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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kaomera" data-source="post: 3194074" data-attributes="member: 38357">So, I'm a big fan of "less is more"... I've been contemplating two concepts regarding this idea in respect to my next campaign (based on DCC 35, and in part these thoughts where inspired by the way the 0-level PC rules work in that product), and how (or if) I should work them into the house-rules I'll be using.Heroic Potential: The PCs are meant to be the heroes of the campaign; it's their story, and no NPC gets the kind of screen-time that they do. PCs are assumed to be "elite", and have access to PC classes normally, however NPCs should not be made elite lightly, and non-elite NPCs should only have NPC class levels. I might possibly make an exception for a race's preferred class (so that there can be hordes of Orc Berzerkers, for instance; OTOHoV not allowing this would make the Orc Warlord with Barbarian levels that much more special). Even elite NPCs should not have PC class levels unless they are actually important to the campaign as a whole. For example: an NPC Lord who participated in an important battle years ago might have one or two Fighter levels to reflect that fact, but if he's not been doing anything much exciting since then the rest of his levels should be Noble, or perhaps Warrior or Expert. If he later becomes a major contact of the PCs he could then gain more PC class levels, if appropriate. (I would also have to work up an arcane version of the Adept, I think...)Magical Talent: Currently it is (more or less) assumed by 3.x rules that just about anyone can become a spellcaster, by taking the appropriate class levels. In some (much?) fantasy literature, it is assumed that a person would need some sort of innate "magical talent" in order to learn to use magic at all. This could very easily be just a flavor consideration, but I'm fairly certain that it would then just be mostly ignored. I'm contemplating making "Magical Talent" a feat (which must be taken at first {or zero...} level), without which a character cannot gain magical abilities (obviously, I would need to specify exactly where I would be drawing the line, but I don't think I'm quite to that point yet). If I do go the feat-cost route, I would also grant an additional feat at first (or zero...) level (in addition to most likely using a "feat per level" rule). On the one hand, I'm a bit worried that this would be interpreted as penalizing spell-casting characters; on the other I'm concerned that it might actually not go far enough, given what I'm expecting the consequences of these ideas might be...Consequences: I am expecting that these two ideas would make PCs, and especially spell-casting PCs much more important in the game-world. In a setting where there are few actual Wizards, and even Adepts are uncommon, an up-and-coming Mage might start being courted by political or mercantile powers, local Lords, etc. at third or fourth levels. There would probably be fewer magic items floating around (although I expect the impact on the PCs to be much less than for NPCs; long-lost swords, mysterious rings from forgotten ages, etc being still available as part of a treasure horde), and many of those would have to be manufactured by Adepts. Item-creation feats would likely be more valuable, and non-spellcasters would likely have slightly fewer magic items (although making those they do acquire slightly more potent would be an easy way to compensate). Use Magic Device and the Rogue's Trapfinding ability would likely have be limited to those characters with Magical Talent, but there are other useful skills that a Rogue could put his points into, and there would be far fewer magical traps to contend with. Actually, I can see allowing Trapfinding and having it work off of the Spellcraft skill (I already have a house-rule allowing ranks in cross-class skills to be purchased up to their normal {lower than a class skill} max ranks at 1:1, I would probably rule Spellcraft to be a class skill for any character with Magical Talent, cross-class otherwise); I can envision a rogue stooping low over a chest, holding a pendulum above it while sprinkling iron filings about and interpreting the patterns produced to determine not only the presence or absence of magic, but also how strong, what school, and possibly information on how to best bypass it.</blockquote>

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