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I was at the local gaming store discussing a practical way to engage in low-magic Pathfinder (among other things) and one of the patrons there told me the way his group had done it, an option I thought surprisingly elegant.
He said that when they leveled, they got the standard WBL in 'points' rather than gold that they could spend to gain buffs or upgrade buffs analagous to what they would recieve from standard magic items, but only if their character was eligible to recieve those buffs.
For instance, the following buffs could be purchased using WBL points:
Shield bonus to AC
+1 (1,000)
+2 (4,000)
+3 (9,000)
+4 (16,000)
+5 (25,000)
Armor bonus to AC
+1 (1,000)
+2 (4,000)
+3 (9,000)
+4 (16,000)
+5 (25,000)
Natural Armor bonus to AC
+1 (2,000)
+2 (8,000)
+3 (18,000)
+4 (32,000)
+5 (50,000)
Costs for special abilities stacked as usual, so if someone decided they wanted a +2 Armor bonus to AC and the Brawling property reflected in their character abilities, it would cost them 9,000 (or the appropriate amount to upgrade).
Some minor tweaks had to be made along the way on a case by case basis, and the characters still recieved wealth (though a good deal less) as well as actual magic items (though also much fewer - like 1 major and 1-2 minor items each on average and all of them more or less unique), and consumables like potions and wands still had to be purchased with that reduced wealth. All in all he said its been working really well for them.
Doesn't it defeat the purpose though? The PCs still receive the same boons, just under a different name.
I don't think so, they have very small list of buffs to gain, reducing the number of possible abilities gained from magic items to that small list plus what the adventurers can afford. It also changes the feel from the setting as these would be abilities that all higher level characters had, thus making the higher level character more powerful as opposed to having more powerful gear.
I don't think so, they have very small list of buffs to gain, reducing the number of possible abilities gained from magic items to that small list plus what the adventurers can afford. It also changes the feel from the setting as these would be abilities that all higher level characters had, thus making the higher level character more powerful as opposed to having more powerful gear.
That's kind of the point - there is much discussion revolving around finding static by-level bonuses to give players to compensate for the lack of magical items... this does that, but in a fashion that allows further customization for their characters.
Yes, the power level is and should be equivocal - the point is trying to find a way to play in a low magic campaign which assumes that particular power level without massive re-writes to everything. This does that, but in a fashion which keeps the actual magic magical, rare and unique.
The bonuses, once 'purchased' can be upgraded but not 'cashed in'. That's a limiting factor to make up for the fact that those same bonuses are not subject to being can not be disarmed, sundered, stolen, etc.
I am seeing a lot of this lately. It does start to feel pretty gamey or accountantey.... Like fate points in warhammer being a currency system that allows you to spend a fate coin when a gm accidentally kills you when he didnt mean to (which happens amazingly often in warhammer)
Like ultimate campaign... Instead of 'spending gold money to pay for materials and labor to buy/make your building... you get 'build points!'
Dangit i'm trying to keep my sense of immersion. My tavern is not a pile of points.
Then theres fame. I could save the grafs daughter and word gets around and people in town start treating me better... Or I can get 'fame coins!' that I can use to 'purchase fame awards'
Or honor coins...
My character has 40 skillcoins at the moment.
Hell. Right now my character has 6 'movement coins' per combat round....
Why was I not surprised to see 'too much loot? try the stock market!' in ultimate campaign... why buy magic items if you could instead be reevaluating your portfolio to minimize you losses and sink your assets into taverns and greased porkbelly futures! Ah. Pathfinder.
It just starts to feel silly.
I am seeing a lot of this lately. It does start to feel pretty gamey or accountantey.... Like fate points in warhammer being a currency system that allows you to spend a fate coin when a gm accidentally kills you when he didnt mean to (which happens amazingly often in warhammer)
Like ultimate campaign... Instead of 'spending gold money to pay for materials and labor to buy/make your building... you get 'build points!'
Dangit i'm trying to keep my sense of immersion. My tavern is not a pile of points.
Then theres fame. I could save the grafs daughter and word gets around and people in town start treating me better... Or I can get 'fame coins!' that I can use to 'purchase fame awards'
Or honor coins...
My character has 40 skillcoins at the moment.
Hell. Right now my character has 6 'movement coins' per combat round....Why was I not surprised to see 'too much loot? try the stock market!' in ultimate campaign... why buy magic items if you could instead be reevaluating your portfolio to minimize you losses and sink your assets into taverns and greased porkbelly futures! Ah. Pathfinder.
It just starts to feel silly.
The thing is for me, what feels silly is magic items being bought, sold and traded like bubblegum cards at every local 'ye olde magic shoppe'... I mean this is magic - shouldn't it be the least little bit magical, the least little bit mysterious? Game of Thrones and the Lord of the Rings seems to strike the right tone with magical items, and its not loading every 'slot' to the gills with stuff they bought at the store.
So the choice becomes to go to a low magic campaign setting, where magical items are rare enough that every party member doesn't have half a dozen (at least), and don't eagerly look forward to levelling up so they can trade them in for newer and better stuff (THAT doesn't feel gamey?)... but then you have to account for power level to be able to play in the same AP's and modules and campaigns as everyone else, so how do you adjust?
Well, if I can assign ranks to my skills when I level up and increase my attributes every four levels, why can't I spend character points to customize my combat bonuses in order to better fit the kind of character I want to run? We're not talking about spending gold on buffs, we're talking about replacing massive mounds of gold as rewards with the buffs they would be using that gold to buy anyway.
In our campaigns we usually only get a few magic items, and they are always unique with their own backstory... having that option rather than everyone checking to make sure all their slots are full before setting foot out the door to me is a much more realistic feeling option.
