D&D 5E I feel like my world is drifting towards low magic, any tips?

Remathilis · Jan 14, 2017

1.) Get rid of the sorcerer, wizard, cleric, bard, and druid class.
2.) Make anyone interested in playing one be a warlock, arcane trickster, eldritch knight, paladin, or ranger.

Caliburn101 · Jan 14, 2017

Run the game with non-magic using class variants, half-casters rarely and only one (maximum) full caster with no automatic access to spell knowledge above 5th. Put knowledge of spells into the game like treasure and have components for every spell.

Don't have scrolls, don't have charged items - make the charged items use the spell slots of the caster utilising the item so items like that give versatility, not extra power.

Springheel · Jan 14, 2017

Use the long rest rules varient? That would dramatically decrease the frequency of spell-casting (at least non-cantrips).

Of course, that penalizes non-casters too. I don't know if it would be feasible to use regular rest rules for non-casting abilities, but long rest rules for casting?

Oofta · Jan 14, 2017

Another option to consider is reskinning spells as steampunk like devices. Fireballs are grenades, illusions are holograms and so on.

If your players want to play wizards, challenge them to come up with a visual that would justify the spell.

Jester David · Jan 14, 2017

The general problem with reducing cantrips is that it means the flavour cantrips have far less use. Players will save their cantrip slots for combat rather than using a limited resource on attempting a creative use. Magic is reduced to a beat stick, a crossbow with limited ammo.

One thing I did as an optional rule in my Variant Rules document was retaining at-will cantrips but increasing the casting time to one minute. So you always had some magic, but it took time. This retained the creative use of magic for problem solving, but reduced the combat usage and quick actions. You couldn't just cast a spell instantly on a whim or for dramatic effect, but had to sit around for a minute. And casual magic use is also decreased: you don't go lighting campfires or torches with a snap if your fingers when it's faster to get the flint and tinder out.

With that optional rule, you could pre-cast a cantrip, spending a minute casting it in advance but having it ready to trigger as an action. So there's be combat cantrips as well, but only a few per combat. I capped the pre-cast cantrips at your proficiency bonus, but it could just as easily be 1/2 proficiency. Or a set number (like 2).

TwoSix · Jan 14, 2017

The hack I'm using for my next game (which is more exploration-focused) is getting rid of all the caster classes. I allow discovered magic items to grant prestige class like benefits to their wielders. A wand of fire can allow a character to spend a level to cast fireball twice a day and burning hands twice per day, for example. Or a holy avenger can grant paladin like abilities to a character who swears a paladin oath.

aco175 · Jan 14, 2017

Reducing cantrips brings the mage back to older editions where they had a few cool spells, but mostly were a poor crossbow shooter. I would reduce the number of spells available, mostly the combat focused ones from the evocations school. Keep a few so mages can do some of the cool things. You can also reduce the power of these spells, but then the class would be less balanced than the others.

You can delay spell progression to every other level like others are saying. You may need to fill the odd levels with something else to keep things balanced.

Li Shenron · Jan 14, 2017

I'd rather ask the players not to play spellcasters than crippling them with house rules.

For something milder, ask them to multiclass or just set the whole campaign at low level.

A different option is to instead restrict the rest of the world so that nearly no one except the PCs is a spellcaster.

Ath-kethin · Jan 14, 2017

I've mentioned my approach at length in other threads.

My solution was to allow only the warlock as a casting class. So no wizard, cleric, druid, bard, sorcerer, arcane trickster, eldritch knight, etc. If you want to cast spells, take a feat for it or be a warlock.

Since I run a low-magic campaign (obviously), this choice had meant I had to make other alterations as well. As mentioned above, "low magic" has much more to do with the society's perception of magic and magic users than class choices. So in my campaign all magic users are referred to as "sorcerers," and are highly distrusted. I thought of going deeper and distinguishing between "white magic" and "black magic," and for many of the people there probably IS a distinction, but it hasn't become relevant in my campaign yet. The PCs are about to undertake an ocean voyage, though, so the superstitious sailors are probably a good place to explore those nuances.

A low-magic campaign also means that published adventures - even those purporting to be "low-magic" need to be tweaked. I either replace enemy spellcasters with non-casters or make them "demon" summoners. Demon in quotes because in my campaign, ANY summoned creature is considered a demon. It's only when you start looking for low-magic options that you notice just how much freaking magic is sprinkled through D&D though.

NOTE: I don't use experience points, so I don't give a flying hoot about the relative "challenge" of a caster vs. non-caster in the swaps I make. YMMV.