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Low Magic vs. High; what is the difference, and are we confusing them with Low vs. High Fantasy?
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<blockquote data-quote="GuardianLurker" data-source="post: 8085393" data-attributes="member: 786"><p>So part of D&D's problem is that the rules go from Low Fantasy to High Fantasy as the characters progress in levels. So to get Low Fantasy a simple way would be to cap levels somewhere between 7 and 10. The old E6 variant of D20 would be a good approach to this.</p><p></p><p>But the difference between Low Magic and High Magic is how durable, how permanent, magic and its effects can be. Wizards can be throwing 9th level spells around, but if they have limited durations (minutes or hours) not much will be different than real world history. More importantly, there won't be any magic items, because there is no way way to make an enchantment permanent.</p><p></p><p>In High Magic, the techniques to make make permanent (or at least arbitrarily long in duration) items and magical effects means that, over time, such things accumulate and start warping how the cultures respond. Regardless of whether items are found, made off-screen, or are PC projects, magic will eventually be everywhere.</p><p></p><p>A mid-magic world would be one where long-duration magic requires continual and active investment in resources. Maybe one monastery has a special spell that their choir casts every morning as part of their ritual that puts up a protection against supernatural creatures, or the Wizard's academy is consuming a font of magic to keep a demon locked away.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="GuardianLurker, post: 8085393, member: 786"] So part of D&D's problem is that the rules go from Low Fantasy to High Fantasy as the characters progress in levels. So to get Low Fantasy a simple way would be to cap levels somewhere between 7 and 10. The old E6 variant of D20 would be a good approach to this. But the difference between Low Magic and High Magic is how durable, how permanent, magic and its effects can be. Wizards can be throwing 9th level spells around, but if they have limited durations (minutes or hours) not much will be different than real world history. More importantly, there won't be any magic items, because there is no way way to make an enchantment permanent. In High Magic, the techniques to make make permanent (or at least arbitrarily long in duration) items and magical effects means that, over time, such things accumulate and start warping how the cultures respond. Regardless of whether items are found, made off-screen, or are PC projects, magic will eventually be everywhere. A mid-magic world would be one where long-duration magic requires continual and active investment in resources. Maybe one monastery has a special spell that their choir casts every morning as part of their ritual that puts up a protection against supernatural creatures, or the Wizard's academy is consuming a font of magic to keep a demon locked away. [/QUOTE]
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Low Magic vs. High; what is the difference, and are we confusing them with Low vs. High Fantasy?
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