The Goldilocks Poll: How Magic is 5e?

[Prakriti]

5E is low magic compared to previous editions.

5E is high magic in the general use of the phrase (when describing the fantasy genre).

 

[mrpopstar]

5th Edition is HIGH MAGIC. Spells and spellcasting are assumed to be visibly present within the world. As an example, every acolyte and priest wields magic. Divine and arcane effects are not remote nor special. That's high magic to me.

 

[Laurefindel]

5th edition D&D characters are creating 8 hour pocket dimensions (rope trick) at 3rd level. There are, what, like 5 subclasses that don't cast spells? They break the laws of reality more often than they poop. That's high magic.

Good thing too, cause it gets ugly when they need to poop in their 8-hour pocket dimension barely enough to fit eight people!

Otherwise, I too went with high magic. Although the system *can* do low magic, you need to chop a good chunk of the material to get there (but at least the system still holds with magic completely removed, which is something)

 

[Tallifer]

At-will cantrips including damage and constant +d4 to skills.
Fireballs, fly etc.
Wish, etc.
That's more than enough to call it high magic to me.

 

[Jester David]

Medium to high in terms of classes.
Medium to high in terms of magic items by default treasure. But a DM can knock it down to low by reducing treasure.

 

[Warmaster Horus]

Magic seemed a heck of a lot more high magic in 2nd and 3rd edition, to me. There were no concentration limits, lots of extra spell slots from super high stats, no attunement worries and combats were dominated by buffs, debuffs and high-damage spells. 5e is a pale shadow of that apex.

 

[Leatherhead]

Magic is the physics of the D&D world. Out of the box, the people, trees and rocks and even air are made out of magic.

 

[Seramus]

I think most adventurers spend the majority of their time in the Medium Magic range. A warm and fuzzy spot where you can cast cantrips at will and pray at shrines or visit magic lakes, but the world is not filled to the brim with floating castles and enchantments on every street corner.

But the entire Great Wheel cosmology is pretty damn High Magic. Basically anything after 10th Level start landing you firmly in the High Magic category.

 

[5ekyu]

I would categorize D&D 5e as Medium magic.

I do so because while the magic that is had is high and has the potential to have dramatic impact on life, it is limited to a small number of individuals and a large part of the default assumption of setting is practically indistinguishsble from non-magic.

 

[Azzy]

As a default, I think 5e is medium-high magic (like its predecessors) given that most class options are magical, the predominance of undead and other inherently magical creatures, and such. Of course, it's all in the way that you spin it—in most of my homebrew settings, magic was the sole purview of the PCs and specific NPCs and rare outside them. I also tried to play up the inherent otherness of inherently magical creatures (like fey, undead, demons, beholders, etc.). But with all of the published settings, you can't spit without hitting someone who either can cast spells or personally knows someone that can.