Caster supremacy

Caster Supremacy is the tendency, in many fantasy RPGs, for magic-using focussed characters to be outright better than any other character in the game.

This usually occurs because the designer, GM and/or players have an existing preconception of what mundane or martial characters are capable of, but have no such conception for magic. Thus, magic using characters are designed without a restriction that other characters have, and no similar restriction is introduced to balance them.

This is usually further amplified by the tendancy to

• underestimate the real-life effectiveness of mundane skills or the meaning of high statistic values (for example, the lead designer of Pathfinder estimating the difficulty of a seasoned warrior catching a weapon fastened by a cord, by considering how difficult it was for them to catch their mouse when it was tied to their wrist)
• treat in-game abstractions as reality when judging the effect of mundane skills (for example, the lead designer of D&D 5e ruling that it was unreasonable to reduce a PC's hitpoint damage by shouting to inspire them to fight because doing so could not heal wounds, even though HP is an acknowledged abstraction including the PC's fighting capacity as well as physical injury)

The most common categories in which caster supremacy manifests are:

• Replacement Supremacy: the caster can do everything another character types can do, possibly better, plus cast other spells.
• Permission Supremacy: the caster has ways quantified within the rules of producing certain effects; other character types should be equally able to produce them but have no such rule quantification, leaving it in the realm of GM fiat.
• Narrative Supremacy: the caster's magic can affect the ongoing narrative dramatically while other character types have no mechanisms for doing anything equivalent.
• Setting Inconsistency: the setting fails to provide any reason why not every character has some access to magic, nor why those who do have access do not rule the world by definition.
• The Pet Unicorn Problem: in settings in which wizards are declared to be rare, the power of a Player Character wizard is increased; the party will not be affected by rarity because the PC wizard will always be present, but their opponents can be argued to have had less reason to anticipate a magic user showing up.

Examples

• In Dungeons & Dragons 3.5th edition and prior, the Knock first level spell can do the work of a 20th level Rogue.
• In Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition and prior (except 4th edition), the Alarm first level spell can defeat a 20th level Rogue.