I'm trying to figure out some ways to run a low magic game, but I am having trouble coming up with a way of making magic less common while still allowing playable wizards/sorcerers etc.
Anyone playing one of those classes are the first of their kind. Magic is new to the world and they are some of the first to gain the ability to use it.
I'm trying to figure out some ways to run a low magic game, but I am having trouble coming up with a way of making magic less common while still allowing playable wizards/sorcerers etc.
If all you want is magic to be less common, then the player characters are simply the exception rather then the rule. They are gandalf or merlin, and while people in the world might know of wizards/sorcerors, very few have ever seen one.
You should also look at the commonality of magic items in your world. If there are very few casters, there should be less magic items in the world with fewer people to make them. In which case you have to make adjustments for the reduced power of your players (the CR system assumes level appropriate magic items). Or you have to substitute what they might have gotten from magic items into inherent abilities gained as they level.
Well, I was considering "less common" to be "practically nonexistent" in the arcane sense, and very limited in the divine sense. Just kind of felt weird to have a word with Cure Disease and conjuring food and such and still be able to throw things like famines and plagues, which I'd like to do more of.I'm trying to figure out some ways to run a low magic game, but I am having trouble coming up with a way of making magic less common while still allowing playable wizards/sorcerers etc.If all you want is magic to be less common, then the player characters are simply the exception rather then the rule. They are gandalf or merlin, and while people in the world might know of wizards/sorcerors, very few have ever seen one.
You should also look at the commonality of magic items in your world. If there are very few casters, there should be less magic items in the world with fewer people to make them. In which case you have to make adjustments for the reduced power of your players (the CR system assumes level appropriate magic items). Or you have to substitute what they might have gotten from magic items into inherent abilities gained as they level.
Well removal of divine magic is in some ways a bigger issue then arcane magic. Without access to cures, and remove disease and such, the party will take literally months to recover from a fight at higher levels, which isnt a good thing for pacing.
In terms of how to deal with it in world. Make them exceedingly rare. Think of it this way, if a metropolis of 100,000 people had maybe 1 or 2 mid level clerics in it, they wouldn't be able to on their own contain a plague or famine, sure they could help some, but not enough to stop it or divert the player's quest to find the 'cure' or whatever else you had in mind. And those that can may not want to devote all their time and resources to helping the huddled masses. Maybe the level 5 cleric is an archbishop in the church, and isnt about to burn all his spells every day on creat food and drink just so the lowly peasants dont starve. If the players are the real exception and thus one or two of a handful of casters in the entire world, plagues and famines can still run wild. Its only when you start getting casters as a percentage of the population that you get the magic as technology situation, with disease curing hospitals, and create water running fountains.
Edit: Think of merlin in the aurthur legends. He is literally one of like 3 arcane casters in the whole world. And because of that he (a pc equivalent) becomes a very important figure in the world, but cannot completely control it on his own (as seen in the fall of camelot). Same goes for gandalf in the lord of the rings. He is one of 5 wizards in the whole world, and a handfull of others capable of magic. Famine, war, disease still runs rampant because he doesnt have the numbers in comrades to combat it magicallym, and instead uses his magic to aid those fending off the problem with mundane means.
This is how I do it currently:
- E6.
This is a subsystem of D&D/PFRPG that tops at level 6, after that you get a feat every 7000 experience (may vary, we go with 7000 though). At 6th level, you aren't required to have any magic items at all. They simply isn't AS important as they are o
therwise.
- Spellcasters are rare among NPC's. Likewise are magic items.
- A "life point" system.
Basically, all creatures has their Con score as "life points" in addition to their hit points. Damage to hit points isn't real damage - it's that you become more tired, or get a bruise, or whatever. Hit points restore at a rate of 1+con/hour. "Cure" spells heal only hit point damage and not life point damage.
Loss of life points represent physical damage in a quite non-abstract way - since it doesn't increase per level, 3 lp damage is always about equal to a broken bone or a serious cut. When you're not at max life points, you're disabled - may take only a standard och move action and take 1 point of damage if it's a standard action. Life points are restored by the same speed as ability damage, and can only be restored by magic that restores ability damage.
Most monsters flee when they're disabled, and so does the party usually. It gives them an additional chance to get away, and means that as long as they aren't really hurt but only a bit bruised and weary (hit point damage), they can just rest for a while and they're ready to go again.