November 9, 2011
Some game systems, such as D&D, don't lend themselves to a low-magic world. These systems have assumptions about wealth at any given level, and the amount of magic characters will have access to. However, it's not all that hard to adapt any game system to work with your low-magic concept.
Before doing this, make sure your players are okay with it. Someone expecting a traditional D&D campaign might be annoyed or frustrated by these kinds of changes.
Any magic items a player character receives must be found, given or crafted.
No one's going to be crafting powerful items if they have much lower wealth for their level than the rules suggest. You can also give rewards in the form of land, legal rights, servants, orchards and other things which aren't easily sold.
In some game systems, such as D&D 3.5, magic isn't the dominant force at low levels. If you keep the level low, the system won't be thrown off by the lack of magic.
Avoid combat when possible. When you do include combat, give the characters a challenge appropriate to their power, and reward them accordingly, regardless of what the rules say. Another good strategy is to have the characters fight their own equivalents. It's much easier to balance an encounter between two humans than between a human, and a monster designed for a high-magic campaign.
If this is a low-enough-magic world, then most people have never seen a spell cast. They're likely to run a magic user out of town, or burn him at the stake. With consequences like this, characters will be more careful about when they use magic. Create a lot of urban adventures, and characters will have to restrain themselves most of the time.
In D&D 3.5, limit wizards to their base 2 spells per level. Make new arcane lore an incredible find. Change the know-everything classes (cleric, druid etc) so they have a limited number of known spells. Drop sorcerer altogether. Here's one possible system for weakening magicplugin-autotooltip__default plugin-autotooltip_bigLow Magic Casters
Published by on 2013-04-18
In D&D 3.5, magic tends to get out of control at the higher levels, while being overly weak at the lower levels. Here are some simple adjustents to balance it out, and give the entire campaign a lower-magic feel..
If you want to go to an extreme, have severe rules-based consequences for using magic. For example, each spell costs its level in hit points, which can't be healed for an hour. This will be balanced by the fact that magic is far more effective when no one expects it.