Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
What makes a high or low magic campaign?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Old One" data-source="post: 2528930" data-attributes="member: 83"><p>This has been hashed out a number of times on various threads on the boards, but the danger you run by limiting access of all classes to magical "stuff" while leaving spell casting essentially unchanged, is the eventual domination of primary spell-casters (wizards, sorcerers, druids and clerics). The other classes will not be able to compete at mid-to-high levels unless, the GM is providing alternative means to keep up through advanced non-magical crafting, additional feats or other offsets.</p><p></p><p>I am actually a big fan of low(er) magic campaigns and I think Firelance's deliniation above is helpful. To work properly, IMO, there need to be several considerations:</p><p></p><p><strong>(1) How do you handle spell-casting?</strong> As noted above, nerfing "stuff" without adjusting spell-casting breaks down eventually. One way to handle casting is provide serious (and potentially deadly) consequences for using spells. Temporary ability drain, non-lethal damage, lethal damage, taint and insanity are all mechanisms for achieving this. Grim Tales, Black Company, CoC and other all have methods for achieving this. Another way is to impose significant limits on the spells known and obtained in the campaign...no spell lists...just what the GM releases and/or the PC can research during the campaign (the Grim Tales approach.</p><p></p><p><strong>(2) How do you handle "stuff"?</strong> In a low(er) magic campaign, magic items will probably be few and far between, but how it is implemented is pretty important. Sometimes the secret to crafting true magic items has been lost to the ages (meaning certain crafting skills are removed from the game) or the cost in power items and/or xp is so high that few crafters even attempt it. It is helpful to introduce alternate crafting rules for enhanced non-magical stuff, such as the excellent BCCS rules (I also understand that the new Dark Legacies rules have some nifty crafting mechanisms, but I have yet to see them). Perhaps limited 1-shot items, such as low-level potions, scrolls and charms are more readily available, but permanent magic items require such an investment of time, components and personal power that they are extremely rare.</p><p></p><p><strong>(3) How do you handle opponents?</strong> Creature with DR and other inherent magical abilities/protections become much more powerful in a low(er) magic campaign, so the GM really needs to be circumspect in how these critters are utilized.</p><p></p><p>Done right, low(er) magic can be tons of fun (as can any campaign)...done "wrong"...it doesn't work very well.</p><p></p><p>~ OO</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Old One, post: 2528930, member: 83"] This has been hashed out a number of times on various threads on the boards, but the danger you run by limiting access of all classes to magical "stuff" while leaving spell casting essentially unchanged, is the eventual domination of primary spell-casters (wizards, sorcerers, druids and clerics). The other classes will not be able to compete at mid-to-high levels unless, the GM is providing alternative means to keep up through advanced non-magical crafting, additional feats or other offsets. I am actually a big fan of low(er) magic campaigns and I think Firelance's deliniation above is helpful. To work properly, IMO, there need to be several considerations: [B](1) How do you handle spell-casting?[/B] As noted above, nerfing "stuff" without adjusting spell-casting breaks down eventually. One way to handle casting is provide serious (and potentially deadly) consequences for using spells. Temporary ability drain, non-lethal damage, lethal damage, taint and insanity are all mechanisms for achieving this. Grim Tales, Black Company, CoC and other all have methods for achieving this. Another way is to impose significant limits on the spells known and obtained in the campaign...no spell lists...just what the GM releases and/or the PC can research during the campaign (the Grim Tales approach. [B](2) How do you handle "stuff"?[/B] In a low(er) magic campaign, magic items will probably be few and far between, but how it is implemented is pretty important. Sometimes the secret to crafting true magic items has been lost to the ages (meaning certain crafting skills are removed from the game) or the cost in power items and/or xp is so high that few crafters even attempt it. It is helpful to introduce alternate crafting rules for enhanced non-magical stuff, such as the excellent BCCS rules (I also understand that the new Dark Legacies rules have some nifty crafting mechanisms, but I have yet to see them). Perhaps limited 1-shot items, such as low-level potions, scrolls and charms are more readily available, but permanent magic items require such an investment of time, components and personal power that they are extremely rare. [B](3) How do you handle opponents?[/B] Creature with DR and other inherent magical abilities/protections become much more powerful in a low(er) magic campaign, so the GM really needs to be circumspect in how these critters are utilized. Done right, low(er) magic can be tons of fun (as can any campaign)...done "wrong"...it doesn't work very well. ~ OO [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
What makes a high or low magic campaign?
Top