-style campaign.
Characters can go toe-to-toe with deadly foes, take damage to within an inch of their lives, yet still be ready to fight again the next day.
If this approach doesn’t fit your campaign, consider the following variants. “
One of the variants it offers is the following.
“GRITTY REALISM
This variant uses a short rest of 8 hours and a long rest of 7 days.
This puts the brakes on the campaign, requiring the players to carefully judge the benefits and drawbacks of combat.
Characters can’t afford to engage in too many battles in a row, and all adventuring requires careful planning.
This approach encourages the characters to spend time out of the dungeon.
It’s a good option for campaigns that emphasize intrigue, politics and interactions among other PCs, and in which combat is rare or something to be avoided rather than rushed into.”
So, let’s think about this.
If we have an average of 1 encounter per in-game day, after which we have an 8-hour short rest, in an in-game week, we’ll have an average of 7 encounters. At that point, the adventure concludes, and we take a week-long rest.
So, under this general guide, we get to gave 6-8 combat encounters PER LONG REST, which is just what the game’s designers intended.
We can ascertain, thsat the solution to the Martial vs Caster Divide, is to make sure than on average, the party has 6 – 8 encounters between long rests.
The Gritty Realism rule, DOES solve this issue, but in case it sounds too harsh, we’ll look at a few alternatives.
~ A Short Rest is 8 hours (so, a full night’s rest)
~ A Long Rest is 1 week (so, basically downtime)
Pros:
~ The Martial vs Caster Divide at higher levels is practically non-existent.
~ The game follows a slower progression, focusing on the journey and accentuating the fatigue of adventuring.
Cons:
~ At lower levels, casters might feel underpowered.
~ A Short Rest is 1 hour
~ A Long Rest is 1 day.
(like normal)
HOWEVER: Players can only take a long rest at settlements, or safe havens, and sleeping in the wilderness only counts as a short rest, that also removes exhaustion.
Pros:
~ The game follows a more realistic progression, making the long rest a much sought after reward.
Cons:
~ The Martial vs Caster Divide can still appear at higher levels, but it will be less noticeable.
There are now 3 types of rests.
~ A Short Rest is 1 hour and players recover their “per short rest” resources.
They can spend up to 1 Hit Die to regain hp.
~ A Medium Rest is 8 hours and players recover their “per short rest” resources.
They can spend any number of Hit Dice and they recover half of their maximum Hit Dice (normally happens on a long rest).
They can also choose expended spell slots to recover. The spell slots can have a combined level equal to no more than half their caster level (rounded up), and none of the slots can be level 6 or higher
~ A Long Rest is 1 week and players recover their “per short rest” and “per long rest” resources.
They also recover all HP, all Hit Dice and all spell slots.
Pros:
~ The game follows a realistic progression, while still giving enough resources to keep the pace moving.
Cons:
~ Heavier house-ruling. Certain features might need to be tweaked.
These Rest Variants are just two ideas on how to balance your game, you can create more variations to fit your own needs.
Remember that the important thing is that all of your players are having fun and that they don’t feel that their character doesn’t measure up to their fellow players’ characters.
So even if in the classic d&d rules, casters are way better than martials, if your entire party of players, chose to play casters, then there is jno need to change anything!
That’s it for today, I hope you have some fun and I;ll see you on the next one!