NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MostlyDm" data-source="post: 7028150" data-attributes="member: 6788973">In a sandbox environment, the entire issue is moot.  They would engage with events on their own terms, and the idea of there being some highly time sensitive quest that they are expected to complete doesn't really wash.Having run many sandbox-style low-magic games, I just don't see the need for DM largesse you describe.  In my experience, spells simplify solutions to problem, or obviate the need for certain solutions (e.g. teleport obviates the need for good mounts)... but non-magic classes can still solve a huge variety of problems by doing things "the hard way."And for the record... I don't think the water-breathing potions thing is actually largesse or deus ex machina or anything like that.  If a BBEG has an underwater base, and has humanoid minions, they need some way of accessing it.  It's totally logical that his outposts in humanoid lands would include caches of such potions.Magical item collection is de-emphasized as a requirement, as a player entitlement that the DM is required to maintain... but there's tons of support for magic items.  And if anything, the game is more encouraging of magical wondrous items, and is primarily cautious about magic weapons, armor, flat pluses, etc.  The only reason they de-emphasized magic items is so that magic items actually feel meaningful and beneficial, and so that running a low magic game doesn't hurt the game math.  You're spinning these as downsides, but they're pure positives compared to 3e and 4e, and precisely the same approach taken in earlier editions.Hireling support doesn't need mechanical subsystems, in my opinion.  But you can look at published adventures like Out of the Abyss to see that 5e still encourages and supports the use of NPC allies.Also worth mentioning that even the "martials" often have magic and supernatural abilities.  There's only 1 class, 2/3 subclasses of another class, 2/3 subclasses of another class, and 1/3 subclasses of another class that fundamentally lack spells.  A tiny fraction of the overall class pool.</blockquote>

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