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

[pming]

Hiya!

I didn't read the whole thread (no time right now), but if someone hasn't already mentioned this...

What about taking a page out of the old "Lankhmar" setting book for 2e AD&D? In it, basically, every spell's casting time was upped by one 'factor'. In 5e you could just use 1 Bonus/Reaction Action becomes 1 Action...while 1 Action becomes 1 Round...1 Round, 1 Minute... 1 Minute, 1 Hour... 1 Hour, 1 Day...etc. Of course, you'd have to introduce some sort of "interruption" mechanic (dirt simple, I'd imagine).

This would still allow for all the 'normal rules' for classes (and feats/MC if you use them), and other rule options you may have going on...no need to restrict classes, or remove spells, or reduce spell slots, etc. It would likely keep spellcasters from using spells every combat, all the time (yes, this means Cantrips now become 1 Round castings, basically...so you start at the beginning of Round 1, and at the beginning of Round 2, it goes off).

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[Dorian_Grey]

I've been playing around with a few ideas as well, specifically around damage dealing - without spell casters and powerful damage dealing spells, what do you do? This isn't playtested, but feel free to steal it:

Overbearing Attack
A character can expand a hit die to add that die to their to hit or damage roll (player choice) on a melee attack. This die is now "used" and can't be used for healing later. Using all hit die in this manner results in one level of exhaustion (i.e. if no exhaustion, they are now level 1 exhausted. If four levels, they are now level 5). This resets with a long rest. The number of times this can be attempted is equal to the character's strength bonus. A strength bonus of +1 for example, means that the character can attempt to overbear once per long rest.

Edit to Add: Forgot the rule about strength. It gives something to strength based characters. I see it working for melee primarily, though you can add it to range if you want.

 

[Ath-kethin]

Hiya!

I didn't read the whole thread (no time right now), but if someone hasn't already mentioned this...

What about taking a page out of the old "Lankhmar" setting book for 2e AD&D? In it, basically, every spell's casting time was upped by one 'factor'. In 5e you could just use 1 Bonus/Reaction Action becomes 1 Action...while 1 Action becomes 1 Round...1 Round, 1 Minute... 1 Minute, 1 Hour... 1 Hour, 1 Day...etc. Of course, you'd have to introduce some sort of "interruption" mechanic (dirt simple, I'd imagine).

This would still allow for all the 'normal rules' for classes (and feats/MC if you use them), and other rule options you may have going on...no need to restrict classes, or remove spells, or reduce spell slots, etc. It would likely keep spellcasters from using spells every combat, all the time (yes, this means Cantrips now become 1 Round castings, basically...so you start at the beginning of Round 1, and at the beginning of Round 2, it goes off).

^_^

Paul L. Ming

I have brought up this idea in other threads (on other forums), and somebody there made a very good point. If you don't want people to play casters, ban them. Making their signature abilities unusable will only lead to frustration.

One theme that I feel COULD be lifted from the old Lankhmar setting is the division between "white magic" and "black magic," a division served by clerics (or divine) magic vs wizards (or arcane) magic in standard D&D terms.

Again, "low magic" is as much a function of society's reactions toward magic as it is class structures.

 

[Ath-kethin]

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

I set my campaign in the Primeval Thule setting, and I run adventures written for that setting intermixed with adventures written for the World of Xoth setting (introduced in the excellent The Spider God's Bride adventure collectuon). Here and there I use other stuff too, but mostly of it is Thule and Xoth.

Now, Xoth is actually written for the Pathfinder rules set, but makes a big deal about being low-magic. Thule is written for multiple systems, but I use the 5e versions. For both/all of them, I regularly need to swap out magic treasure for non-native treasure and swap out enemy casters for non-casters.

 

[Blue]

What about taking a page out of the old "Lankhmar" setting book for 2e AD&D? In it, basically, every spell's casting time was upped by one 'factor'. In 5e you could just use 1 Bonus/Reaction Action becomes 1 Action...while 1 Action becomes 1 Round...1 Round, 1 Minute... 1 Minute, 1 Hour... 1 Hour, 1 Day...etc. Of course, you'd have to introduce some sort of "interruption" mechanic (dirt simple, I'd imagine).

I've played Earthdawn where it took more than 1 action to cast a spell. Boringest thing in the world to wait 15 minutes for your turn to come around only to utter "I continue casting".

D&D has every character contributing to combat because it is such a large time sink. Other games don't need this, but mechanics that are used in combat are the biggest part of the PHB. (Most classes are well over 50% combat based features, etc.)

