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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jerichothebard" data-source="post: 1420595" data-attributes="member: 4705">Well, your PCs are supposed to be extraordinary.  That's sort of the point. A key to that is to make sure that the surroundings reinforce that feeling.I.e. the seriously buffed fighter is always asked to help with the lifting of heavy things in town.The wizard ONLY ever finds spell books in odd, forgotten locations, not in the local pawn shop.The cleric is mobbed with requests for healing and curing wherever he turns.For a good primer on the rarity of clerics, turn to Dragonlance - Finding the Faith by Mary Kirchoff, from The Magic of Krynn, Tales Book 1 (wow, am I old-school, or what?)No magic shops. No easy trade of magic goods.  As for your ideas, #1 is right out - I imagine the scenario would go something like this:*roll d%*04aww, crikey, I wanted to play a magic user.  a 4 means I can only play a fighter. Well, that character got knifed in the shower at boot camp.*roll d%*36Well, I can play a rogue now... too bad that character double-crossed the thieves' guild in his old home town, and got a new pair of cement overshoes.*roll d%*89Ok, now we're talking...Either you let them reroll, in which case the rolls are meaningless, or you arbitrarily restrict them from playing their desires, which IMO, is never a good thing.  I use the point buy option in my campaign so that there is never a complaint that they couldn't manage to roll the character they wanted.#2 isn't terribly good either, although better than #1.  By penalizing the XP of certain classes, you make them less effective over time, which is counter to the idea that they are powerful, unique professions.  Further, in theory, for 3.x edition, the classes are supposed to be balanced (roughly), such that there is only one experience table.  Changing this facet of the game hearkens back to 1e, and that was never fair in the first place.  #3 is an alright solution - I have done exactly this in my campaign.  Wizards are not allowed for PC's.  Arcane magic is illegal, and was heavily and thouroughly persecuted, so there is no one left to instruct them in the ways of the tome.  Sorcerers are allowed but thier magic is still illegal, which presents all sorts of interesting challenges.Net result: party is composed of a cleric, a bard cohort (who uses divine magic), a monk, a fighter/rogue, a paladin cohort, and two rangers, with guest appearances from a rogue and a druid in the past.  I also set it in the Reniessance time-period, which means the fighter-types are wearing light armor and carrying short swords or rapiers.  No tanks.They have faced a couple sorcerers and an evil cleric, but never a wizard (stay tuned!  That is coming up soon!). You will need to pay attention to their power balance and treasure.  Arcane magic, or spellcasters in general, provide a certain amount of artillery-style support, which the normal CR and EL take into account.  Modifying the party dynamic be removing, for example, wizards and sorcerers, means that my party isn't able to dish out as much widespread damage as a 'normal' party of their level. (the lack of greatsword-weilding plate-mail-wearing hairy apes also contributes to this).I have had to be careful with the monsters, and give them some more powerful treasure than they might otherwise get access to at their level, to keep them in balance.  I think they are doing well, now, though, so they are about to get hammered pretty hard.hope that helps!jtb</blockquote>

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