Quote Originally Posted by Choco View Post
His problem seems to be that his group would rather micromanage their gear and go shopping than play the game. I would be annoyed too, why even bother playing the game if you solve all your problems by casting 1 spell.
Well, truth be told, at the high end (which this campaign he's describing seems to be), if a combat is lasting more than 1-2 rounds and you've got two casters throwing out 9th level spells, something is wrong :). The vast majority of combats (especially at the high end) are decided in the first 2 rounds of combat.

I had a L20 Favored Soul / Sacred Exorcist that was part of a 5-PC group. The other caster was aL20 Cleric / Radiant Servant of Pelor. I'd always start by dropping Lion's Roars with a 40+ DC Save or Stun. We had 3 Melee PCs that could Coup de Grace as a Standard Action. Combats went FAST. If that first round didn't end it, I did a CL 32 Holy Word. That usually did it. The only battles we fought after L15 that went more than 2 Rounds with any regularity were either EL 25+ or Epic.

The thing is, the whole original scenario really comes down to the DM. If he said, "sorry, doesn't work" - then gues what. They have to go get him. He doesn't even need to give a real reason, but could easily manufacture some like an AMF, being Dimensionally Anchored, Inside a Disjunction, etc... Ultimately, when something breaks down because of things being "too easy" or "1 spell solutions" - it's always the DM who's at fault because S/HE runs the world :).