Remathilis
Legend
I find something else to do. No magic D&D hacks rarely works in my experience.
Easy. Generic character classes. Each character gets d8 hit dice, 4 tool, 2 armor, and 4 skill proficiencies. Weapons are included in tools, saves are included in skills. A little Expertise wouldn't hurt.Now, I have no clue how to have a balanced D&D game where there's no magic existing. However, I can think of a couple of ways that I can have a no-magic setting where the players and the setting is abruptly introduced to magic.
We might have scared our OP away with the "don't play D&D" ideas . . . in the D&D forum"Magic never has and never will exist" setting. . . If I was going for that, I would definitely go with a separate system. However, I love magic in all systems so such a campaign likely wouldn't happen for me.
AgreedThis is really my take on it. While a creative GM can shoehorn just about any system to "work", I'm a firm believer that not every system is suited to every type of game or style of play. And I think it's good practice to put yourself in the best spot to succeed by picking a ruleset that is a good fit for the game you intent to run.
I would totally disagree that this indicates the game is falling apart. D&D plays just fine even if you're only using a subset of its full range.
The game functions, but a game has to do more than just function. It needs to represent the range of characters that players can imagine in the setting. You're not limited because those are the characters of choice that your players are interested in. You're limited because that is the range of mechanics that exist for PCs. IMO, restricting all possible characters to a subset of Barbarian, Fighter, and Rogue means the game is not fit for purpose.