Any advice on running a low-magic-item campaign?

[Agent Oracle]

Okay, honestly, I have a single suggestion for how you can run a true low-to-no magic campaign.

Eliminate it from the start.

You could run a no-magic campaign a lot easier than you could run a low magic campaign.

Eliminate all spellcasting classes from the start. no sorcerers or wizards. No clerics or druids. And eliminate all the halfsies. no bards or rangers or paladins. and eliminate monks too (just because they have so many near-supernatural abilities.)

That leaves us with... what? Barbarians, Rogues, and Fighters.

Oh, and get rid of gnomes (no pesky magical natural abilities) and elves and half-elves (since, y'know, nigh immortal thingy in a no magic world? dosn't cut it) and halflings (just because) and half-orcs... get rid of orcs for that matter...

You know what? toss everything fantastic out the window. Everybody is human. Human rogues, human barbarians, and human fighters.

maybe... MAYBE allow in some of the expanded classes, ONLY if they have no magical (or near-magical) abilities. (so Knight is fine, but the duskblade is not.)

And to make sure the game is fair, all enemies are held to those restrictions as well. No elven bards, no gnomish illusionists. Just plain and simple Humans... okay, maybe with some NORMAL animals thrown in. Wolves are allright, wargs are not. Blarghest... RIGHT out!

Think about the impact this will have! The barfight at the beginning of any adventure? Much more deadly, when there's no cleric to patch you up post-tussle. Players will start guarding their hitpoints like they were the only things that mattered, and begin spending wealth on OTHER things, like buying property or whatever.

Maybe, after level 5, there can be some prestiege classes. Ranger being a prestiege class. Bard a prestiege class. Paladin a prestiege class. (that one is hard to qualify for, since it implies that the paladin code is retroactive)

That is one way to make a low-to-no magic world work well.

 

[Hussar]

You could run a no-magic campaign a lot easier than you could run a low magic campaign

QFT

IMO, trying to run a low magic campaign is like trying to be half pregnant. It just doesn't work. Eventually, the players will amass enough goodies to turn the campaign high magic again. If you include core casters, then the setting is NOT low magic IMO. It might be low item, but, it's certainly not low magic.

Using the hit point pool idea and Armor as DR, from UA, you can run a very solid no magic campaign.

Low magic will ultimately prove very frustrating as you must constantly sit in the drivers seat. Any mistakes and the low magic goes out the window. No magic is much easier to handle.

 

[The_Gneech]

I recommend the following changes:

Class Defense Bonus
Use the same numbers as a GOOD saving throw progression, with the following bonuses at first level only:

"Full BAB" classes: +2
"Medium BAB" classes: +1
"Poor BAB" classes: +0

This stacks with armor.

Saving Throw Boost
Every four levels, all characters receive +1 to all saving throws.

Fine/Superior/Masterwork Items
Meaning +1/+2/+3 respectively. Basically, the same numbers as "magic" items, but with non-magical fluff.

More Rapid Healing
Characters regain [level + Con bonus] hit points with every 8 hours of sleep.

Armor Provides DR
LIGHT: DR 1/-
MEDIUM: DR 2/-
HEAVY: DR 3/-
This does not stack with the barbarian's DR.

NOTE: I haven't playtested these changes yet, these are just ones I've culled from various places with the intention of trying them out in my own campaign. But they should address most of the lethality problems, particularly for warrior classes.

-The Gneech

 

[Desdichado]

I've tried this in the past with little success. AC becomes a real issue as you get into the mid and high levels without the magic. Saving Throws, damage output and disparity between the classes will become an increasing concern. Magic wielding characters start to pull ahead of those that don't have it pretty quick. Magic items are one of the big balancers for the non-spellcasters in 3e.

Whoop-de-doo. A level-based AC progression, ala Star Wars d20, Wheel of Time d20 or d20 Modern is all it takes to resolve this.

I'm inclined to agree with VirgilCaine here - if you seriously want to go this route, save yourself the pain and frustration and use a system designed to handle it.

VirgilCaine is notorious for having an extremely biased opinion about playing D&D "wrong"--I'm not inclined to agree with anything he says on the subject. Doing low magic is easy; the change I indicated above, plus a handful of other minor assumption changes (i.e., healing at every five minute break in the action, etc.) is all it takes. I've run low magic using D&D variants for years, and never had any trouble at all. And I still prefer to do so; there's so much material available for it that any potential problem areas with the magic assumptions (which IME are trivial) are completely and overwhelmingly outweighed by all the material you can use for the game.

 

[Paraxis]

I have recently started the same type of campain. LOW MAGIC ITEM but not low magic.

40 point buy, if I had seen Genshou's variant 4 before hand might have done it

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=162747

I changed feat and ability gain chart.
ODD levels you gain a feat. (This is 3 feats over 20 levels and only 1 extra before 10th don't think it will unbalance anything, also meshes well with fighter.)
EVEN levels 4,8,12,16, and 20 they gain a +2 to one ability score not a +1. (This is to sub out the ability score enchancing items all characters get)
EVEN levels 2,6,10,14,and 18 they gain a +1 deflection bonus to AC and a +1 resistance bonus to all saves. (This is to sub out the bonus to AC people get from magic armor or rings, and same with cloak of resistance and saves.)

I chose their equipment list, they started at 4th level.
I gave them Full hit points for first two levels then half+1 every level afterwards.

I am using a version of master work weapons that scale so (+1/+1) (+2/+2) (+3/+3). Basicly as said above just better quality craftmanship all of them started with one +1/+1 weapon.

I got rid of all craft feats except, potions,scrolls, and wands. I am not having them cost xp, but enforcing time and gold costs to hilt and making any components something they have to get.

Healing is not an issue there are two in party counting the bard, and just control the pace of the game no more then 3 or so encounters before rests seems good right now. Also with high stats, and the way I'm doing HP per level they are tough.

The world is filled with magical monsters, in fact Bahamut and Tiamat are the primary gods and a nation of dragons exist. The first encounter was with were-rats , then worgs, and third was with a barghest. The DR is fine with how much damage they can deal.

FYI , the party has an rogue/wizard, a paladin/knight, a favored soul, and a bard. The paladin is going to do the kensi route so he will have a very magical sword and stand out but thats cool with me makes him that much more a hero, the favored soul worships Bahamut and I am allowing him to go into Dragon Disiple later without sorcorer level, the wizard/rogue is on his way to arcane trickster, and the bard has not made up her mind.

Not planning on any magic items for first two adventures, then might give out some later but when I do it will be very powerful similiar to what is in most novels. If they fall behind curve I will grant them spell-like abilities and such as rewards for a quest, like above with suggestion of gaining energy resistance after fighting a BBEG and it explodes in a ball of the stuff.

Ohh I did introduce a new rule that people with an aura of an alignment treat all their attacks as imbued with that alignment for overcoming DR.

We have had a blast and it feels more like a heroic novel being told then a video game being played, with everyone talking about gear all the time.