For a low magic setting there are lots of things we have to consider in order to avoid such a campaign quickly spinning out of control so I'll start with a few assumptions i would make for setting up such a campaign:
The Baseline
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1) The d20 system will be used for this.
2) the campaign would need a level cap (level 10 - 12?)
3) casters only appear (at 1st level) in about 1 in 20 of the population, with partial casters (such as a ranger or bard) being 4 - 5 times more common than full casters.
3)Monsters with heavy magic abilities or resistances would be swapped out for ones with more balanced stats vs the players.
4) spell battery items like wands, scrolls and potions would either be removed from the setting entirely (thus only spell casters would have access to spell casting) or limited in other ways such as spell level capped, only usable by specific classes, always cast at the lowest level, limited to X uses per day, etc etc.
5) spells with save vs death / save vs suck would have to be seriously reconsidered for such a campaign due to the lack of defenses against such abilities
6) all such rules would apply to both NPC's and PC's
7) slow exp point progression
8) character classes, races, traits, feats, etc etc would all need to be chosen specifically with the idea in mind of honoring the low-magic themes of the campaign
So those are the sort of baseline assumptions I would personally start with. What would be the top 3 rules variants or house rules you would use to tweak such a setting to work with the D20 system? Would you make different starting assumptions?
Self-Made Hubris: Humans must begin play with at least one non-spellcasting class, and must advance at least one non-spellcasting class whenever they gain a level. Humans cannot retrain class levels if it would leave them with fewer total non-spellcasting class levels than their character level.
Definition of Spellcasting/Non-Spellcasting Classes:
Any class (after all chosen archetypes are applied) that meet any of the following criteria counts as a spellcasting class for the purposes of Bound to Magic and Self-Made Hubris:
•Makes extensive use of Spell-Like Abilities (Kineticist counts, Monk and Rogue do not)
•Has a spellcasting progression (4th level spellcasting included)
•Uses Psionics, Spherecasting, FFd20’s MP System, or any other such alternative to magic
•Has an option to gain a spellcasting progression (must choose at least one spellcasting option)Any class (after all chosen archetypes are applied) that do not meet any of the criteria above counts as a non-spellcasting class for the purposes of Bound to Magic and Self-Made Hubris, with the following exceptions:
•Classes that do not have spellcasting at 1st level also counts as a non-spellcasting class up to the level before the class gains spellcasting (also applies to alternative magic systems)
•Classes that has an option to gain spellcasting as well as an option to avoid spellcasting also counts as a non-spellcasting class (cannot choose a spellcasting option)
Lazaryus came up with the racial trait and the definition of spellcasting/non-spellcasting classes, though it may fit into your campagin, perhaps with some softer variants.
As for Lazaryus, he's currently working on racial feats, though I think he needs all the help he can get.
There are different ways to do low magic.
It could be that full casters are very rare, and that would likely also mean magic items are rare.
You could also say that 99% of the world is mundane meaning that you only use mundane classes, and magic items are things of legend. In this case you need a way to deal with monsters that the game assumes you will have an answer for if they do something such as turn someone to stone or curse a party member.
I would offer incentives to playing martials like d10 health is now d12 and barbarians get heavy armor. Maybe these are too good but nerfing the best classes isn't too fun either so instead I'd offer buffs.
I've never played d20 except for mutants and masterminds if that counts, or if pathfinder counts of course, so I can't give a top 3 rules.
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You could insist that all casters have to multiclass enough to keep their highest level spell at (character level / 4, rounded up). So a wizard (needs to be 5th level for 2nd level spells, 9th for 3rd, etc) might go W1/W2/Alc1/Alc2/W3/W4/Alc3 etc, and a bard B1/B2/B3/Pal1/B4/Pal2 etc.
Use Automatic Bonus Progression to stop the Xmas Tree.
And what GM Rednal said about recovery and condition removal. Maybe introduce Healing Herbs and pump those Heal, KN and Survival skills.
You could use Slow Progression, but that makes it slow rather than low magic. Not a bad thing (my campaign is Slow), but an entirely different thing.
I would recomend looking at D&D 3.5 Ravenloft setting stuff for ideas on this. Ravenloft is a horror theme setting that has lots of magic, yet magic attracts the attention of the dark powers. In Ravenloft any evil magic spell and anything that the players do that is malevalent makes players have to make a powers check. This is a d% and the more evil the action the higher the % of failier is as well as the % increases for every time they have made a check before. If they fail they go down on the alignment and become corrupted. You could expand this too ALL magic. Sure you can cast cure light wounds, but you might be tempted by evil to expand your powers.
1) Eliminate spellcasting classes.
2) Allow everyone to buy and cast spells as if they were buying and using potions, scrolls, wands, etc, but without needing a physical item. They still need to make Use Magic (Device) rolls.
--Optional: Failed rolls don't result in losing the spell.
3) Allow all magic item effects to be bought this way (i.e. as inherent things rather than items).
--Optional: Eliminate physical currency and instead abstract the points.
Wowsers. Might as well play GURPS at that point.
