Quote Originally Posted by Bucky View Post
It looks like I messed up some of the details. Do they undermine the point, though? ...
Sorry I don't think you have given nearly enough information about the assumptions you are making for your hunter-killer squad, namely what ECL we are talking about, how many members are in the squad, and how much wealth we have to build said squad. Without any of that information your arguments are pretty moot.
For example for a group lower level than ECL 8 Floating Disk is not an effective use of your spell resources and therefore wouldn't be used most of the time. Furthermore, below ECL 8 the casters' role whether arcane or divine would optimally focus on buffing and bfc so outside of steps 3 and 4 mundane resources can be leveraged better than caster resources.

Quote Originally Posted by zlefin View Post
No, I don't think that makes any sense. Planes are expensive compared to individual humans. Wizards are not inherently so expensive compared to humans. A low level wizards, especially level 1, isn't that expensive at all really. Also note that modern planes have tended toward higher tech and greater cost; the plane to serviceman ratio may have been different in earlier eras.

A better point of comparison for arcane casters would be the heavier equipped modern infantry; ie the ones that have mortars, bazookas, anti-X missiles. Also the field artillery.
Quote Originally Posted by Eldan View Post
They are quite expensive to train.
Consider: a first level fighter is expected as their starting equipment to have scale mail (50 GP), a longbow (75 GP) and a greatsword (50 GP), plus assorted small stuff. Let's call it 200 GP.

A wizard? A blank spellbook is 15 GP and a component pouch 5, but they also scribe every spell in there. But they also have to scribe all their spells. That's thousands of GP.

I think that's a reasonable approximation for training costs. You can get 5-10 fighters for the cost of one wizard. Now sorcerers and clerics, those are cheap for the power output. You want magical bloodline breeding programs and free religious education.
I have looked at the 'price' of a level 1 wizard's spellbook before, there are 19 level 0 spells in PHB or if we look at all books 64 then 3-11 first level spells depending on int (11-18) and whether the wizard has Collegiate Wizard feat or not. so min we are looking at 2,200gp to 7,500gp for a level 1 wizard's spell book. So if we looked at a wizard from a cost prospective for the military a level 1 wizard is about the same as a 3-5th level mundane.