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What is "grim and gritty" and "low magic" anyway?
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<blockquote data-quote="Uruush" data-source="post: 1423782" data-attributes="member: 42140"><p>I can offer my take on Midnight. Midnight is just bandwidth on an infinite spectrum of magic power, magic rarity, grimness, and grit, and it's wide enough to allow it to be played quite a ways up and down the spectrum.</p><p></p><p>To shoehorn it into a "grim and gritty low magic" shoe would be simplistic, and a disservice to the depth and richness of the setting.</p><p></p><p>Its main mage class, the Channeler,has higher hp and BAB than a standard Sorcerer or Wizard. The spell system is basically a fatigue point system. At any given level, Channelers probably know fewer spell than most Sorc or Wizards in other settings, but they might know more after a time (further spells can be learned from teachers, tomes, etc. using exp to gain mastery)</p><p>Spells are divided into schools; beginning channelers know a couple schools, and can gain more with level progression or feats. Some of the "problematic spells" that some DMs describe as causing problems with fantasy genre emulation are only available to higher level mages than standard (spells like Fly, Teleport, Magic Missle, Fireball, Summon Monster, etc) by picking appropriate feats Moreover, any class can learn spell casting by taking the appropriate feats. Many non-human races have some innate magical talent - cantrips and such. </p><p></p><p>I think the game balance is actually much better than core D&D. The Channeler is probably more powerful at lower levels, about the same at mid-levels, and less powerful at high-levels Ever play a 18th level Fighter in a standard D&D game and feel like you were just along for the ride while the spell casting classes moved worlds and slew armies? Ever play a 1st level wizard in a standard D&D game and quail at your frailty relative to the party barbarian? Midnight changes some balance in a lot of ways, but to start from the position that core D&D gets balance right, is a poor assumption in my view. (See the plethora of house rules in almost every D&D campaign for evidence of this)</p><p></p><p>Magic items are rare. Hell, even things like swords and chainmail are rare in terms of their availability to PCs because they are forbidden to PC races. The dark god Izrador reigns over the world of Ayrth. Unless you are a chosen minion of the Shadow, weapons are generally illegal.</p><p></p><p>Some gritty-ness is present from the general rarity of healing. There are no PC Clerics, only NPC "Legates," priests of the order of Shadow. Legates are, among other things, tasked with hunting down users of magic - Izrador is drawing all magic on Ayrth to himself and does not approve those that use it aside from his dispensation. </p><p></p><p>Things are grim. The PCs are heroes that have a lot of hills to climb in front of them, something like rebels in the Star Wars universe at the height of Imperial power, or Cyberpunk 2020 characters in a corporate dystopian future. Others have described the setting as "Middle Earth had Sauron won," and that is pretty apt in terms of the feel - both the grimness and the relative rarity of magic, as in Tolkein. The settings main hook, I think, is that the heroes have so much to overcome, some would call their situation hopeless - and yet they must try. That they strive against the Shadow and seek to free the world (or some small part of it) from the grip of Izrador, against such odds, sets them in the mold of Nietzschean supermen.</p><p></p><p>The races and classes of Midnight are generally more powerful than those of core D&D, in part to compensate for their difficult situation and for a scarcity of magic items. PCs have "Heroic Path" abilities that grant them power along a given theme/character type: Philosopher, Ironborn, Dragonblooded, etc. </p><p></p><p>Another twist - Covenant magic items that gain in power as a character progresses in level. No piles of +1 Rings of Resistance and + 1 swords in a character's wake, filling the marketplace and creating a distinctly non-genre environment.</p><p></p><p>There's a lot more too it, but I've got to go make dinner. Here's a nice link for those interested in a much better description:</p><p></p><p><a href="http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/mnland.html" target="_blank">http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/mnland.html</a></p><p></p><p>When I ran across it, I thought, "This is it. The d20 setting I am interested in running." YMMV. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Uruush, post: 1423782, member: 42140"] I can offer my take on Midnight. Midnight is just bandwidth on an infinite spectrum of magic power, magic rarity, grimness, and grit, and it's wide enough to allow it to be played quite a ways up and down the spectrum. To shoehorn it into a "grim and gritty low magic" shoe would be simplistic, and a disservice to the depth and richness of the setting. Its main mage class, the Channeler,has higher hp and BAB than a standard Sorcerer or Wizard. The spell system is basically a fatigue point system. At any given level, Channelers probably know fewer spell than most Sorc or Wizards in other settings, but they might know more after a time (further spells can be learned from teachers, tomes, etc. using exp to gain mastery) Spells are divided into schools; beginning channelers know a couple schools, and can gain more with level progression or feats. Some of the "problematic spells" that some DMs describe as causing problems with fantasy genre emulation are only available to higher level mages than standard (spells like Fly, Teleport, Magic Missle, Fireball, Summon Monster, etc) by picking appropriate feats Moreover, any class can learn spell casting by taking the appropriate feats. Many non-human races have some innate magical talent - cantrips and such. I think the game balance is actually much better than core D&D. The Channeler is probably more powerful at lower levels, about the same at mid-levels, and less powerful at high-levels Ever play a 18th level Fighter in a standard D&D game and feel like you were just along for the ride while the spell casting classes moved worlds and slew armies? Ever play a 1st level wizard in a standard D&D game and quail at your frailty relative to the party barbarian? Midnight changes some balance in a lot of ways, but to start from the position that core D&D gets balance right, is a poor assumption in my view. (See the plethora of house rules in almost every D&D campaign for evidence of this) Magic items are rare. Hell, even things like swords and chainmail are rare in terms of their availability to PCs because they are forbidden to PC races. The dark god Izrador reigns over the world of Ayrth. Unless you are a chosen minion of the Shadow, weapons are generally illegal. Some gritty-ness is present from the general rarity of healing. There are no PC Clerics, only NPC "Legates," priests of the order of Shadow. Legates are, among other things, tasked with hunting down users of magic - Izrador is drawing all magic on Ayrth to himself and does not approve those that use it aside from his dispensation. Things are grim. The PCs are heroes that have a lot of hills to climb in front of them, something like rebels in the Star Wars universe at the height of Imperial power, or Cyberpunk 2020 characters in a corporate dystopian future. Others have described the setting as "Middle Earth had Sauron won," and that is pretty apt in terms of the feel - both the grimness and the relative rarity of magic, as in Tolkein. The settings main hook, I think, is that the heroes have so much to overcome, some would call their situation hopeless - and yet they must try. That they strive against the Shadow and seek to free the world (or some small part of it) from the grip of Izrador, against such odds, sets them in the mold of Nietzschean supermen. The races and classes of Midnight are generally more powerful than those of core D&D, in part to compensate for their difficult situation and for a scarcity of magic items. PCs have "Heroic Path" abilities that grant them power along a given theme/character type: Philosopher, Ironborn, Dragonblooded, etc. Another twist - Covenant magic items that gain in power as a character progresses in level. No piles of +1 Rings of Resistance and + 1 swords in a character's wake, filling the marketplace and creating a distinctly non-genre environment. There's a lot more too it, but I've got to go make dinner. Here's a nice link for those interested in a much better description: [url]http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/mnland.html[/url] When I ran across it, I thought, "This is it. The d20 setting I am interested in running." YMMV. :) [/QUOTE]
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