Low-Magic Campaign

[Capn Charlie]

Sorry, forgot the link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9weYkvEU386QjRpNEJPX1hrc2M/view?usp=drivesdk

Sent from my MT2L03 using EN World mobile app

 

[Eltab]

You CAN run a low-magic D&D campaign. But run the idea past your players FIRST, so they know what you have in mind. You may find you are alone in this desire, in which case you should put it on the back-burner until you can add more people who want to play D&D to your circle of friends.

There is nothing to stop you from kicking around ideas, fiddling with rules, &c at leisure while you don't have a group together yet.

In the meanwhile, look over the 4e Dark Sun Campaign Setting; that setting already ran into the problems you are describing, and found a solution to them. You may like it and want to copy it, or you may want to do something else.

 

[Ratskinner]

If gritty and concerned about healing, then,

Reaching zero hit points and dying, usually results an impairing injury (broken bone, sprain, stab wound), instead of death.

I've had an idea for a while now:

Upon reaching 0 HP or taking a hit while at 0 HP, roll four even-sided dice and read whether the results are odd or even. Assign one result to answer each question below:
1) Are you unconscious? Even=Yes
2) Have you lost something precious (an eye, hand, magic item)? Even = Yes
3) Are you dying? Even=Yes
4) Who decides/describes how? Even = DM, Odd = you

 

[Yaarel]

I've had an idea for a while now:

Upon reaching 0 HP or taking a hit while at 0 HP, roll four even-sided dice and read whether the results are odd or even. Assign one result to answer each question below:
1) Are you unconscious? Even=Yes
2) Have you lost something precious (an eye, hand, magic item)? Even = Yes
3) Are you dying? Even=Yes
4) Who decides/describes how? Even = DM, Odd = you

Those are good questions.

Heh, and the possibility that the monster will loot a magic item from the unconscious downed character, will probably scare more players than the dying.

 

[BookBarbarian]

The already mentioned Adventure's in Middle Earth has some great options for a low magic campaign. In addition to not having the 5e spellcasting system, there are rules for expanding the Exploration and Social pillars with Journeys and Audiences. So you get some new ways to supplement the non-combat pillars of the game which was an area where Casting was very valuable.

 

[GlassJaw]

The guts of 5e - specifically bounded accuracy along with combat, skills, saves, etc - is fairly well-suited for a low-magic campaign. Unfortunately the assumed setting in which the classes are based is not. Some class features could be preserved but the majority of the classes need to be redesigned for a low-magic setting. My vote would actually be throw them all out and start from scratch, preferably with an a la carte ability selection system for level advancement (so in a sense, classless).

There are a million and 1 ways to go about spellcasting too. It all depends on the style and feel you want. Is the ability to case innate? Does it still exist just rare? Did it ever exist in the world? Is it gone but the ability to learn available? Are there any additional costs (physical, psychological, social)? Does the Vancian system make sense for the world? One of my LONG-term projects is to create a toolbox for low-magic settings, sort of a re-imagined Grim Tales for 5E. Someday...

Another correlation I commonly see with regards to low-magic settings is making healing a lot harder and take much longer. While there's nothing wrong with that if that is your goal, low-magic doesn't have equate to ultra-realism (Conan for example). Realistic healing doesn't always equate to more fun at the table. It may result in your players become more cautious or not wanting to push the action per se unless they are fully healed. Downtime mechanics can mitigate this somewhat, but implementing systems like this should be done with kid gloves.

As far as Middle-earth for 5E goes, overall I was disappointed, at least as far as its contribution to a "generic" 5E low-magic campaign. The Fellowship and Journey rules are great, but are certainly not specific to a low-magic campaign. There is no magic system at all and the one class that is meant to serve as the "caster", the Loremaster, was a HUGE letdown for me. In general, I found the class design to be inconsistent.

So while it is possible to run a low-magic campaign with 5E, it requires a lot of resign, especially the classes. I will clarify that this is coming from someone who feels that simply capping the spellcasting level or giving out fewer magic items isn't the low-magic setting I'm interested in.

 

[Hrothgar Rannúlfr]

For lower level magic and an S&S grittiness to the game a fast fix that works well is to do the following;
Make... the only 'full' caster the Warlock renamed as Sorceror or Mage with the following changes;

• (a) Replace all but the 6th level Mystic Arcanum with an Eldritch Invocation
  (b) Add Arcane Tradition of choice from the Wizard Class (now called 'Path of Mastery')
  (c) Rename 'Otherworldly Patron' to 'Eldritch Bloodline' (the casters source of power)
  (d) Rename 'Pact' to 'Arcanum' and the character gets Chain and Book variants
  (e) Make Intelligence the spellcasting stat
  (f) Use the Your Spellbook rules for the Wizard Class, this otherwise being the Book from the Warlock Pact
  (g) Use Wizard Class Cantrip and Spells Known progression
  (h) Use Wizard and Warlock Spell Lists
  (i) Has Font of Magic like Sorcerer Class
  (j) Remove Eldritch Blast from the game but allow all relevant Eldritch Invocations to apply to all damaging Cantrips...

Thank you for posting this, Caliburn. Feels like some great options for another class, even if not in a low magic, sword & sorcery setting.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

If you want to limit the amount of magic thrown around by the party, rather than making the world in general low-magic, which can be very hard, use the gritty version of short and long rests, where a short rest is one day and a long rest is one week. If the players of caster classes know they will not get their spell slots back til they have the chance to rest for a full week undisturbed, they are going to hoard their spells like crazy. Even the short rest casters will be more careful, and if everyone tries to play a short-rest caster, limit the number of those classes you will allow. Then you just have to houserule in a limit for cantrips and any other normally unlimited magic-like powers, maybe a max of three or four per day before taking a one-day short rest. This last bit is actually pretty important to reigning in the amount of magic that gets thrown around in a 5E game if you are going for any kind of low-magic game.

 

[Tony Vargas]

The guts of 5e - specifically bounded accuracy along with combat, skills, saves, etc - is fairly well-suited for a low-magic campaign.

It assumes low-magic-items,anyway...

but the majority of the classes need to be redesigned for a low-magic setting.

Or simply cut there's no need for 4 different arcane PC classes, or even one, for that matter. Certainly not for anything as powerful, high-availability, dependable, and risk-free as 5e casting.

Another correlation I commonly see with regards to low-magic settings is making healing a lot harder and take much longer.

Nonsense, that. D&D absolutely depends on hps & and the frequent, instant restoration thereof for the functioning of its combat system and it's modeling of action and risk in general.

5e is a distant second-best at coping with the absence of magical healing thanks to the HD mechanic. And, well nothing else, really. In 4e, not only did you have surges, but the Warlord could take on the related leader functions.

Conceptually, the bits and pieces you'd need to make 5e functional w/o magic all have precident. That hps damage can't represent the kind of severe injuries that require weeks of convalescence, for instance is indisputable, due to HD and overnight healing. Second Wind establishes instant non-magical hp restoration. Healer does so for unconscious subjects.

They're not adequate in their current forms, but they're starting points.

 

[Psikerlord#]

The already mentioned Adventure's in Middle Earth has some great options for a low magic campaign. In addition to not having the 5e spellcasting system, there are rules for expanding the Exploration and Social pillars with Journeys and Audiences. So you get some new ways to supplement the non-combat pillars of the game which was an area where Casting was very valuable.

Interesting - what spell casting system does it use?