Cutting Back on PC Magic

[tkdco2]

Here's one way I'm experimenting with a low-magic setting. I could use it in games set in Middle-earth or the "real world" or some other low fantasy setting.

1. Ditch the magic-user. All magic in the world will use clerical magic. I allow thieves in addition to fighters and clerics.
2. Use the term healer instead of cleric if clerics don't usually appear in the setting. Allow the healer to heal 1-2 hp/day at level 1.
3. The spells can be rebranded as skills. Spell slots show what the healer has prepared. More spell slots at higher levels show the healer's increasing efficiency.

It's not a perfect system, and I'm still tweaking it. Maybe it will work out in the long run.

[tombowings]

Another way to limit magic-users is to force them to specialize in a particular type of magic. The game DragonQuest forces mages to specialize in a particular magical tradition called a college, which prevents any one magician from gaining access to all that the magical arts have to offer.

The Thaumaturgies:
The College of Ensorcelments and Enchantments
The College of Sorceries of the Mind
The College of Illusions
The College of Naming Incantations

The Elementals:
The College of Air Magics
The College of Water Magics
The College of Fire Magics
The College of Earth Magics
The College of Celestial Magics

The Entities:
The College of Black Magics
The College of Necromantic Conjurations
The College of Greater Summonings

[dicebro]

Make Magic Mysterious Again! Heh. I have the most fun discovering the world and “rules” of magic incrementally, alongside players during the game, and with descriptions of weirdness.

[dwayanu]

DragonQuest I recall as doing a good job at the kind of feel I had in mind. Interestingly, by default every PC has access to a college of magic; there was a variant in The Dragon for characters not having that and getting more EP for other skills.

There was also (similar to The Fantasy Trip) a rule that meant martial magicians needed to have armor and weapons of material other than steel, which kit was more expensive and less effective. I think that was not really necessary for game balance, more a matter of flavor; one must be quite devoted to magic to go to the expense (or conversely to do without armor). It’s more often rather a secondary part of the adventurer’s toolkit.