The "Low Magic"/"Rare Magic" Conundrum

[Emirikol]

DM Tweaks

I'm surprised that nobody's brought up the issue of what a DM must do differently in a low magic game.

In a normal D&D game, he can hand out items like candy. The spell access can be a free for all. Monsters can be epic level just to fight 5th level parties. Well, how about a lower-magic game? It seems there's more restraint in order on the part of the DM.

Ace does a fairly accurate listing of AC and damage/hit bonus for fighters so I came up with a quick chart.

HERE'S AN ASSESSMENT OF A LOWER MAGIC GAME WITH A STANDARD D&D GAME:
a) Assume the following power-down issues for a lower magic game:
* Spellcasters: 1 level of a non-spellcasting class for each 4 levels (multiclass 1st, 6th, 11th, 16th, 21st).
* Certain "crucial" spells are bumped up a level (teleport, fly, invisibility, create food/water, fireball, sleep, raise dead spells, etc.).
* Magic items as per chart below, plus no PC will typically have more than 1 permanent magic item per couple levels and they may come and go throughout the adventures.

b) For balance, the DM could simply lower/remove DR magic or super-high AC or super-high damage from most monsters and add a few hit points instead making for an easy balance..but let's assume a sort-of dumb DM for the sake of argument.

EQUIVALENCY TABLE:
EL OR.........EQIVALENT.......MAGIC ....................STANDARD
D&D...........LOWER MAGIC...ITEM.......AVERAGE....SPELLCASTER
CHAR.........CHARACTER.......PLUS.......MONSTER...SPELL LEVEL
LEVEL.........LEVEL..............AVERAGE......AC........EQUIVALENT
-------------------------------------------------------------
1................1-4................M.W..........14..........0-1
2-4.............5-7................+1............15...........2
5-6.............8-10..............+1.5..........16...........3
7-8.............11-13.............+2.............18..........4
9-10...........13-16.............+2.5...........20..........5
11-12..........17-19.............+3.............23..........6
13-14..........20-23.............+3.5..........27...........7
15-16..........24-25.............+4.............28..........8(9 typically with bumps)
17-20..........26-30.............+5*...........30...........9

* This doesn't take into account that a magical item may be massively strong as a plot device in a lower magic game and then removed from play, where as that same item would be a permanent addition in a standar D&D game. THis also doesn't take into account all the "swiss-army functions" of multiple-magical-stacking weapons (frost, bane +2 swords).

Thoughts?

jh



..

 

[Ace]

Ace, how long have you been using these patches and how have they worked out for you?

I may steal some of your tweaks

jh


..

Thanks and feel free. I plan to publish them to the web sooner or later -- just a freebie when i get my website going

As for your question the skills and feats patch and .alt shield rules were used for about a year with great success

The defense patch is based on existing systems (WOT and SW) and a breakdown of gear appropriate at each level and thus should work fine -- I have played a few months with them

The other patches are also based on a mathematical breakdown of typical PC gear at the level in question

i just subbed out the cloak/vest of resistance for a scaled bonus

The stat bonus covers for the "magic books"

A charcter with a good magic sword, a single defensive item and a utility item or two should be exactly as strong as standard D&D character of the same level --

say a Fighter 20 with a +x sword, a +x defense item, a +x belt, a few potions and something cool should be as good to go as his regular counterpart -- this allows you to drop the book, the cloak of resistance, 3 defense items and still be equal

if you throw in action points or conviction or action dice you should be 100% on par

if you slightly reduce monsters you can drop the belt

with a few defense feats you can also drop the defense items

reserve points does away with magic healing

with a few tiny tweaks you can get by with say 1 or maybe 2 cool items that scale as needed

if you run them post the results I'd love to see more folks enjoy them

 

[Arkhandus]

Yeah, I'm still trying to figure out what to do about the low-magic-item conundrum in my Rhunaria campaign. The characters are at a level where magic items would normally be a significant part of their power, but instead the party only has a paltry few magic items (an average of perhaps 2 per character; a few have 3 or 4 minor magic items, while one or two have only 1 magic item I think; by their own choice though, as those are the ones who have been saving their accumulated treasure).

