D&D 5E Low magic player characters in D&D 5e

[redrick]

I am thinking of my next campaign as being a low magic campaign. The idea is that magic would still exist in the world, but humans and demi-humans capable of harnessing it would be extremely rare. Some low level magic might be replaced by a sort of folk magic. (Rituals for things like magical healing, and protection from evil, maybe some other minor buff-debuff type stuff.)

I'd like to allow player characters to pursue spellcasting options (after all, player characters have the right to become exceptional), but having a first-level character who can just walk around casting spells at will seems to defeat the point of magic being extremely rare. I'm interested in ideas about ways to sort of steepen the curve for player character magic, so to speak. I can't just nerf spell-casters, and I don't want to ban them outright. Instead, I'd like to find a way to increase the risks/rewards associated with casters.

The only idea I've come up with so far (and I'm not sure it's a good one!) is to restrict cantrips to characters who have already reached the 5th level. This makes multi-classing into a caster at 5th level an option — the spells might not be that powerful, but your cantrips will scale with your total character level, so your fire bolt will do 2d10 damage. And it means that characters who want to take the challenging path of single-class wizards would spend their first 4 levels being very cautious in combat, but would be rewarded at 5th level with powerful cantrips.

Any thoughts or ideas? How many folks have run low magic campaigns in 5e so far? What have you done?

 

[Coredump]

Limit cantrips to X times per day.

No casting classes until 3rd level, full casting classes can't be more than 1/2 of your levels.

 

[fjw70]

I would like to run a game with no full casters, however it doesn't look like you want to ban full casters.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

Is D&D really the best RPG system to run a low magic fantasy campaign?

 

[redrick]

Is D&D really the best RPG system to run a low magic fantasy campaign?

Maybe it isn't! On the other hand, it's easy to get a d&d game together, and 5e at least pitches itself as being low magic friendly. So, if it's within the reasonable capabilities of the system, seems worth trying.

On the other hand, I'm certainly open to suggestions on alternate systems if you want to give them!

 

[SkidAce]

Is D&D really the best RPG system to run a low magic fantasy campaign?

Needs tweaking...works fine.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

Needs tweaking...works fine.

There are only three classes that don't cast spells in 5e. It seems to me that it would require a lot more than just "tweaking"
Of course I guess it depends on your definition of "low magic". Me, I'm thinking of something like The One Ring.

 

[Shiroiken]

The best way to do this is with a campaign handout. You restrict certain class (and sub-classes) to allow something more in line with what you want the campaign to be. For example, you might allow only a single full caster in the party. If you want to limit the group more, you could limit them to only half-casters, and possibly restrict them as well. Either way I would probably disallow the Eldritch Knight and Arcane Trickster. This option works well with most players.

You could also require all spellcasters to have a spellbook (or prayerbook for divine casters), forcing them to find new spells, rather than automatically gaining new spells upon leveling. This helps you control the spells you want available in the game, but you probably need to either re-fluff the Sorcerer or get rid of it alltogether. Warlock are also tricky, but instead of a spellbook, the patron chooses the powers granted. Some players will oppose this option, so make sure your group is acceptable to it before implementing it.

The third (and easiest) way to do this is to buy into the notion of the "special snowflake" PCs mentality. They represent the oddballs of society already, so having them have a higher percentage of spellcasters than normal is fine. The only thing you have to do as the DM is make sure that NPCs treat them appropriately (fear and loathing should be the most common). I dislike this method myself, as I want PCs in my world to represent a cross section of the world, rather than only the elite, but it works well with new/immature players.

 

[redrick]

There are only three classes that don't cast spells in 5e. It seems to me that it would require a lot more than just "tweaking"
Of course I guess it depends on your definition of "low magic". Me, I'm thinking of something like The One Ring.

Well, paladin and ranger can be easily low-magicked with some flavor and smaller spell list. The goal isn't to create an entirely mundane setting, just one where powerful magic is a bit more exceptional.

As an aside, One Ring sounds interesting and I'd be curious to play it at some point.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

Well, paladin and ranger can be easily low-magicked with some flavor and smaller spell list. The goal isn't to create an entirely mundane setting, just one where powerful magic is a bit more exceptional.

Ah, alright. Then yes, I guess it's relatively easy. I think other systems are better at conveying the feel of a low-magic setting, but I can see why someone would want to use D&D instead.