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Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
5e: Is it really lower magic/less gonzo than 3e?
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<blockquote data-quote="Li Shenron" data-source="post: 7443770" data-attributes="member: 1465"><p>It's a bit confusing to talk about "high power" and "high magic" at the same time, but anyway...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Yes to all three! <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite8" alt=":D" title="Big grin :D" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":D" /></p><p></p><p>The point is, with regard to "high magic", in 3e is near-impossible to avoid it, because the equipment by level and monsters stats dictates that you <em>must</em> have magic items, and presumably also of a few specific sorts. In 5e you have a much better chance to pull off a game with little or no magic items.</p><p></p><p>The second side of "high magic" refers to the commonality of spells. Not only 5e offers more spellcasters, but the cantrips of 5e mean that you can easily have 1st-level characters spamming magic every round. In 3e this was possible with <em>wands</em>, but generally not expected at very low levels. However, you don't <em>have</em> to always pick a combat cantrip, those cantrips were designed specifically to keep up with weapons, so choosing a <strong>crossbow</strong> instead of a combat cantrip is a pretty valid alternative. I suspect that the vast majority of players always choose combat cantrips, but it's not mandatory. Viceversa, spell slots are significantly less numerous than in 3e.</p><p></p><p>Thus because of these, IMO you can in 5e both have a <em>less</em> magical or a <em>more</em> magical campaign than 3e. It depends on what are the players' choices for their characters, and the DM's choices on magic equipment.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Li Shenron, post: 7443770, member: 1465"] It's a bit confusing to talk about "high power" and "high magic" at the same time, but anyway... Yes to all three! :D The point is, with regard to "high magic", in 3e is near-impossible to avoid it, because the equipment by level and monsters stats dictates that you [I]must[/I] have magic items, and presumably also of a few specific sorts. In 5e you have a much better chance to pull off a game with little or no magic items. The second side of "high magic" refers to the commonality of spells. Not only 5e offers more spellcasters, but the cantrips of 5e mean that you can easily have 1st-level characters spamming magic every round. In 3e this was possible with [I]wands[/I], but generally not expected at very low levels. However, you don't [I]have[/I] to always pick a combat cantrip, those cantrips were designed specifically to keep up with weapons, so choosing a [B]crossbow[/B] instead of a combat cantrip is a pretty valid alternative. I suspect that the vast majority of players always choose combat cantrips, but it's not mandatory. Viceversa, spell slots are significantly less numerous than in 3e. Thus because of these, IMO you can in 5e both have a [I]less[/I] magical or a [I]more[/I] magical campaign than 3e. It depends on what are the players' choices for their characters, and the DM's choices on magic equipment. [/QUOTE]
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5e: Is it really lower magic/less gonzo than 3e?
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