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

[Tony Vargas]

It's no odder than the example NPC apprentice wizard in the new Volo's guide: a mere boy who could incinerate every poor sod in a village at will with his fire bolt cantrip.

Not in a practical sense, no, he couldn't. Either they'd panic and scatter (quickly getting out of range) or beat him down.

Never in D&D could that possibly happen until 5e.

Heh.

I've read the argument that "5e cantrip = light crossbow"

Yep, a lunatic with a crossbow could kill the whole town if they didn't try to stop him, too. It'd be harder to get out of range, even.

I'd thought of tinkering with cantrips in a few ways, but was afraid I'd mess up the balance built into the entire system.

Nothing much to worry about, really. Make sure casters have decent weapon back-up options and you could eliminate cantrips with no problem. Really, spells are so significant and dramatic that sucking out loud when resorting to weapons really wouldn't be so bad, either.

 

[Lanliss]

Cap classes at level 11?
You've 6th level spells being the new highest-of-high, without upsetting balance.

I intend to cap them at twelve, since that is the next ASI. It would really suck to be right there, but not be able to get it. Otherwise, it is functionally the same as 11th level, so it does not throw balance off any more than the lower option.

 

[Saeviomagy]

You should be casting grease on the hallway, then getting the fighter to throw a torch on it to set set the grease alight and roast the goblins, not just pew pew pewing goblins one by one.

Except the reality is that the wizard in most fights back in the day says "I've cast all my spells for day, and then you guys didn't want to sleep, so I guess I just hit one with my quarterstaff/sling/thrown dagger". *rolls* *misses*

How is that more flavourful than him shooting small, mildly effective bursts of magic instead? Or taking a more interesting cantrip like minor illusion and fooling those goblins with a 5' wall of fire!

 

[Psikerlord#]

No, it isn't a problem that I need tips to fix. I need tips on running low magic. Specifically, casting classes.

I don't want to cut the spell casting classes entirely, but how should I change them? Maybe half spell slot progression for all of them? Is that too little?

Maybe put them all on the Warlock track, with only 1 of each level for the higher level spells?

These are just spit balling ideas for now, but what do you all think? How have you handled converting 5E to a more low magic style?

Edit: another possible issue, what do I do to keep the spell casters balance with the martial classes? I am thinking, maybe, of lowering general enemy saves, so it would not penalize a caster as much to also have some dex or strength.

My tip is play Low Fantasy Gaming RPG instead. It is a d20 variant, 12th level max, martial exploits, dark/dangerous magic, balanced with "low magic" in mind. Free PDF or print on demand: https://lowfantasygaming.com/

 

[discosoc]

If you're reducing cantrip use as well, you definitely need to give casters something effective to do in combat when they're not casting spells though.

It seems to me that a "low-magic" campaign would have even the greyist of 'beards in the thick of melee -- much like Gandolf. They may not be doing the same melee damage as the non-casters, but they could certainly find creative uses for combat utility (help actions, positioning, etc) that contribute to the group.

In such a setting, the Wizard would be more old-school rather than the current trend of being a 'nuker.'

 

[Psikerlord#]

What are some examples of "low-magic" published adventures if the poster's campaign decides to take that approach?

$1 Adventure Frameworks makes mini adventures that tend towards low magic: humans only, limited fantastic creatures/casters (or the fantastic creatures are intended as "one offs"), limited site based enchantments/magic items, that sort of thing.

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=645444

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

No, it isn't a problem that I need tips to fix. I need tips on running low magic. Specifically, casting classes.

I don't want to cut the spell casting classes entirely, but how should I change them? Maybe half spell slot progression for all of them? Is that too little?

Maybe put them all on the Warlock track, with only 1 of each level for the higher level spells?

These are just spit balling ideas for now, but what do you all think? How have you handled converting 5E to a more low magic style?

Edit: another possible issue, what do I do to keep the spell casters balance with the martial classes? I am thinking, maybe, of lowering general enemy saves, so it would not penalize a caster as much to also have some dex or strength.

Make them roll percentile dice in order to see if they have enough "magical talent" to cast spells, and you need to roll 00 in order to be a spellcaster. If you roll anything else, the only possible uses for spell slots are Paladin smites and fueling the Bladesinger's Song of Defense, but you can't actually access the magical fabric and so cannot cast spells.

More seriously, I would totally implement this rule for a low-magic campaign world but allow PCs roll an automatic 00 if the player wants to. It's not much different from the old wild talent system. I expect that some number of players would probably wind up rolling percentile dice instead of taking auto-success, and that there would be a large number of Champions, Berserkers, Thieves, Swashbucklers, Masterminds, Battlemasters, and non-spellcasting Shadow Monks in the campaign. Could be a lot of fun.

 

[Lanliss]

Ho There! Another thought I had last night. What would happen if I drop each damage dealing cantrip by 1 damage die step, and those that deal 1d4 only deal damage equal to your Spell casting stat? This seems like it would put a considerable nerf on cantrips, without much complication.

In other news, I have decided on the Wild Sorcerer Table. I (or they, either way) will roll a d20. If they roll below their level in Wild sorcerer, there is no surge. This means that there will be fewer surges as they gain levels, eventually leading to them mastering the Wild magic, to the point where it only does what they want. Thoughts?

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

Ho There! Another thought I had last night. What would happen if I drop each damage dealing cantrip by 1 damage die step, and those that deal 1d4 only deal damage equal to your Spell casting stat? This seems like it would put a considerable nerf on cantrips, without much complication.

That seems more likely that it would be a considerable buff to cantrips at the low end.
Going from d4 + 0 to 3-5 flat damage is a marked improvement.

To be frank though: I don't think it would solve what you might be hoping to solve.
If you don't like at-will magic for casters, then reducing a very low-power at-will effect to slightly lower power isn't going to change it from being at-will magic.
If you regard d8+0 at-will damage as overpowered, then encouraging characters to switch to actual weapons is going to be even more overpowered.

 

[Lanliss]

That seems more likely that it would be a considerable buff to cantrips at the low end.
Going from d4 + 0 to 3-5 flat damage is a marked improvement.

To be frank though: I don't think it would solve what you might be hoping to solve.
If you don't like at-will magic for casters, then reducing a very low-power at-will effect to slightly lower power isn't going to change it from being at-will magic.
If you regard d8+0 at-will damage as overpowered, then encouraging characters to switch to actual weapons is going to be even more overpowered.

I was tired when I posted that, I don't know what I was thinking. On the subject of Overpowered, that is not the issue I have with magic. It is simply that magic in my world is much more wild and untamed than the default, and I would like a mechanical way to reflect that. I intend to test various changes over time, until I find the best one for my world.

Weakening/reducing Cantrips isn't at the top of my list, but it is one of the things that I feel makes magic look much more tamed. Other thoughts I have had is simply limiting Cantrips known, or having some sort of mini-surge table for cantrips, that causes them to misbehave every now and then.