Discussion:3.5e thoughts on balancing caster / melee imbalance in combat

Damage drop off and concerns about melee viability

Version 3.5E

I have found that as characters advance towards the middle levels (8+ but really after 11) melee classes fall further and further by the wayside. A significant factor seems to be the issue of mobility and the loss of full attack actions. I've seen the proposal to simply make a full attack action simply a standard action, but that bothers me because it starts to break into a lot of core concepts. I've done some limited testing on my own with a modified version of the concept. There are two parts to the modification; I have separated them for ease of reading. If possible, I would like feedback.

1) As a standard action a character may attack N-1 number of melee attacks that are available with a minimum of 1 attack. This will make no difference in the lower levels, but from level 11+, a BAB +1 class will have the option of making two attacks and retaining their move. The 3/4 classes (specifically the rogue) will see a gain but only at level 20+, retaining some degree of balance.

Damage Relevance: Bobo the 16th level Fighter has weapon specialization (+2 dmg per attack), (+3 weapon), (+3 str modifier x 1.5 str modifier for great sword) (2d6 + 2 + 3 + 4 (rounding str down)) x 2 (assuming last attack misses) = 4d6 + 4 + 6 + 8 = 4d6 + 18. Assuming 3.5 dmg is average for d6 Bobo now does the equivalent of ~9d6 damage still below a caster but a definite step forward.

2) Alter haste and haste-like abilities (i.e. weapon of speed being one) to add the extra attack for any attack not just a full round attack. So, to use poor Bobo again, he would gain an additional attack of 2d6 + 9 at full BAB, making the new damage approximately

6d6 + 27. Assuming the same 3.5 average damage, he now deals an equivalent of 14d6 damage, making him slightly lower than a wizard / sorcerer direct damage spell, but within respectable spitting difference especially considering he is now hasted with a full move action available to him.

At level 20, Bobo could reasonably be expected to tap out 2d6 + 6 (+4 str x 1.5 for great sword) + 5 (weapon bonus) + 4 (weapon specialization) for 7d6 (the odd is because I'm assuming the 3rd attack in the BAB chain (+10) will miss 50% of the time so it only gets 'half' a hit for single hit analysis) + 52 (3 hits of +15 and 1 at 7.5 same reason as the odd number of dice for base weapon dmg) and 7d6 + 52 works out to roughly 22d6 dmg a round assuming he is hasted.

Thanks and look forward to hearing people's thoughts and concerns.

~J —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 70.139.4.228 (talk • contribs) . Please sign your posts.

Alternatively, you could accept that spellcasters are inherently at a higher level of power than most meleers, and create new classes (or variants on them) that fit a similar power curve. On the other hand, you could always bring down the power of spellcasters to fall in line with most meleers. I think you can find a good example of varying levels of power here and how to balance classes around those differing levels. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 91.213.8.84 (talk • contribs) . Please sign your posts.

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