D&D 5E (2024) Preferences in a New Official 5.5e Specific Setting

[Minigiant]

If you can have 2 or 3 people in a group with access to magic, that's not low frequency. With low frequency, even 1 PC being a caster would be rare.

D&D assumes over 50% due to with fighter rogue cleric wizard.

Having only one(maybe two) school would be low versatility. Banning a single school is just a blip on the versatility loss index

That's where Cantrips counting as prepared slots come in. You quickly run out of preparation slots.

But maybe 3 banned slots would create those ultra narrow casters of some fantasy

How is magic not visible if you multiclass? You can still toss around spells/cantrips.

You won't present as casters due to your go to being weapon attacks.

 

[Maxperson]

I remember playing in a 3e game where the DM put a 16 minimum on primary score for PC classes. And 14 for NPCs. It meant casters were rare.

Except for races with mental bonuses. The gray elf village was full out wizards and everyone and their momma with money had a gray elf or drow wizard in their retinue.

Low Magic Visibility because only we ever saw magic users. Regular nonelf people never did.

There's an almost 57% chance of rolling a 16, and half the time it will be in a magical stat. In a group of 4 players you will probably have 1-2 PCs who can be casters under that rule, and that's without factoring in int, wis, or cha bonuses. If you guys pick a race has a +2 in any of those, it's likely that 3-4 of you will be able to be casters.

That's not rare.

 

[Minigiant]

There's an almost 57% chance of rolling a 16, and half the time it will be in a magical stat. In a group of 4 players you will probably have 1-2 PCs who can be casters under that rule, and that's without factoring in int, wis, or cha bonuses. If you guys pick a race has a +2 in any of those, it's likely that 3-4 of you will be able to be casters.

That's not rare.

Forgot to say we rolled in order.

 

[Maxperson]

D&D assumes over 50% due to with fighter rogue cleric wizard.

Why on earth would you allow every class/subclass in a low magic game? The PCs won't have access to most of that. Oh, and D&D doesn't assume anything with regard to player choices. It just goes with class abilities, so the game assumes 4 Champion Fighters are as likely as 4 Clerics.

That's where Cantrips counting as prepared slots come in. You quickly run out of preparation slots.

The magic is still visible every day.

You won't present as casters due to your go to being weapon attacks.

But you will still be using magic daily.

 

[Maxperson]

Forgot to say we rolled in order.

I was assuming in order. That's why I said half the time that 16 will be in a caster stat(half the stats are caster stats). If you can place stats, the numbers of casters goes way up.

 

[Maxperson]

I was talking about the need for a low fantasy setting, not merely a low magic setting. I.e. all supernatural elements are rare, it's mostly humans fighting other humans. Some versions of Robin Hood have been this.

I don't really see the point in restricting spells when there are dragons and beholders around every corner.

There aren't dragons and beholders around every corner. If the average person in a D&D setting was encountering fantastic monsters at the rate PCs do, the world would have been overrun by monsters and all the PC races would have gone extinct thousands or tens of thousands of years earlier. You'd be rolling up monsters to play the game, not elves and humans.

PCs just happen to run into these very rare creatures at a rate many times more often than anyone else. Whether they are cursed by the gods, fated, or what have you, the PCs are special in that regard.

 

[Minigiant]

I was assuming in order. That's why I said half the time that 16 will be in a caster stat(half the stats are caster stats). If you can place stats, the numbers of casters goes way up.

Sure. But the point was NPC communities would not have many casters without racial adjustments. Because nonstandard and nonelite array wouldn't create many casters.

So you'll rarely see casters outside the party and they'd all be the same races.

 

[Maxperson]

Sure. But the point was NPC communities would not have many casters without racial adjustments. Because nonstandard and nonelite array wouldn't create many casters.

So you'll rarely see casters outside the party and they'd all be the same races.

Are they rolling 3d6 or 4d6-L?

 

[Minigiant]

There aren't dragons and beholders around every corner. If the average person in a D&D setting was encountering fantastic monsters at the rate PCs do, the world would have been overrun by monsters and all the PC races would have gone extinct thousands or tens of thousands of years earlier. You'd be rolling up monsters to play the game, not elves and humans.

PCs just happen to run into these very rare creatures at a rate many times more often than anyone else. Whether they are cursed by the gods, fated, or what have you, the PCs are special in that regard.

That's an idea

A setting where all the humanoids are so militarized and magically inclined because they are Monsters everywhere pouring out the deep fringes of the wilderness.

Like Warhammer Fantasy but the Orcs, Vampire Counts, and Dark Elves are civilized and allied with Order and Chaos armies are only Beastmen lead by Monsters. Because Beastmen suck.

 

[Maxperson]

That's an idea

A setting where all the humanoids are so militarized and magically inclined because they are Monsters everywhere pouring out the deep fringes of the wilderness.

You'd have to account for that in society, though. Farmland would have to have immense walls surrounding it, and that would mean a smaller great wall of China around the miles of farmland and villages surrounding surrounding each city(or maybe it's one great city). Otherwise cities wouldn't be viable, because the populations couldn't be fed. Travel would be virtually non-existent outside of teleportation in-between cities, and that would be controlled so that monsters with teleport couldn't just appear that way.

It would be an interesting setting, but would take a lot of thought to set up properly.