The Man Keeping the Martial Down

[awa]

Generally yes. You can have any two of:

• Gritty fighters with realistic abilities.
• World shaping magic users.
• Balance between magic users and fighters.

But not all three. In D&D 5e in particular I think the conflict comes mostly from legacy problems and the fear of changing too much brought on by 4th.
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I actually would add a caveat if you limited the world shattering powers to villains who need complex rituals and stuff to wield those amazing powers it can still work. Under such a system an evil wizard could for instance animate all the dead bodies in the world but still end up getting ganked by a Conan wannabe. The problem arises when you let a player use the powers or worse try and mix and match those power.