Cast a Fireball! (Patreon)

Ongoing adventures here:
https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/the-talon-of-wisdom/list?title_no=485558 

Man, I could go on about fireball! An absolute staple of the DnD mage, it has a large AoE, does a lot of damage, and is very reliable. You're practically not a mage until you learn it, and if you decide to skip it, it's because you're doing something weird and esoteric. But considering that wizards spend years learning to cast magic, they'd actually be more practical learning the "Fabricate" spell and a bit of masonry, using it to build defensible castles and other structures in times of war. They can also mass-manufacture weapons and goods, and the "mending" cantrip would be invaluable to quickly getting a military's army back up and running.

A fireball is no doubt useful in combat, but you could build all the siege weapons you need before you ever finished training one wizard. Of course, I have played in systems where magic is more utilitarian, and I'm not going to say it's better. It's definitely different, but much harder to find spells you know you'll need and use frequently. For the purpose of a game, DnD isn't wrong here, but you ever think how odd it is that so many people wander around learning to shoot lighting and hurl explosive fire, but how rarely you see a game where the entire economy revolves around "Fabricate" and "Mending" and the Wizard's Guild of Artisans?

And with how expensive it is to learn magic - ugh. Talk about a tiered economy. There's a game hook and a setting for you guys if you like the idea of Fantasypunk.