Quote Originally Posted by Theodoxus View Post
Do caster out of combat options matter? I don't think it makes any difference if they do or not. A DM is going to tailor the adventure to the parties capabilities (either intrinsically or through item obtainment), or the party doesn't partake in that particular (side)quest. (In which the DM then tailors the adventure to whatever the results of their inability is - and the best DMs make it appear seamless so the players never really know for sure what transpired.

I do think that D&D's magic is WAY too forgiving. There's nearly no RAW accountability for using magic willy-nilly outside of spell slot limits. I haven't encountered much fantasy literature where magic use, much less knowledge, is afforded such fast and loose comport. Even the novels written for D&D tend to showcase magic in a much more malign light; one doesn't just shoot lightning or teleport across the planet on a whim...

I'm still a bit dismayed that magic has to be the answer for everything. Either a Wizard does it, or a Wizard a millennia ago made an item that does it. A fighter has no chance against something that is immune to mundane weaponry, unless said fighter finds or buys an item magically enchanted - or begs the magic guy in his party or town to... enchant an item. If it isn't magic, regardless of how hard or easy it is to obtain, it is impossible. Certainly can't science your way out of a problem. Need to get to the Plane of Fire? Magic. Not a portal device that uses electricity to spin some diodes that thin the veil between the prime and fire planes... no, just magic. A spell, a box, an amulet... but all magic.

Can a DM use science? Sure. Is it expected, even talked about anywhere? No! The Four Fighter Problem always boils down to someone, somewhere, at some time, doing magic.
The magic replicating science in DnD is treated as spells, when Artificers use science to replicate magic, they are doing that, science not magic magic, but the thing about this is the setting wide repercussions, a setting where the Portal Creator 3000 is relatively easy to obtain is gonna be very different from one where its not.