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Does Eberron need to be high fantasy?
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<blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 6789544" data-attributes="member: 7006"><p>What's been interesting for me as I've been trying to formulate ideas for an eventual Eberron campaign using 5E has been figuring out the best way to give out the essence of Eberron's magic system of "much breadth but little depth".</p><p></p><p>The setting tells us straight out that magic is so prevalent that almost everyone has access to it. Blacksmiths craft their items with an assist from magic. Magecrafters build magic items all over the place. The Last Wars was filled with rank upon rank of wand-wielders throwing spells across the battlefield. <em>But</em> there are much fewer high-powered (or using D&D terms "high-leveled") spellcasters. There's a shitton of minor magic able to be cast, but very little high-level magic (without the use of rituals and schema and the like.)</p><p></p><p>So trying to fine that balance-- the expectation that if there was going to be a wizard character in the party (for example)-- how do I run the campaign such that this PC doesn't become so overpowered in relation to the rest of the campaign world in an unrealistic amount of time? Does the Downtime mechanic become a necessary part of the setting so that the spellcaster PCs don't go from the magical rabble (like the rest of the world) to throwing around fireballs and ice storms naturally (IE not via magic item) in a matter of months? Because in Eberron, they <em>shouldn't</em> be. Magical advancement and power doesn't work that fast nor for that many people.</p><p></p><p>It's been an interesting conundrum. Giving minor magic to more regular people across the board (especially ones who have dragonmarks)... but <em>not</em> having them be actual "spellcasters" (as we might define high-leveled PCs). Do I give the High Elf's "free cantrip" ability to every race as an option they can trade into (using the same idea of racial feature swaps we saw in the SCAG for the tiefling?) Thus giving us many more people of all the races across the board who have minor magic at their fingertips? Do I make 'Dragonmarked' perhaps its own Background whose feature is the Magic Initiate feat (so they get two cantrips *and* a 1st level spell since those with dragonmarks have much more magical power than the rest of society even without "PC levels")... but if so how do I possibly balance that feature against other potential Backgrounds? How do I get across the prevalence of magic items throughout society without actually disempowering the identity of any potential spellcaster PC?</p><p></p><p>I know there's a key that will unlock the magic system of Eberron and how PCs should stack up against it. I just have to keep searching for it.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DEFCON 1, post: 6789544, member: 7006"] What's been interesting for me as I've been trying to formulate ideas for an eventual Eberron campaign using 5E has been figuring out the best way to give out the essence of Eberron's magic system of "much breadth but little depth". The setting tells us straight out that magic is so prevalent that almost everyone has access to it. Blacksmiths craft their items with an assist from magic. Magecrafters build magic items all over the place. The Last Wars was filled with rank upon rank of wand-wielders throwing spells across the battlefield. [i]But[/i] there are much fewer high-powered (or using D&D terms "high-leveled") spellcasters. There's a shitton of minor magic able to be cast, but very little high-level magic (without the use of rituals and schema and the like.) So trying to fine that balance-- the expectation that if there was going to be a wizard character in the party (for example)-- how do I run the campaign such that this PC doesn't become so overpowered in relation to the rest of the campaign world in an unrealistic amount of time? Does the Downtime mechanic become a necessary part of the setting so that the spellcaster PCs don't go from the magical rabble (like the rest of the world) to throwing around fireballs and ice storms naturally (IE not via magic item) in a matter of months? Because in Eberron, they [i]shouldn't[/i] be. Magical advancement and power doesn't work that fast nor for that many people. It's been an interesting conundrum. Giving minor magic to more regular people across the board (especially ones who have dragonmarks)... but [i]not[/i] having them be actual "spellcasters" (as we might define high-leveled PCs). Do I give the High Elf's "free cantrip" ability to every race as an option they can trade into (using the same idea of racial feature swaps we saw in the SCAG for the tiefling?) Thus giving us many more people of all the races across the board who have minor magic at their fingertips? Do I make 'Dragonmarked' perhaps its own Background whose feature is the Magic Initiate feat (so they get two cantrips *and* a 1st level spell since those with dragonmarks have much more magical power than the rest of society even without "PC levels")... but if so how do I possibly balance that feature against other potential Backgrounds? How do I get across the prevalence of magic items throughout society without actually disempowering the identity of any potential spellcaster PC? I know there's a key that will unlock the magic system of Eberron and how PCs should stack up against it. I just have to keep searching for it. [/QUOTE]
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