D&D General A campaign without classes that use magic?

[Minigiant]

It works In 5E. The only issue is you only have access to 4 classes. 6 classes if you allow multclassing

 

[Li Shenron]

What problems to you for see?

Nothing at all, unless you have whiners at your table.

 

[A pod of seals]

Intelligence and Charisma are next-to-unusable in a no-caster party. Even a rogue is going to want Dexterity then Constitution (because of the lack of healing). This means it's very hard to have a team "face" or team smart guy, making social interaction difficult. If I were you, I'd introduce some new class or subclass that lets you use Intelligence or Charisma in combat somehow, so that a build with those abilities as primary or secondary is feasible without being combat dead weight.

 

[dave2008]

So what classes are you looking at? I'm thinking:
Fighter - Cavalier
Fighter - Champion
Fighter - Battlemaster
Fighter - Purple Dragon Knight
Fighter - Samurai
Rogue - Inquisitive
Rogue - Mastermind
Rogue - Scout
Rogue - Swashbuckler
Rogue - Thief

I think that could be a lot of fun, really a lot of options there.

 

[dave2008]

It works In 5E. The only issue is you only have access to 4 classes. 6 classes if you allow multclassing

I would only allow 2 (fighter & rogue) personally, but that gets you 12 subclasses. I think monk and barbarian (which I assume are the other 2 you are talking about) are to much like magic for me (if no magic was the goal).

 

[dave2008]

My players will like this. They prefer strong campaign concepts. We are tired of the usual D&D tropes. We did play one game of AIME last year and they liked it.

There also may be some UA classes / subclasses that could work too.

 

[atanakar]

Would a Ranger (Hunter) without spells by interesting?

 

[dave2008]

Would a Ranger (Hunter) without spells by interesting?

Yes, but I would think you need to replace the spells with something

 

[Minigiant]

I would only allow 2 (fighter & rogue) personally, but that gets you 12 subclasses. I think monk and barbarian (which I assume are the other 2 you are talking about) are to much like magic for me (if no magic was the goal).

Open Hand Monk and Berserker Barbarian are not too magicky nor supernatural level 1-6.

 

[Remathilis]

It actually works pretty great with D&D. You just have to find a group that buys into the no-caster model.

YMMV and all, but every no-magic D&D hack I've seen is a kludge. It usually involves rewriting or outright banning most options that even look like magic, rewriting rests and healing, extremely limited monster selection and very limited treasure rewards. Every time I've seen it, it's ends up a lot of work to use what amounts to a crippled version of the game.

For my money, a dedicated low/no magic game like The One Ring or ASoIaF is easier, more complete and far more rewarding.