pming
Legend
Hiya!
Sorry to derail a bit, but this world sounds similar to my "main" 1e AD&D campaign world called Eisla. Long story short, just about nobody is an actual "classed character". Those that are, are of MUCH lower level than in normal campaigns. In Eisla, the Court Wizard of King Krandos is the highest level known character in the realm. He's 7th level ("Unthinkably high level!"...for those who know their 1e DMD quotes
). The Kings Champion is a 5th level Cavalier. The Guild Master of the Thieves Guild in one town is, brace yourself, 2nd level! Anyway, like in your world, people who can actually cast spells are damn rare! The highest level Cleric in the Kingdom is, iirc, 4th level (maybe 3rd). He has ONE "blessed follower" who is a 1st level Cleric. Most "clerics" are referred to as "Priests" or "Anointed Follower of [insert god/dess]". Everyone else are just 0-level NPC's with 1 to 4 hit points. Druids, however....druids are sort of "bad guys"; the balance in the world has been and still is HEAVILY biased towards Good (history of the world I won't go into here), so the Druids are sort of "working with", or rather, "encouraging, then taking a hands-off approach" towards Evil. Druids, not that any player has played one in a coons age, tend to be 'higher level'...so, 3rd to 5th, maybe a 6th somewhere. But there are more "casting Druids" than any other spell-casting class.
Ok, back to the whole whack-a-mole thing.
(Speaking of which...one house rule I tried a couple weeks into learning 5e was that any PC that drops to "-4 or lower" gained a level of Exhaustion after being healed. Never *actually* used negative numbers, just damage that 'would have' taken the PC to -4 or lower; if so, add 1 level of Exhaustion. Worked pretty well, really. Definitely encouraged the "Don't die!" panic mode more than without it. As with the current w-a-m method, some PC's wouldn't even KNOW they were below 0 and dying..."What? I almost died? No I didn't! That hit from the ogre's club just knocked me down and rung my bell for a second or two"...."Yeah, you were dead and dying, so I Healing Worded you immediately. It only takes, like, two or three seconds...you were dying. Trust me"..."Popycock!"
^_^
Paul L. Ming
Sorry to derail a bit, but this world sounds similar to my "main" 1e AD&D campaign world called Eisla. Long story short, just about nobody is an actual "classed character". Those that are, are of MUCH lower level than in normal campaigns. In Eisla, the Court Wizard of King Krandos is the highest level known character in the realm. He's 7th level ("Unthinkably high level!"...for those who know their 1e DMD quotes
). The Kings Champion is a 5th level Cavalier. The Guild Master of the Thieves Guild in one town is, brace yourself, 2nd level! Anyway, like in your world, people who can actually cast spells are damn rare! The highest level Cleric in the Kingdom is, iirc, 4th level (maybe 3rd). He has ONE "blessed follower" who is a 1st level Cleric. Most "clerics" are referred to as "Priests" or "Anointed Follower of [insert god/dess]". Everyone else are just 0-level NPC's with 1 to 4 hit points. Druids, however....druids are sort of "bad guys"; the balance in the world has been and still is HEAVILY biased towards Good (history of the world I won't go into here), so the Druids are sort of "working with", or rather, "encouraging, then taking a hands-off approach" towards Evil. Druids, not that any player has played one in a coons age, tend to be 'higher level'...so, 3rd to 5th, maybe a 6th somewhere. But there are more "casting Druids" than any other spell-casting class.Ok, back to the whole whack-a-mole thing.
(Speaking of which...one house rule I tried a couple weeks into learning 5e was that any PC that drops to "-4 or lower" gained a level of Exhaustion after being healed. Never *actually* used negative numbers, just damage that 'would have' taken the PC to -4 or lower; if so, add 1 level of Exhaustion. Worked pretty well, really. Definitely encouraged the "Don't die!" panic mode more than without it. As with the current w-a-m method, some PC's wouldn't even KNOW they were below 0 and dying..."What? I almost died? No I didn't! That hit from the ogre's club just knocked me down and rung my bell for a second or two"...."Yeah, you were dead and dying, so I Healing Worded you immediately. It only takes, like, two or three seconds...you were dying. Trust me"..."Popycock!"
^_^
Paul L. Ming
