Solve my grim and gritty debate

[Ourph]

It's not nessecarily about being fair to the PC's, it's about building a consistent world. If magic is rare and powerful, *all* magic should be rare and powerful, not just what the PC's use.

It's not being inconsistent to say that magic-using ability is rare unless you are a creature born with magical abilities. PC races aren't normally born with magic-using abilities (gnome use of 0-level spells and sorcerers being the exception). That doesn't mean the rest of the world can't be. "Low magic" can mean what you're talking about (a magic poor WORLD) or it can mean what I'm talking about (a world where human/demi-human civilization is magic poor). Both are internally consistent.

What if we were talking about the natural ability to fly? Since PC races normally aren't born with wings, does that mean every campaign world should be short of birds and flying insects?

 

[Raven Crowking]

I'm in the boat of what's good for the goose is good for the gander...or in this case, what cooks one cooks the other.

If magic is rare, magic is *rare*. You can't have magical creatures running around casting spells that the PC's aren't capable of matching or overcoming, and you have to realize that CR's are based in part on what kind of spells a party of that level will have access to.

(snip)

It's not nessecarily about being fair to the PC's, it's about building a consistent world. If magic is rare and powerful, *all* magic should be rare and powerful, not just what the PC's use. That's not only being unfair, it's also being inconsistent....because I'm a punchy little brat () I'd be demanding to play one of these creatures with spell-like abilities so that I could be one of the powerful entities of the world...but that's me being obnoxious.

One can easily envision a world in which wizards are rare, or not as powerful, but pixies exist. There is nothing contradictory in this view.

RC

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I would change the monster stats slightly. If you increase their CR you may need to increase their hit points and AC as well, without, of course, boosting their magic.

IMO someone should print a book of low-magic monsters. There are monsters like this in the Midnight (and probably other) settings, but I have no idea how to search for them.

Of course, you'll need to nerf some non-magical monsters too, like giants.

 

[mafisto]

I would change the monster stats slightly. If you increase their CR you may need to increase their hit points and AC as well, without, of course, boosting their magic.

...

Of course, you'll need to nerf some non-magical monsters too, like giants.

Typically, in GnG you don't have to be concerned about boosting monster hit points. Larger monsters already have a TON of hit points in the original GnG, and the revised version doesn't even have hit points. Either way, HPs take care of them selves.

As for nerfing giants... nah, that's kind of the point of a GnG world. Giants big, smash little things. One of Ken Hood's original intentions was to make monsters - especially large monsters - very scary and nigh unkillable.

Creatures should all retain their spell-like abilities because often that's what makes them unique. In a low magic world these creatures become much more dangerous, but that's what heroes are for. There's a reason Medusa was so successful in her statuary business before Perseus came along; true heroes are far and few between.

That's the big diff between base D&D and GnG - your PCs are not mighty monster slayers until later levels in GnG. Let the beasties keep their skills. They'll need them later.