It doesn't really hurt the magic-users any more than intended, but I didn't really put enough thought into it initially to compensate the less-magical PCs, like the fighter and the rogue. Although I did make little additions that beef up those kinds of classes to be closer to magic-users in effectiveness, I didn't consider the impact at first of having lower wealth and scarcer magic items than normal.

While I'm careful not to throw monsters at them that would be too tough for their slightly-diminished effectiveness, (and I raise the CR of some monsters in recognition of their greater toughness against a party with few magic items), I still know that the spellcasters have been doing the majority of the butt-kicking and problem-solving. Chances are I'll give some minor physical-ability-score increases, AC boosts, and Initiative boosts to the mundane and mostly-mundane classes.

On the other hand, I may just end up sneakily providing the less-magical-types with more powerful Nari glyph relics to compensate, but it wouldn't solve the setting-wide problem. Glyph relics are the equivalent of minor artifacts in my homebrew, but much more limited, unique, and (dangerously) flawed. The only glyph relic in the party right now is a magic gauntlet that temporarily calls spirit creatures, and improves the wearer's own summoning spells, but only functions briefly and at certain times of the day/month. And expends one of the wearer's highest-level spell slots to activate, IIRC.


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Anyhoo, maybe something like this would work as the basis for a lower/rarer but still effective magic in D&D?

Spoiler block since it would otherwise slightly more than double the post's length:

[sblock]Casting a spell costs 1 Magic Point per spell level (counting 0-level, so a 9th-level spell would cost 10 points, frex). This replaces spell slots. A class' total number of MP would be based on their level in the class and their key stat. 1 MP per level in the class, + the relevant ability modifier in further MP (Int for wizards, Wis for divine casters, etc.). So a 1st-level wizard with 18 Int would get 5 MP to start; enough to cast 2 Magic Missiles and 1 Ray of Frost, at best (or 1 Stoneskin, or 1 Fireball and 1 Detect Magic, etc.). Spells known would probably need adjusting.

MP from different classes would not stack (prestige classes that increase caster level would also improve MP with the chosen class, as appropriate, but other caster level alterations should not affect MP). Specialist wizards might get 1 extra MP each time they would have normally gained access to a new spell level (so at 3rd-level, 5th-level, etc.). If bards are kept, they might not get any MP on even-numbered class levels. Paladins and rangers would only get MP at 4th-level and every three class levels thereafter. So a 20th-level ranger with great Wisdom might have 10 MP, enough to cast two 4th-level spells or five 1st-level spells, frex.

Sorcerers would be ditched or made more like wizards, while bards would likewise be altered, since all casters would become spontaneous. Casters might have a limit on 'spells readied' like in Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed, to help balance out the spontaneity of their casting (and the large number of spells a wizard, cleric, or druid could potentially know at once).

Main spellcasting classes would get a few more skill points per level, and a few more class skills perhaps. Wizards might get d6 or d8 hit dice and a medium BAB as well, or instead, to make them less completely reliant on spells for effectiveness.

Spells known may be limited by Knowledge (arcana/nature/religion) ranks, as appropriate to the class. Perhaps they could know a maximum of 2 spell levels worth of spells per rank (counting 0-level, so 2 ranks could get them a 1st-level spell known, while 5 ranks could net them a 9th-level spell known). A 1st-level wizard might, for example, choose to learn only Charm Person, then wait until 4th-level (when they have a total of 7 ranks) to learn Summon Monster IX, knowing only those two spells until they get another chance to learn more.

Casting a spell would require a Spellcraft check (a specialist wizard's +2 bonus would apply when casting from their specialized school) to avoid mishap. Failing the check would waste the spell and half the MP used for it, rounded up; failing by 5 or more points would cause some manner of disaster in addition to the spell failing, and would waste all MP spent on the spell. A Concentration check may also be needed to avoid losing a bit of mental potency (1 point of temporary Int, Wis, or Cha damage, perhaps), at DM's option. Taking 10 and taking 20 would never, ever be an option with these particular skill checks, regardless of stuff like Skill Mastery.

