Hi! I've recived last Savage Tide adventure, and after revising the whole campaign path, i think it needs a new setting for my games. It's namely "low magic", but i think the word is "low magic avaliability". Those are the changes i pretend to do, i will thank some comments about it. I try to made it simple, rather than balanced, and i'm afraid some quirks escape me and ruin the game.
It's mostly a "pirates of the caribbean" setting, while magic exist, its not common. I plan to do this:
-use Defense bonus from unearthed arcana.
-Firearms exist (using rules from Dragon magazine #321)they are Simple, touch attack weapons.
-Remove most permanent magic items (except those needed for the storyline, and some scarce ones)
-Cut treasure 20% down (after all, don't need armor nor magic items)
-Expendable magic items exist (wands, potions & scrolls) but cost double. I aslo been thinking about reducing avaliability.
-Magic is exhausting. Every spell causes 1 point of subdual damage per spell level. spelcasters can cast one spell per spellcaster level ignoring this damage.
-Rangers has no spellcasting. Instead they have d10 hit points and a bonus feat at levels 5, 10, 15, 20.
For balancing purposes, I adapted character creations as follows:
-Use action points from unearthed arcana(they could be equivalent to magic items in some way)
-They gain a bonus feat every 2 levels, instead of every three.
-They gain an atribute increment to all atributes at level 6, and every four levels (6, 10, 14, 18) in adition to the normal increments.
-a feat, Armor Compatibility, allows to stack half your defense bonus with your armor bonus.
So long, that's all. I'll thank your advice and comments.
Hi! I've recived last Savage Tide adventure, and after revising the whole campaign path, i think it needs a new setting for my games. It's namely "low magic", but i think the word is "low magic avaliability". Those are the changes i pretend to do, i will thank some comments about it. I try to made it simple, rather than balanced, and i'm afraid some quirks escape me and ruin the game.
It's mostly a "pirates of the caribbean" setting, while magic exist, its not common. I plan to do this:-use Defense bonus from unearthed arcana.
-Firearms exist (using rules from Dragon magazine #321)they are Simple, touch attack weapons.
-Remove most permanent magic items (except those needed for the storyline, and some scarce ones)
-Cut treasure 20% down (after all, don't need armor nor magic items)
-Expendable magic items exist (wands, potions & scrolls) but cost double. I aslo been thinking about reducing avaliability.
-Magic is exhausting. Every spell causes 1 point of subdual damage per spell level. spelcasters can cast one spell per spellcaster level ignoring this damage.
-Rangers has no spellcasting. Instead they have d10 hit points and a bonus feat at levels 5, 10, 15, 20.For balancing purposes, I adapted character creations as follows:
-Use action points from unearthed arcana(they could be equivalent to magic items in some way)
-They gain a bonus feat every 2 levels, instead of every three.
-They gain an atribute increment to all atributes at level 6, and every four levels (6, 10, 14, 18) in adition to the normal increments.
-a feat, Armor Compatibility, allows to stack half your defense bonus with your armor bonus.So long, that's all. I'll thank your advice and comments.
I would suggest Mongoose Publishing's Conan core books for inspiration in low magic. They even have codes for Pirates and such and have really done a nice job with Hyboria which is inherently a low magic setting.
Hi! I've recived last Savage Tide adventure, and after revising the whole campaign path, i think it needs a new setting for my games. It's namely "low magic", but i think the word is "low magic avaliability". Those are the changes i pretend to do, i will thank some comments about it. I try to made it simple, rather than balanced, and i'm afraid some quirks escape me and ruin the game.
It's mostly a "pirates of the caribbean" setting, while magic exist, its not common. I plan to do this:-use Defense bonus from unearthed arcana.
-Firearms exist (using rules from Dragon magazine #321)they are Simple, touch attack weapons.
-Remove most permanent magic items (except those needed for the storyline, and some scarce ones)
-Cut treasure 20% down (after all, don't need armor nor magic items)
-Expendable magic items exist (wands, potions & scrolls) but cost double. I aslo been thinking about reducing avaliability.
-Magic is exhausting. Every spell causes 1 point of subdual damage per spell level. spelcasters can cast one spell per spellcaster level ignoring this damage.
-Rangers has no spellcasting. Instead they have d10 hit points and a bonus feat at levels 5, 10, 15, 20.For balancing purposes, I adapted character creations as follows:
-Use action points from unearthed arcana(they could be equivalent to magic items in some way)
-They gain a bonus feat every 2 levels, instead of every three.
-They gain an atribute increment to all atributes at level 6, and every four levels (6, 10, 14, 18) in adition to the normal increments.
-a feat, Armor Compatibility, allows to stack half your defense bonus with your armor bonus.So long, that's all. I'll thank your advice and comments.
Well! You've certainly got the package down! the main difficulty is in not overpowering the mages, and you've done that! Great job!
(Personally, though, unless you want everybody to be weilding pistols and shotguns, you best alter it so that they don't abandon bows and darts. Look at ravenloft for ideas)
I get a copy of Conan rpg some months ago, and i've been serously thinking about playing Savage Tide in Hyboria.The thing is i'll have to rework the entire campaign, wich is far more difficult and time consuming that just adjust the setting. Also, magic system in Conan don't convinces me too much.
About firearms, i plan to include renaissance firearms (muskets and flintlock pistols) wich is about what the article is. Esentially one shot weapons, one standart action to reload. I essentially plan to change all crossbows for firearms, wich leaves bows with its inherent advantages (faster fire rating and damage bonuses)
I get a copy of Conan rpg some months ago, and i've been serously thinking about playing Savage Tide in Hyboria.The thing is i'll have to rework the entire campaign, wich is far more difficult and time consuming that just adjust the setting. Also, magic system in Conan don't convinces me too much.
About firearms, i plan to include renaissance firearms (muskets and flintlock pistols) wich is about what the article is. Esentially one shot weapons, one standart action to reload. I essentially plan to change all crossbows for firearms, wich leaves bows with its inherent advantages (faster fire rating and damage bonuses)
Hmm. This world actually sounds pretty cool! Although a lot of people won't stick with bows in favor of gunpowder. You have, as they say, given a loaded crossbow to a woodchuck.
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Be careful with Defense Bonus... Touch ACs go through the roof, and everyone will take a level in fighter for the extra feat and access to the fighter's Defense Bonus rating, which is the highest. If you allow armor to stack on top of that in any way you are looking at monsters only hitting on nat 20s most of the time. When everyone is 3-6th level and running around with 24+ AC and ridiculous touch ACs combat will slow to a crawl.
FH
I haven't tested it out, but I find a simple magic limiter is to require casters to have a casting ability score of 10 + 2*spell level instead of 10 + spell level (so 16 needed for fireball, 20 for teleport, etc.)
