> Imagine a well equiped* warrior hero facing an equally well dressed mage hero, but there is no ABS in the game.

When you say "no ABS" I assume you mean "no sleeks"?

Which cabal each is in may also come into play. Is the warrior a rager? If so, a berserker? Does he have something stupid like Emperor powers?

What kind of mage are we talking about here? Shifter, necro, muter, invoker, anti-paladin?

If invoker, does the warrior have an uncoverable (or not covered) vuln?

If necro/muter, has the warrior geared for saves?

If anti-paladin, how many charges do we have?

Is the mage scion and, if so, does he have powers? Or nexus, and the warrior's align/ethos tips (i.e. vanguard is working well)?

Are the warrior's specs well suited to fighting the specific type of mage he's up against?

Are the warrior's legacies well suited to fighting the specific type of mage he's up against?

Some general thoughts:

1. Anti-paladin and necro have a good shot at killing the warrior in your example by virtue of the sleep spell. All they have to do is guarantee they can survive a failed attempt long enough to get away. That should be "doable" against non-exceptional warriors, except for possibly berserkers.

2. Transmuter has a good shot at killing the warrior if he isn't a rager. Mostly due to the transmuter's ability to choose when to fight. For instance, when warrior's hurt. Muter will also be able to jump warrior before he has time to prep, usually. One strong neuro probably does him in, unless he pumps out enough damage that the Muter just can't stay in combat long enough to finish him.

3. Invoker. This guy can probably punk a warrior without barrier, especially if warrior has an uncoverable (or uncovered) vuln. Especially if he gets the warrior to walk into a trap.

4. Shifter. Probably the hardest sell. If the shifter is offense (or water) then he might be able to pull it off, depending on the warrior's race, specs, legacies. He's probably not going to kill a berserker unless the guy's already wounded. (Though, the same could be said for many melee classes as well.)

Even without sleeks, and assuming the mage doesn't have a limited barrier wand, its very reasonable for him to have shield, aura, stoneskin, protection, and any class based spells like desensitize, wraithform, invoker shields, etc. The warrior though, if he's prepared, can use similar preps: stoneskin, protection, shield and *maybe* aura, but its less likely. It's arguably easier for the mage to "surprise" the warrior, though, and catch him before he has time to prep.