Rebalancing Spellcasting 5e

[MrStabby]

So the wizard casts meteor swarm, the BBEG then used their turn to flee may be more likely. The BBEG hanging round to die just so the party can mop up the fight after the wizard has made sure the party outnumbers the bad guys is hardly the most likely choice.

And there is no resentment about a caster being MVP in a fight, it is that they always get first pick of which fights to be MVP in. In this hypothetical fight with the minions, the lieutenants AND the BBEG it sounds pretty epic - the caster can chose to outshine everyone else here and they dont get a say in that. If there was some more symmetry and the barbarian could chose to open a fight with an ability that, whilst not ending the fight, did mean the result was not in doubt, but could only do it once per day then fair enough - whoever rolled higher initiative can be the one who steals the show in the most epic fight of the campaign. As it is those with high level spells decide on a fight by fight basis if that fight is one that is important enough and fun enough to dominate or whether it is trivial and can be left for another PC to be MVP of.

The problem isn't a caster shining in some encounters, it is the caster getting to chose which ones in a way that the other players dont. The key metric is which players get to use their abilities to make a difference: does the barbarian raging in your example make a difference? Was the fight already won then and the use of the ability is just for show? Too often the really big swing is landing the spell and the impact of some classes using their toys is too little too late.

I think that it is worth noting that it isn't all spells that do this. Some are better designed than others. Spells like spirit guardians can do a lot of damage but also give others space to do their things (although not a high level spell it gives an indication of what I mean); it contributes to a fight rather than deciding it. Crown of stars might be an equivalent high level example. Foresight is the same, an incremental impact that gives others the space to shine. Spells like Maze and Forcecage that can turn a fight around by themselves are the opposite.

Fixing this isn't about squashing fun, it is about opening things up so that more players get to have fun at the climactic moments rather than just escorting the high level casters to the big fights.