Quote Originally Posted by oxybe View Post
It's not really balanced though, especially if you were the type to dislike playing fantasy middle-management and just wanted to continue adventuring like you did the level previous.

Then there's also the minor issue that one high level wizard is far more mobile then a fighter with ~100 or so level 0 mooks with a couple handful level 1-5 guys as his closest guard that you'll likely need to engage the wizard on his terms... I highly doubt Wizzy Wizard who managed to get to level 10 (and likely has a good intelligence score) would somehow let himself get randomly jumped by level 10 Fighty Fighterson and his personal army in flat, open plains.

High level D&D has usually been a matter of "who gets the jump on who first?" and "who can unleash their nuke first?"

A high level wizard getting the drop on Fighty's Army can absolutely sow chaos inbetween them, doubly so if did his research and prepped stuff like stoneskin beforehand.
I would say that it's differently balanced, in that the Fig can kill Wiz at level 1 without breaking a sweat, and that Fig will hit 10 before Wiz does.