Spellcasting Time in regards to balance?
So I've been playing D&D and many other tabletop RPG's for a good portion of my life, and I've often seen and heard many arguments and debates and discussions about the core "five" and the balance of power between fighters and spellcasting classes. This isn't really want I wanted to bring up, however, it is related. I've scoured the forum looking for a topic like this one, but haven't found it yet, so if I missed it, I apologize. I do want to know how most of you feel about this though, so here goes nothing...
What is curious is that I've noticed that a lot of people tend to ignore a major aspect about most if not all spell casting classes, is the required time it takes to cast what spell they are indeed casting. It's typically the stronger the spell, the longer it takes for the spell to be cast in the first place and what I mean by ignore, is that most spells are cast instantaneously regardless of the required time needed. (not to mention the required spell components, but I feel that's only minor in compared to the time issue)
How this ties into the first remark about the balance issues and the main five, is my curiosity why this particular rule seems to be ignored when it would potentially solve most of the problems. Sure, A fighter may not gain so much exponential power on the same scale as a wizard, but if he was going toe to toe with one, wouldn't all he really need to do is cover the ground and attack the spell caster, thus potentially (very high chance) causing the spell to fizzle or even worse, back fire on the spell caster?
I will admit,I might be missing something over all, but In all my years, I've simply wondered why the casting time was ignored or left out, (Would would make certain meta-magic feats, useless, IMHO). Can someone show me the light or explain why I've seen his often?
What is curious is that I've noticed that a lot of people tend to ignore a major aspect about most if not all spell casting classes, is the required time it takes to cast what spell they are indeed casting. It's typically the stronger the spell, the longer it takes for the spell to be cast in the first place and what I mean by ignore, is that most spells are cast instantaneously regardless of the required time needed. (not to mention the required spell components, but I feel that's only minor in compared to the time issue)
How this ties into the first remark about the balance issues and the main five, is my curiosity why this particular rule seems to be ignored when it would potentially solve most of the problems. Sure, A fighter may not gain so much exponential power on the same scale as a wizard, but if he was going toe to toe with one, wouldn't all he really need to do is cover the ground and attack the spell caster, thus potentially (very high chance) causing the spell to fizzle or even worse, back fire on the spell caster?
I will admit,I might be missing something over all, but In all my years, I've simply wondered why the casting time was ignored or left out, (Would would make certain meta-magic feats, useless, IMHO). Can someone show me the light or explain why I've seen his often?