Quote Originally Posted by rollforeigninit View Post
So I read these boards daily & the consensus seems to be that the T1 casters (wizards especially) are overpowered in the extreme when compared to non-spellcasters.
Sort of. I'd put Artificer as generally more broken than Wizard, for instance. Additionally, level is at play. Wizard is not at all broken at level 1. At level 20? Rather different.

It seems to me that Wizards are probably the easiest of the lot to fix. Their reliance on spellbooks for their spells is supposed to be a hindrance. In most campaigns I have been in, though, the spellbook seems to become a non-factor after about level 3. There seems to be no real reason for this but it seems to happen a lot.
It's simple. I can list an arbitrarily long list of defenses and horrific things I've done to defend my spellbook(s). Then, my spellbook is basically impervious to being stolen. Or, we can just not screw around with that and play D&D in that time instead. The choice is on the GM. If he likes to target my spellbook, I'll waste whatever time is necessary to reduce the risk to approximately zero. I have the ability to do so, I'd just rather not muck about with him trying to make me into a crappy commoner.

Additionally, multiple means exist to make the spellbook not even a thing. Listing all of them would be tedious. Just assume that this is not actually a weakness for any spellcaster who cares about it.

The other issues seem to center around having access to ALL the wizard spells ever. That's even easier to deal with. Simply DON'T give them said spells. (Or at least make them work for them.) I don't see why there is a shop that has ALL the scrolls you could ever want just laying around for the purchase. Most of this (in my opinion) comes from lazy DM's who want to make the players happy. In most cases, it works well for the wizard but not as well for the other PC's.
Copying from spellbooks is more cost effective than scrolls. Here's how this works.

Noob wizard starts game. Knows all cantrips. Knows 3+int 1st level spells. Learns two spells of choice at every level. This guarantees a minimum of four spells of choice at every spell level. The ways to gain more are effectively infinite, and include, by RAW, researching any already printed spell.

Availability is irrelevant.

What strategies do you guys have for dealing with the machine that the wizard becomes? Actual story driven plot?
What's that, railroading? God no. Fixing power with "PLOT!" is terrible.

It might help overpoweredness to actually have a time deadline that forces the casters to push on while at less than full strength. ( I seem to remember reading that there are only supposed to be so many encounters per day but I don't see any real reason for it.)
Here's the thing. Mundane chars need hp and stuff. They tend to run dry first. The only reason that this does not happen is that caster, such as clerics, spend their resources protecting and replenishing the mundane char's resources. If you make it an endurance game, then you are actively punishing them for playing nice.

Eliminate magic mart?
Nah. Mundane folks need magic marts. Magical folk do not. That aforementioned wizard? He can make scrolls for himself by default. No wierd options, just bam, gold and time turned into magic items. With feats, he can make whatever he needs.

The fighter cannot. He needs the magic mart.

In-game prejudices against arcane casters? (Or casters in general for that matter).
If you like, and it fits the setting. That said, keep in mind that you won't necessarily know arcane casters automatically. "wears robes" is not sufficient reason to assume someone is a caster, as opposed to say...someone who's cold.

More realistically? Gentleman's agreement. They avoid ridiculousness, you avoid using it back at them. Whatever level of optimization and awesomeness they prefer to play at, use a similar level when designing challenges for them. Nice and fair.