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<blockquote data-quote="Keenath" data-source="post: 4224879" data-attributes="member: 59792">Seems to me that's what's going on here.&nbsp; It says, &quot;Here's the normal level.&nbsp; If you want to play low magic, you should reduce treasure by this much and give the players these bonuses to attack, damage, AC, and defense.&quot;That's strong support for a low-magic game; it tells you exactly how to adjust everything to play with a low magic flavor (and low-magic IS only a flavor decision) while maintaining the mathematical mechanics.What more do you really want?&nbsp; I'm sure in a few years, since they're doing this &quot;three books and out&quot; method with campaign settings, you'll have Darksun or another low-magic CS book that will have even more support for such a game.And as far as identifying magic items:I think it's good and fine that a fighter can ID a magic sword without being Arcana trained.&nbsp; This is the difference between a user and an engineer.You don't need to understand how a car's engine or transmission works to be able to tell quite a lot about it by driving it around.&nbsp; You can quickly learn whether the car has a powerful or weak engine; whether the steering is loose or tight; whether the center of gravity is high or low; how well it grips the road... you can even tell more specific information like whether it has antilock brakes and cruise control.Similarly, a fighter, who is a &quot;magic weapon end-user&quot;, doesn't need to know the theory behind magic weapons to be able to quite quickly learn what it does.&nbsp; He's a weapon expert in a world full of magic weapons; of course he'll have general knowledge of how these things work.&nbsp; He can easily tell if the weapon feels lighter than it should, if the edge is sharper than normal, or if the blade seems to guide itself at whatever he aims at.Arcana should be saved for really obscure effects -- as it seems they have done.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Keenath, post: 4224879, member: 59792"] Seems to me that's what's going on here. It says, "Here's the normal level. If you want to play low magic, you should reduce treasure by this much and give the players these bonuses to attack, damage, AC, and defense." That's strong support for a low-magic game; it tells you exactly how to adjust everything to play with a low magic flavor (and low-magic IS only a flavor decision) while maintaining the mathematical mechanics. What more do you really want? I'm sure in a few years, since they're doing this "three books and out" method with campaign settings, you'll have Darksun or another low-magic CS book that will have even more support for such a game. And as far as identifying magic items: I think it's good and fine that a fighter can ID a magic sword without being Arcana trained. This is the difference between a user and an engineer. You don't need to understand how a car's engine or transmission works to be able to tell quite a lot about it by driving it around. You can quickly learn whether the car has a powerful or weak engine; whether the steering is loose or tight; whether the center of gravity is high or low; how well it grips the road... you can even tell more specific information like whether it has antilock brakes and cruise control. Similarly, a fighter, who is a "magic weapon end-user", doesn't need to know the theory behind magic weapons to be able to quite quickly learn what it does. He's a weapon expert in a world full of magic weapons; of course he'll have general knowledge of how these things work. He can easily tell if the weapon feels lighter than it should, if the edge is sharper than normal, or if the blade seems to guide itself at whatever he aims at. Arcana should be saved for really obscure effects -- as it seems they have done. [/QUOTE]

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