Alright, I didn't sleep well last night but I've got two cups of coffee in me and I wanna write a rambley #TabletopChopShop about the "wizard problem" in a lot of fantasy tabletop games.

(A problem I briefly discuss and then try to solve in my Tarot Card Magic ruleset for BOLT. Shameless plug here: https://calevmir.itch.io/bolt-tarot )

So what is the "wizard problem" as I see it? It's the uneven power creep in most fantasy games (particularly the big one in the room) between magic using player characters and non-magic using player characters.

At 5th level in the big elfgame, your average warrior gets to attack 2x per turn. Meanwhile the wizard is throwing 2-3 fireballs a day (if they use their Arcane Recovery ability). Sure, the game math balances overall, roughly. Because that wizard only

gets a few fireballs. But you can keep swinging that sword a whole 2x per turn all day!
But also that doesn't feel fair as a player. Also a lot of magic classes get that 2x attack anyways lol. So it's the problem where, by the end of a campaign

the party magic users can teleport to alternate dimensions, incinerate battle fleets, stop the very hands of time. Meanwhile Ol'Human Fighter gets to swing their sword a whole 4x a turn! Yipee...

So, moaning about the owlbear in the room aside, how do you fix the "wizard problem". Any number of ways. But here's how I did it.

1. Make magic evenly available and easy to learn.
All players should get to throw huge fireballs. The main reason people I've played with haven't wanted to is because the rules were too complicated. So a good magic rule set should be intuitive, not a chore.

2. Make magic kick ass.
Hey, it sucks to use a high level magical power and have it bounce off a bosses auto-succeed ability. That isn't fun for the players, and it makes fights feel unfair, at least to me. So make magic awesome to use.

3. Make magic mysterious.
Players shouldn't always know the outcome of powerful magic. Not in a "haha I got you! you worded your wish wrong and now you're dead" way. But in a "So, you redistributed the king's wealth. Now there isn't any money to pay for-

-roads. You got your society into this mess. You should probably help get them out too." kind of way. Magic should feel like having console commands in a Bethesda game. You have no idea what's going to happen next. But it'll probably be funny.

That's really it. Make magic equitable, cool, and mysterious. And if you purposely throw off the balance of game math (with, say, an 8d6 spell at level 5). At least make it so the players get to feel like badasses.

(hey you. you're finally awake. if you thought i made even a lick of sense in my caffeine fueled haze, then you might like the magic rules i wrote for @BoltRPG. I think they're neat and they try to solve the wizard problem i talked about here.)

so, um, here's the link again i guess? i'm still new to self-promo i don't know how it works oops. https://calevmir.itch.io/bolt-tarot