I think one of the important things about mages that tends to get messed up is how fast they progress...
Toady one is right in the point about a figher creating large groups of people around them...
The thing is quite simple... learning to fight (at a basic level) is EASY...
in fact.. if you dont pick it up in the first few tries... then you are dead! hehe
in any case you DONT have to be smart to be a good warrior..
however... to be a good mage it takes smarts AND LOTS AND LOTS of STUDY
This means that wizards will ALWAYS be fewer than fighters... and thus warriors will ALWAYS have the numerical advantage...
though wizards will often be more powerful in the end.. (in a 1 on 1 fight) because they put so much time and effort into thier spell/magic research..
note that a "MASTER LEVEL" Warror could have only been fighting for 2-3 years..
where a "MASTER LEVEL" wizard would probibly have put 10-20 years into thier training!
another note is that there WILL be skill rusting.. so that if you spend all your time fighting.. then spend all your time studying..
you wont be quite as good at fighting when you get back to it..
adn if you spend time fighting and casting..
you will get better at both things slower!
thats just the nature of things...
I will also note that its usually a good edge that makes "characters" succeed... and that means being a GOOD fighter or a GOOD wizard (in terms of skills and smarts)
"characters" who try do do a little bit of each.. end up being poor fighters and poor wizards.. meaning they have very little edge...
and thus are usually less powerful (though more versatile) in the end..