Use the automated bonus progression from Unchained, or something similar,so that you can leave out the necessary trinkets like rings of protection and cloak of resistance. The math in Pathfinder assumes that players have these items. It's built into the monster CR system. Using ABP means players get the bonuses they need without them being tied to actual items which would ruin the low magic feel you want.
I also recommend E6 for low magic games. Without it, any spellcasters in the part will get out of control, as a lot of mid and high level magic can only really be countered by magic. E6 keeps the levels low enough that this isn't too much of a problem. The last low magic game I played in ran into this problem - the DM needed magical enemies and obstacles to challenge us, bit as he added these more and more, the campaign stopped feeling low magic. E6 would have solved that.
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1. Gods are outlawed and magic users are hated and feared. Expect extreme repercussions if they are discovered. Think the inquisitions or the Witcher universe.
2. All magic items are extremely rare and are considered to be legends. Making new ones is a lost art.
3. Monsters keep all of their spells and abilities, which makes them extremely feared and adds difficulty to the game. Maybe there are special monster hunters who are trained to take on the monsters and have increased saves vs them.
How rare do you want the casters to be? If 1 in 20 people are magic users, 1 in 100 will be full casters and 4 in 100 will have limited magic. This seems to be about the standard amount of spellcasters in regular Pathfinder.
Actually you are right, I've looked deeply at the demographics of how the numbers work out. The biggest issues with a "low magic" setting really isn't that it is that much lower with the numbers of spell casters it is the numbers of magic items and monsters combined with a level cap and then the campaign rescaled to those standards. One rule that I implemented was a class "bell curve" of sorts which stated there are more partial caster classes than full casters, and more divine casters than arcane casters.
But I digress. I've written a metric ton of this stuff over the course of time here on the forums, I'm simply curious as to what others might be doing within their own games. Feel free to look up my previous articles if you are curious.
There are different ways to do low magic.
It could be that full casters are very rare, and that would likely also mean magic items are rare.
You could also say that 99% of the world is mundane meaning that you only use mundane classes, and magic items are things of legend. In this case you need a way to deal with monsters that the game assumes you will have an answer for if they do something such as turn someone to stone or curse a party member.
Easy answer? Don't allow such creatures in your game. No, seriously. There are tons of monster manuals, bestiaries, etc in print (many from 3.5). Simply pick ones for your encounters which better fit the setting you are trying to create. For everything else modify it as needed and then write it up and put in your low magic campaign setting 3-ring binder with the rest of your custom materials.
This may sound a little complex but I've run this type of game for years now, and while it takes a little more work it really isnt that bad. Besides once you have written up what a creature does and it is in your notebook, you now simply use that book the same way you would any other published material.
Your idea of severely limited magic items (especially spell-batteries such as wands, scrolls, and potions) was the direction I went with my campaign too. Basically only casters had access to spells. This allowed for casters to be VERY valuable in the over all campaign setting. They also became high value targets that scared the hell out of non-caster rulers and elites of society.
In my experience, the most important thing in a low-magic setting is recovery abilities. Many permanent effects can only be cured by divine casters - especially the Restoration line - and it can be pretty rough if the party's healer can't cover things themselves. So...
1) The campaign will not use creatures (or at least effects) the players have no way of recovering from. If they can't do it themselves and there's nobody in reasonable travel time, just don't use that creature.
2) Spheres of Might is available. This third-party system, available online, gives ways for players to customize their combat style and really build up the warrior they want to play, rather than aiming for full attacks all the time. If you want to incentivize players to join in on a low-magic setting, it helps to offer them an alternative sort of fun, rather than it just being "you have lots of magic and others don't". Incidentally, the Alchemy sphere's Salve talent is an alternative for magical healing.
3) Generous retraining, especially for anyone who isn't used to low-magic settings. People show up to have fun and may not be familiar with the right options for the setting, so be pretty open about letting them tweak things if something turns out less fun than they expected.
LOVE the ideas here! I went very similar directions with my own setting. I definitely don't throw spells and effects at the party they would have no way to deal with, and the retraining option is offered if I see a player really struggling with a character build, or if they have a near death moment which makes them question if that is the right character for the setting.
I'll have to take a look at the Alchemist rules you were referring to.
EDIT: Took a look over the Sphere of Power. Not bad. Will have to dive deeper into this one. Thanks for the suggestion!
2) Less permanent items: No permanent creation feats for Players. Any magic items for sale are going to be consumables.
3) Less Spells: add a spell tax to the campaign. -1 spell per tier of spell. With less resources spell casters are going to be hording their spells more. Also just say no to classes that generate tons spell effects like Kinetisist. Maybe even limit cantrips to 10 uses per day.
I did some similar things. Item Creation was not allowed for adventurers due to the time and energy commitments it demanded which simply would not be viable while constantly traveling. I went further stating you needed a specialized mages tower, temple, etc etc. In short, large investment of time and resources which are very suited to a wealthy retired adventurer (or one backed by a noble, a temple of a popular deity, etc) but could not be easily taken with them.
When I removed the spell-batteries the impact it had upon fast and lose spell slinging was dramatic and instant. Players understood their spells were powerful (and harder to resist) but they only had so many. Same applied to NPCs.
