Low-Magic Campaign Experiment

[Arcoven]

I am curious, why NPCs would have a reduced CR. Certainly given the situation, monsters with certain magical powers and special defenses would be worthy of a higher CR. But if NPCs are in the same boat as the PCs, then the relative challenge involved in defeating them should be the same.

Beyond that... I like the setting. It really puts the fear back into fighting magical beasties.

 

[Murazor]

Quite an interesting read. I do, however, have a question for you:

Why did you use the Wizard class?

You've made the other casters (Priest and Druid) completely spontaneous, so why not do the same for the Arcane caster? The Arcane spell-list also seems to have been retooled into a nearly complete combat-list, so maybe using the Warmage from Complete Arcane would be a good starting point? (Swap spells to suit your tastes)
To still keep the exploration part of the campaign a major issue (and recovering lost spells) I suggest you don't let players add spells to their lists, but instead swap in favour of other spells.

The Wizard, as the only class left which has to memorize their spells, combined with a very restricted spell-list and complete loss of most of the utility spells, monetary restrictions and an overall campaign bias against them, it does not seem to be very appealing class. (But maybe this was the whole idea?)

 

[the Jester]

Npcs have a reduced CR because they don't have the same level of equipment and magic that's assumed in the base rules. A 5th-level fighter is more of a threat than a 4th level fighter, but not as much as in standard 3e- the difference isn't exacerbated by 'more goodies'.

As to why the wizard- I turned divine casters spontaneous because, frankly, I've always felt they oughta be anyhow. After all, they aren't really preparing spells, they're asking for divine intervention, right?

The wizard's major advantage in the Y271 Campaign is the ability to add spells to his list. Keeping the preparation also goes a long way towards differentiating the 'style' of arcane from divine magic. So far it has worked pretty well.

One of the other factors is the number of spells per day- with a sorcerer or warmage (meh) or whatnot, the number of spells per day available to a wizard goes waaaay up.

Also, I really want to keep spellbooks as a limiting factor on spells known. The cost of scribing spells is damn near prohibitive in this setting- last night we played session five of the game and the party's total treasure gained is still well under 200 gp, I think (plus a masterwork weapon).

 

[Raven Crowking]

Jester,

Sorry I just came across this thread. I will probably grab some of your ideas for my own use!

RC

 

[the Jester]

Jester,

Sorry I just came across this thread. I will probably grab some of your ideas for my own use!

RC

Hey cool!

So far it's been a lot of fun. We've had about five sessions so far- most of the group is now 2nd level. One of the biggest impacts is the low treasure value- so far the party has prolly gotten less than 100 gp each in treasure, though there are a few exceptions (someone got some chain mail, and somebody else got a masterwork bastard sword, for instance).

 

[Sravoff]

One Word. Dragon Lance.

Their world was much like how you describe yours. Though you could change a bit about the flavor. Wizards could be held in high esteam instead of fear. I read their books that came out before 3.x so I don't know what changes they made to the world since the 3.x conversion but I would drop out sorcerers and make all wizards be hunted or a part of the wizards conclave/guild/society. That way all spells are regulated and the Pc's must find old spells or somehow steal their mentors.

Thats all the info I have as everytime I have ran a low magic campaign my players whine till we go hack-and-slash. So good luck to ya!
[edit] Saw the rest of the thread, sorry forgot to change the page. So this reply isn't really relevent but i'll leave it.[/edit]

-Sravoff

 

[the Jester]

Training Revisited

Okay, I like the effects of the training rules so far- everyone's been able to get most everything they wanted, and it's helped to build relationships with a number of npcs in the community. The pcs seem to be identifying very strongly with the setting in part because of this. Also, training can help build ties between the pcs, as they can train one another. Finally, it helps time pass, and the rapid rate of level acquisition in 3e is one of my pet peeves with the system.

That said, we have discovered a few weird spots in my training system. To quote from above:

Characters must spend time to train when leveling before acquiring skill points, feats, class abilities or spells. ...A character may either train under a master or train herself.

A character may study under a master to train provided the master has any feats being gained, at least as many ranks as the training character will have in all skills being raised, all spells and class abilities being gained. Training under a master requires 1 week per level being gained (so training for 2nd level requires 2 weeks).

A character training herself requires 2 weeks per level being gained. She must also spend 100 xp per level being gained to train herself. If the character does not have enough xp to pay this cost without losing a level, she still pays the cost and takes the level, but she also acquires a negative level that cannot be gotten rid of until her xp rise to the threshold for her current level.

All right, so what happens when I want to gain some stuff for which I have a trainer and some stuff for which I don't?

If I want to gain a feat, a class ability, and one rank each in eight skills, should the answer to 'what happens' be different if: A. I only have to train myself in one skill, or B. I only have a trainer for one skill?

I want to keep it easy to figure the time and xp cost.

Suggestions?

Oh, and just to note- my players are welcome to post suggestions, too.

 

[Brain]

Having given it some thought, here's my suggestion:

If the character wants any class feature or feat that they can't find a trainer for, then spend xp.

If it is just skills, don't spend xp.

The time can be adjusted pretty easily depending on how much of their training is self-taught.

 

[Moleculo]

I know you probably covered this, but I skimmed and skimmed and couldn't find it: do you have this compiled all in one place? I really like the ideas you're throwing out and would like to read them in a more compiled/complete formate, if, of course, such a thing exists.

 

[the Jester]

I know you probably covered this, but I skimmed and skimmed and couldn't find it: do you have this compiled all in one place? I really like the ideas you're throwing out and would like to read them in a more compiled/complete formate, if, of course, such a thing exists.

It's all one Word file, constantly in progress and being updated.

If you're interested I could prolly attach it here, but everything in it is in this thread (though spread over several posts).