Moderate Magic Worlds

[LightPhoenix]

This whole post is inspired by Kashell's post in the House Rules forum.

I've seen a lot of people talk about low-magic worlds. I've seen a lot of people talk about high-magic worlds. What I haven't seen a lot of discussion about is what exactly makes a campaign fall into the moderate category. It always seems like it's always one of the extremes. So this is my question - what makes a campaign moderate-magic, what's a happy medium between high- and low-magic?

 

[Kashell]

( wow...I inspired a post...)

*ahem*

Well, the campaign I'm currently running is actually a small continent(or large island) that is part of a high magic world...Thing is, due to the fact that it's so far away(and certain magical aspects) the 'high magic' world rarely interacts with this one.

Cutting to the point, when I roll for loot, I typically use the loot tables (DM's 3.5) and then multiply the % chance of the PC's getting their look by .8 ....For example, at level 1, there's a .8 percent chance of getting a magic item(or on a d100, only on a 100).

To compensate(because my monster charts are still tailored for a high magic world) I've granted this part of the world a higher level of technology and a grande amount of 'normal' items. The Arms and Equipment guide has proved priceless so far in this setting. I'm also using the renaissance weapons (Dm's guide) including renaissance explosives as well as gnome devices (such as gnome submarines) to make the non-magical portions more interesting.

The explaination I use for the 'magic' part of the world are the magic items (and beings) that have managed to somehow make it to the island/continent. Thus, it's perfectly reasonable to have PCs play the Wizard/Sorcerer classes without tampering with magic.


It's important to note that the players I run are a little experienced, so I'm throwing something new at them. Still testing the waters a little, so to speak.

 

[Turjan]

Well, the definition of this term is a bit unclear, so I will just pick one possibility:

1. All of the (7th,) 8th and 9th level spells have to go. Some might be available as rituals.
2. Teleport and Scrying magic would be either gone or much more difficult/risky.
3. The number and availability of magic items would be reduced drastically. The maximum modifier for magical weapons/armor would be something like +3, and this should be pieces of legend. Ability changers should be moderate and rare.

The more difficult part would be the balancing of fighters and wizards (just as examples for spellcasters and non-spellcasters). Fighters with less magical trinkets get substantially weaker. If you keep the number of spells, you have to reduce the oomph a bit.

Of course, all monster CR's have to be changed and accustomed to a lower magic level.

Maybe, the easiest way is just to cut the leveling off at level 12 (or 15) and make it slower .

 

[Kashell]

"2. Teleport and Scrying magic would be either gone or much more difficult/risky"

Definatly. I don't like teleport/scry to begin with. Especially scry. If you want the bad guys to spy on the good guys, send a real spy to do the job. Much more exciting if the players can discover they're being trailed, rather than cast a detect scrying spell.

 

[painandgreed]

I'd define a moderate magic campaign as generally by the rules, just maybe not as written. I wouldn't get rid of anything but it would generally only be used by PCs or NPCs as the DM describes. It can safely be assumed that the average person has no access to magic while decent level NPCs would. There are probalby plenty of wizards around as per the rules bu they simply don't take the magic making feats that would cause a flood of such items. The treasure tables would be about the same or maybe less as per each DMs opinion of "moderate" means. Some might consider the RAW as high-magic and tune it down some in frequency of treasure, thus "by the rules, just maybe not as written."

 

[LightPhoenix]

There are probalby plenty of wizards around as per the rules bu they simply don't take the magic making feats that would cause a flood of such items.

Just as a response to this (because other than the initial question there's not much I can contribute), there's a great post here about the economics of magic items, which demonstrates that the "flood" of magical items suggested by the DMG is anything but.