The presence and value of mundane Alchemical items in such a campaign is also much more prominent. Not "value" in that they cost more, just without magical items competing with them, they quickly become a "go-to" resource.
I would recomend looking at D&D 3.5 Ravenloft setting stuff for ideas on this. Ravenloft is a horror theme setting that has lots of magic, yet magic attracts the attention of the dark powers. In Ravenloft any evil magic spell and anything that the players do that is malevalent makes players have to make a powers check. This is a d% and the more evil the action the higher the % of failier is as well as the % increases for every time they have made a check before. If they fail they go down on the alignment and become corrupted. You could expand this too ALL magic. Sure you can cast cure light wounds, but you might be tempted by evil to expand your powers.
I went with the idea of a magic "sonic boom" being set off during spell casting determined by how many spells, and what levels, were cast within a short period of time. I also went with the idea of lasting magical effects based upon what types of magics were being used. Necromancy might result in random undead manifesting for X period of time later. Holy magic might result in healing skill checks to a + X bonus if used within the temple, etc.
I also decided that the campaign bad guys were frequently sensitive to this sonic boom and would come to investigate (think Nazgul from LOTR).
I would recommend taking a look at Epic6 guidelines.
https://www.myth-weavers.com/wiki/index.php/Epic_6Essentially, it caps leveling at level 6, so things wont spiral out of control. This keeps casters confined to 3rd level spells, leaving anything higher to be best used as a plot point. Progression is made through feats: every 5000xp or so they can learn a new feat, increasing not so much in raw power but in versatility. Some class abilities can be easily converted into feats for this purpose.
On the other hand, hp and saving throws are left static (in the realms of 40-80hp and 4-10 st), leaving the players still vulnerable to a mob of guards (fighters lvl 1-3 with a named lvl5 NPC commanding them) without having to resort to other absurdly leveled characters to keep them in check.
Magic item scarcity plays well into this, making a simple +1 flaming sword the central piece of its own legend. And it works for monsters too, making that simple manticore THE MANTICORE of Bramblethorn Forest or whatever.
I've played this "variant" once and DM'd it another to good results. Admittedly, these were relatively short campaigns (10-12 gaming sessions), but I think it could have kept going for another story arc.
PS: In fact I'm planning an enlightment-era urban campaign using this, the wounds and vitality system, armor as dr and some lvl-dependent AC bonus.
While I didn't opt for the E6 system, I definitely looked at it closely when I was setting up my own campaign. I really liked the idea of bonus feats as reward and implemented a variant of that system myself (frequently replacing what would have been a magical reward from special training which allowed access to a bonus feat or an additional racial trait, etc)
1. Gods are outlawed and magic users are hated and feared. Expect extreme repercussions if they are discovered. Think the inquisitions or the Witcher universe.
2. All magic items are extremely rare and are considered to be legends. Making new ones is a lost art.
3. Monsters keep all of their spells and abilities, which makes them extremely feared and adds difficulty to the game. Maybe there are special monster hunters who are trained to take on the monsters and have increased saves vs them.
LOL - you had me at "Witcher!" It was actually one of the biggest influences on my campaign setting, well that and LOTR, Midnight, the Shannara series (by Terry Brooks), etc. Magic is rare, casters are feared or mistrusted, commoners tend to give adventurers a lot of space because they tend to bring trouble with them. Guards and military soldiers (generally low level Warrior NPC classed) are suspicious of "those people" (casters and adventurers in general). Black powder explosives and weapons exist but are unstable enough to scare the living hell out of most who have not been specifically trained in its use (Gunslinger or Alchemist classes), etc.
I kept the low level demographics in place with commoners, generic soldiers, city guards, etc. Thus there didn't need to be much more done to monsters to make them feared. Most normal types simply didn't have to skills to address them without getting horribly killed (or taking large groups of soldiers and expecting to loose half of them).
I did however keep divine casters, but they generally don't like the arcane casters and start trouble with them on frequent basis. Everyone needs a good Inquisition every now and then! LOL It is even better when those same priests are found to be traitors, frauds, etc and suddenly the balance of power shifts in favor of the arcane casters for a while as the court favorites.
One area of change in my campaign setting was I dropped the generic "cleric" and restricted them to "Priest", Paladins by comparison also followed the demographics of "mostly non-casters" which made up their Order. The few actual caster-Paladins were considered closer to the Priests than other Paladins.
Oh, here is a big one I implemented in my campaign: Only one spell casting class allowed per character, so no mage / cleric type of combo's. This also tied in well with the level cap in place.
Another big tool I used as a DM was the elimination of the assumption that the 15 minute work day was "standard" and really leaned on the idea that classes like a paladin or a magus were viable caster choices because sooner or later everyone ran out of spells long before the day was done.
Anyway, just some random thoughts as I wrap up my Memorial Day Monday night. Look forward to hearing any other thoughts or ideas others may be using for their own campaigns.
One thing we do is that potions are not magical, they ony simulate magic. So anyone with alchemy skill can make potions. To make uncommon potions will require special ingredients.