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5E Without Magic (PCs)
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<blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 9125944" data-attributes="member: 996"><p>Sub-classes would remain. The Champion, Battlemaster, Berserker, Assassin, Thief, and maybe to stretch the point the Open Hand Monk (but, really, Ki is arguably supernatural, thus 'magic').</p><p></p><p></p><p>You could go full-bore 'realistic' world and not use monsters, just animals and people.</p><p></p><p>Ironically, even though casters are supposed to be limited/balanced by long adventuring 'days,' you'll need shorter days since the party has no magical healing/buffing to help them through the day or act as a safety valve, the party will need to avoid combat more often, and hunker down after fewer combats because they can't just twiddle someone back up with whackamole healing. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Healing potions, alone, would take you part of the way back to regular D&D if they were numerous enough. D&D, 5e especially, really is very dependent on magic, it's woven into the game at every level, one of the early paragraphs right in the PH spells that out in no uncertain terms.</p><p></p><p>If the PCs have no magic in a world of D&D magic, they're really kinda hosed. I'll note that, I've often encountered "low magic campaigns" over the decades, and they were invariably campaigns where magic items and NPC casters were extremely rare, not where PCs couldn't be casters (at worst casters might be 'persecuted' so PC casters would need to keep a low profile). That's the opposite of what you describe, and made for the casters giving the party a huge advantage as few of their enemies were able to cope with what they could do.</p><p></p><p></p><p>A hard-bitten mercenary company trying to survive in a politically unstable period. </p><p>Traditional pirates/musketeers fare, with swordfights and pistols, intrigue and treasure hunting. </p><p>The heavy-RP/infrequent-combat "intrigue" games people always talk about but rarely run.</p><p>You could even run mysteries, since you don't have detect this and divination that to invalidate the premise even murder mysteries since you can't just Speak With or Raise the Dead victim.</p><p>There's really no end to magic-less story, adventure, and campaign possibilities. The world, itself, is a varied place with billions of stories and no magic whatsoever, afterall.</p><p></p><p>But, TBH, not in 5e - 5e is overtly magocentric, without magic on both sides of the equation, it doesn't work. Indeed, not D&D, generally (other than 4e, of course, which is the odd D&D out in almost any blanket statement). </p><p>Games based on FATE, Chaosium BRP, Savage Worlds, PbtA, Burning Wheel, Gumshoe, even Hero or GURPS, would be far better choices. Indeed, there are so many games that'd be better for a no-magic campaign it's virtually impossible to choose one and pull together a few players who agree with that choice. <img class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" alt="🤷" title="Person shrugging :person_shrugging:" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f937.png" data-shortname=":person_shrugging:" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Tony Vargas, post: 9125944, member: 996"] Sub-classes would remain. The Champion, Battlemaster, Berserker, Assassin, Thief, and maybe to stretch the point the Open Hand Monk (but, really, Ki is arguably supernatural, thus 'magic'). You could go full-bore 'realistic' world and not use monsters, just animals and people. Ironically, even though casters are supposed to be limited/balanced by long adventuring 'days,' you'll need shorter days since the party has no magical healing/buffing to help them through the day or act as a safety valve, the party will need to avoid combat more often, and hunker down after fewer combats because they can't just twiddle someone back up with whackamole healing. Healing potions, alone, would take you part of the way back to regular D&D if they were numerous enough. D&D, 5e especially, really is very dependent on magic, it's woven into the game at every level, one of the early paragraphs right in the PH spells that out in no uncertain terms. If the PCs have no magic in a world of D&D magic, they're really kinda hosed. I'll note that, I've often encountered "low magic campaigns" over the decades, and they were invariably campaigns where magic items and NPC casters were extremely rare, not where PCs couldn't be casters (at worst casters might be 'persecuted' so PC casters would need to keep a low profile). That's the opposite of what you describe, and made for the casters giving the party a huge advantage as few of their enemies were able to cope with what they could do. A hard-bitten mercenary company trying to survive in a politically unstable period. Traditional pirates/musketeers fare, with swordfights and pistols, intrigue and treasure hunting. The heavy-RP/infrequent-combat "intrigue" games people always talk about but rarely run. You could even run mysteries, since you don't have detect this and divination that to invalidate the premise even murder mysteries since you can't just Speak With or Raise the Dead victim. There's really no end to magic-less story, adventure, and campaign possibilities. The world, itself, is a varied place with billions of stories and no magic whatsoever, afterall. But, TBH, not in 5e - 5e is overtly magocentric, without magic on both sides of the equation, it doesn't work. Indeed, not D&D, generally (other than 4e, of course, which is the odd D&D out in almost any blanket statement). Games based on FATE, Chaosium BRP, Savage Worlds, PbtA, Burning Wheel, Gumshoe, even Hero or GURPS, would be far better choices. Indeed, there are so many games that'd be better for a no-magic campaign it's virtually impossible to choose one and pull together a few players who agree with that choice. 🤷 [/QUOTE]
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