Keep Magic Rare

[Thomasrivers]

I am starting a new game and i want to keep magic rare. I could simply increase the costs of magic item....but that seems to easy. Any new ideas without changing the base character classes to much and increasing the base costs.




Thomasrivers

 

[Khaalis]

Realively simple. Dont allow magic to be bought. Does away with the whole GP cost issue. As for game balance after that, you are going to find it very difficult. The CRs you throw against the group will have to be less than normal, and when it comes to critters you have to be very careful that you choose nothing that the part cannot overcome. Throwing them against DR10/magic protected critters when the only person in the party with a magic weapon is the Wizard with a +1 dagger... I think you get the point. You will also find difficulty with critters scaling AC and Attack bonuses at "propper" CR's, so be careful there as well. The CR system ASSUMES a party will have average magic for its level. /shrug
Not my cup of tea to be honest, but good luck to you.

 

[JimAde]

Of course you control what the PCs can find or buy. As far as creating their own, how about mucking with the XP cost? I believe most items cost 1/25th the base cost in XP to create. If you crank that up to, say, 1/10th it would discourage item creation and explain the lack of items in the world all at once. I know it's a rules change, but it's just one instead of having to mess with the GP cost of every item.

As Khaalis implies, this will make the math harder when calculating experience for encounters, but I just make it all up anyway

 

[Coredump]

Only allow magic using classes to be taken every other level.

Require magic items 'ingredients' include hard to find items.

Keep the players in rural areas, and moving fast. (no where to buy stuff, no time to make it)

check out the Grim N Gritty rules

Make magic creation an 'attitude' thing. Magic users (In your world) tend to not like to impart their essence into items for others. Like many don't share spell books.

People tend to treat magic like an heirloom, and don't sell them unless they have to. (I have some antiques that I would keep, even if it meant getting evicted.)

Have most items have charges. Even things like a ring of invis...


Just some ideas.

 

[Geoff Watson]

Keep magic rare?

No PC spellcasters (except maybe Rangers and Paladins) allowed.

If you allow PC spellcasters, but no magic items, the spellcasters will be rediculously powerful compared to the non-spellcasters, at mid-high levels.

Geoff.

 

[StAlda]

This is a sample of one of my Create Item Feats :

CRAFT WONDROUS ITEM [ITEM CREATION]
Prerequisite: Caster level 3rd.
Benefit: You can create any wondrous item whose prerequisites you meet. Enchanting a wondrous item takes one day for each 1,000 gp in its price. To enchant a wondrous item, you must spend 1/4 of the item’s price in XP and use up raw materials costing half of this price.
You can also mend a broken wondrous item if it is one that you could make. Doing so costs half the XP, half the raw materials, and half the time it would take to craft that item in the first place.
Some wondrous items incur extra costs in material components or XP, as noted in their descriptions. These costs are in addition to those derived from the item’s base price. You must pay such a cost to create an item or to mend a broken one.
Special: By taking this feat a second time, the XP cost drops to 1/10 the items price; a third time drops the XP cost to 1/25.


This keeps the lower level characters from going wild making Broochs of Shielding or whatever, but still allowing 18th level Wizards to create Mirror of Mental Prowess without losing a level in the process.

 

[Brother MacLaren]

IMO, the best way is not to take away or hurt PC abilities, but to just change the setting. Cut way down on the number of NPC spellcasters. Maybe there are only a dozen wizards on an island the size of Great Britain. There might be a slight possibility of persuading/cajoling/threatening Tim the Enchanter to craft a mighty weapon for you for a specific quest, but he isn't going to have a spare Holy Hand Grenade sitting on his shelf.
Change it so that it is no longer true that anyone with the requisite intelligence can become a wizard. You also need The Gift - fortunately, all PCs will just happen to have it if they need it. Prevent the otherwise logical-but-annoying establishment of schools of wizardry or True Strike-heavy crossbow kill-you-at-a-quarter-mile regiments.
Taking this approach will make PC casters relatively more important in the land. That isn't a bad thing - in fact, it's far more interesting than the PCs being perpetually overshadowed by uber-NPC Epic wizards. Maybe once the PC wizard hits level 10, he is the greatest mage in the kingdom - and the dragon in the borderland mountains hears of this. Or when he is level 15, he is nearly the greatest wizard who has ever lived... and the reigning claimant to that title (who is no longer technically "alive") decides to come out of retirement to teach this young upstart a lesson.

 

[Spatzimaus]

If you want to keep spellcasters rare without diluting the power of the individual too much, require all casters to spend a Feat to "unlock" their magical power. For example, the Arcane Affinity feat might require INT 15+, give the Wizard's cantrip abilities, and allow access to the Wizard class. The Divine Affinity might require WIS 15+, give the Cleric's domain power, and allow access to the Cleric class. And so on.

If you want magic items to be rare, there are all sorts of economic/social/political things you can use. A healthy anti-magic paranoia goes a long way for this. Having more small towns and fewer large cities helps when you consider the DMG pricing guidelines.

Or, just double the cost of all magic items (both GP and XP costs).

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

Make 99% of the clergy Experts.

They've got ranks in Knowledge: Religion, Knowledge: Theology and probably some diplomacy, sense motive, heal.

Actual 'clerics' are church miracle workers. Perhaps they're viewed as living saints?

IMC, If I did this then I'd change the natural healing rules. But then I'm not a big fan of 'hit points as a treasured resource', or resting for 10 days to get over a random encounter. But that's just my opinion!

 

[Zoatebix]

imma doof

Upper_Krust's work, (http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=66470) has pretty good guidelines for figuring out how to compensate for no or fewer magic items. Basicly, no items means you treat a character as 4/5ths their level for purposes of the challenges they can take on. There're also guidelines for how much a certain amount of equipment affects a character's power, and rules for breaking down damage reduction, if you so wish.

Edit: ugh, I put grammar and clarity as my title, not as my reason for editing. I think this update gets it all right.