The check DCs would probably be 15 + spell level + half the caster level it was cast at, rounded up. So an 11th-level wizard might try casting Fireball, with Spellcraft against DC 24, likely having a total bonus of around +20 if reasonably optimized (without magic items considered though), so easily cast usually. A 1st-level wizard trying to cast Fireball would attempt Spellcraft against DC 19, with a bonus of about +10 if similarly optimized, so kinda tough but nothing more. It would expend 4 MP though, likely all or nearly all the 1st-level wizard had (and as a 1st-level caster, it would only deal 1d6 damage to everything within its area, but that's better than the single-target-each 1d4+1 of two Magic Missile spells).

An 11th-level wizard casting Shapechange would need to spend 10 MP (out of probably 16 MP total), and make a DC 30 Spellcraft check, tough but not too much so, while a fairly-optimal 5th-level wizard might have +15 total on a check against DC 27 to cast the same spell (likely using up every single MP he or she had available, and with a 30% chance of failure and losing half their MP, and a 25% chance of catastrophic failure and loss of all MP).

You might consider adding +1 to the check DC for every 3 spell levels beyond 0-level (so +1 DC for a 3rd/4th/5th-level spell, +2 DC for 6th/7th/8th, and +3 DC for 9th). In any case, MP would probably only be replenished once a month or once a week, rather than once a day, as another poster suggested for low-magic campaigns. Expensive, day-long rituals may be possible to fully replenish MP sooner (such as 100 GP per MP to be regained, or 1 GP(MP to be regained)^squared, +100 GP; that would be 125 GP spent on a day-long ritual to regain all 5 MP as a 1st-level wizard with 18 Int. Maybe increase the cost further, but I don't feel like doing any more complex math right now, nor starting up the calculator program on my computer to do it for me.

Also, depending on setting, casting spells could run a small risk of attracting the attention of mischevious, dangerous, or corrupt spirits/outsiders/whatever. Maybe a d20 roll or d% roll, drawing the attention of such entities from the Ethereal Plane or Astral Plane on a result of 1, arriving to harass, annoy, disrupt, misdirect, or tempt the caster towards corruption. Longer casting times might be used as well or instead (or might be the only way to avoid definitely attracting such unwanted fiendish attention!).[/sblock]

 

[The_Gneech]

Actually, one idea I had was to lump wizards and sorcerers together into a class that was mechanically like the Bard. You'd have a variety of magic abilities to choose from, but instead of operating off of Perform, the abilities would operate off of Spellcraft (or possibly a variety of skills for each type of magic, thus you'd have Spellcraft: Enchantment, Spellcraft: Summoning, Spellcraft: Illusions, etc.). A lot of the "bardic music" abilities already transfer nicely into the kind of things that fantasy wizards do ... fascination, illusion, aid to the heroes (or disheartening the enemies), etc.

If this seems a little too unlimited (as long as you have a high enough Spellcraft check you can cast the spell over and over), you could have more "catastrophic" effects (e.g., lightning bolts) have a HP cost similar to Force Powers in Star Wars, or better yet inflict nonlethal damage on the caster (making wizards collapse when they've worn themselves out).

-The Gneech

 

[Wik]

So, invisibility doesn't cost anything, right? After all, you don't even have to pay the actors for the scenes.

I dunno. All those scenes where Frodo went invisible in LOTR (and we see things from his ethereal view of the world) would have cost a fortune. Plus, the character walking (leaving footprints) would "cost" a bit.

I should mention that the players in this system knew what I was getting at when I was talking about cost, and they didn't get into snarky arguments with me ("Hey, Teleport should cost nothing if I do it off-camera!" "You're a PC! You're always on-camera!"). Also, certain spells (Raise Deads, Teleports, Fly) were always off-limits. Because I hate them.

It's just a stupid system I use to help keep players in the "Low-magic" frame of mind without punishing those same players for playing a wizard.