Now, instead having the Ritual caster feat being the only way to get magic, and rituals already taking a long time, might fit this feel without needing to dedicate character levels to gimping yourself in one of D&D's biggest activities as measured by time spent.

 

[Lanliss]

Ok, on looking at the books, here is where I stand.

I will limit full casters to 12th level except for Warlock and Wild sorcerer. I chose 12 because it gives them more magic than a half caster, as expected of someone focused towards magic. The reason Warlocks and Wild sorcs are exempt from this is lore based. Magic is wild, and difficult to tame. Warlock are basically fed the exact right amount, their patron keeping the magic balanced enough that a mortal can use it. Wild sorcerer are specifically built for handling this wild magic, so they get a pass in this case. This also means that the High level spells will be met with the appropriate awe that some of you are suggesting, since so few people will really be able to do it.

Cantrips will be limited to a number of slots equal to 1st-3rd spell slots, per long rest. Warlock will have a number of Cantrips equal to their full number of slots, and will recharge their Cantrips on a short rest. This will give Warlocks a leg up on the Cantrips game, since they are focused on that, without making them too strong, I think.

All spells above 6th are ritual spells.

Wild sorcerer will roll on the Magic surge table often. I think I will roll a d6 whenever they cast, and anything below a 6 will trigger a surge, maybe.

 

[Moraine Damodred]

D&D 5 edition is a low magic system. Slot gain is slow, lots of spells made useless because of concentration, high stats do not give exstra slots... you can just ban casters outright. It would be easier.

 

[Lanliss]

D&D 5 edition is a low magic system. Slot gain is slow, lots of spells made useless because of concentration, high stats do not give exstra slots... you can just ban casters outright. It would be easier.

Easier, yes. Interesting, flavorful, or something to occupy my time? Not so much. I feel like I have reached a reasonable balance (though I won't know until some actual play to see how Cantrips play out), and would rather test that than simply scrap a number of the classes.

 

[MostlyDm]

So, classes, then. ;P

Depends on how low you want magic to go and in what sense. If you want to go on using existing monsters at their CR and existing encounter guidelines and the 6-8 encounter day and not also re-jigger the classes that cast less, though, what you might go with is curtailing spells known, instead.
Slots represent a reasonable contribution for casters, so do cantrips, and, presumably out of combat, rituals. If you leave a caster all his slots, he's still got some serious capability. But, if you want to dial down the spotlight grabbing impact and versatility of magic, you could reduce the number and level of spells known, perhaps radically. It'd be good for the feel of a low-magic game where knowledge of magic is extremely rare, perhaps 'lost' from some high-magic earlier civilization, perhaps yet to be discovered.

Alternately, do away with slots across the board. Cantrips would be the contribution in combat, rituals out of combat (they'd still know spells, just not be able to use slots to cast them). Maybe the occasional item (perhaps consumable) would act as a slot, letting a caster toss out a 'real' combat spell. It could work for a setting where magic has fallen off a high in terms of power. The knowledge is still there, the power is hard to come by.

I've heard of Warlock-as-only-caster working well in Primeval Thule campaigns. Good if you want magic to be distrusted/dangerous.

I've also heard of putting other full casters on the Warlock progression.

By default I run 5e low-level and low-magic-items, but have never bothered restricting casters. I did come up with a variant for 3e in which all caster classes became PrCs with a 13 in the appropriate knowledge as the preq, so in essence, casting was relegated to 10th+ level characters. If you're using the MCing rules, you could add some restrictions on when you can take caster classes, add some prerequisites, the level at which you gain magic and the maximum you can attain is cut down.

Wouldn't worry about it. As magic becomes rarer in the world, enemies are less likely to have it, less likely to be able to cope with it, and even the 'minor' magic you leave PC casters can be very high-impact. If you do away with cantrips, you might give adventuring casters some better weapon options. If you do away with rituals and reduce known spells, you might give them more opportunities to use esoteric knowledge to advance the non-combat side of the game. But, for the most part, low magic makes the magic that remains that much more interesting, so it's a tad self-balancing. Also, if you don't try to re-balance, you'll presumably get fewer dedicated casters in the party - tuh-dah, low magic. One time imbalance can be a positive: when it channels players away from campaign-inappropriate choices.

My only regret is that I have but one XP to give.

Seriously, this post is chock full of amazing ideas for a truly low magic game. I'm gonna steal me some of these ideas the next time I run low magic.

 

[Edwin Suijkerbuijk]

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

Well the titel is : I feel like my world is drifting towards low magic, any tips?

So what makes you feal the worls is drifting that way ( is it a already running campign?)?
Becouse what makes you feal that may might matter for how to play it.