Quote Originally Posted by The_Snark View Post
The main issue with D&D magic is that it's drawing on so many sources. ... Of course, it's pretty rare for magicians to do all this within the space of a single story.
Quote Originally Posted by Shadowknight12 View Post
Because most games want to emulate the magic found in stories, where (I'm sorry to disappoint you) it's actually a way to move the plot forward.
I'll give a +1 to both of those. And to take Shadowknight's concept further, I'll note that if all wizards of fiction had access to, say, the whole Spell Compendium list, then the plot would often derail or skip right to the end. It's the only certain combinations of effects that make magic such a perfect tool. Scry-and-die wouldn't work without divination AND teleportation AND heavy offense AND certain personal protections (so that the scryer/teleporter doesn't go *POP* on a trap as soon as they arrive). A caster with one or two moves the plot along, a caster with all of them mugs the plot and leaves it bleeding in an alley.