Low-No Magic Campaigns

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MotorWaffle
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Low-No Magic Campaigns

Postby MotorWaffle » 26 Mar 2015, 08:23

So I'm working on a campaign set in the first age of Middle Earth, specifically when the Eldar return from Valinor (heaven on earth, more or less) to declare open war on Morgoth (Sauron's boss). The party is a group of Sindar (elves that refused to leave Middle Earth in the first place) sent by king Thingol to see if the reports of the Eldar's return are true, and if so to bring them terms of staying in "his" kingdom.
Now, the elves are going to have what the books define as vague "power", which I'm going to home-rule as slightly modified pool of mythic power points to add to rolls, and all weapons and armor apart from those gotten off orcs are going to be masterwork because this is in the days of free trade with the dwarves at the height of their skill. Lastly, as in the books, the elves are immune to disease.
But here's the players' main concern: the lack of traditional magic, especially healing magic. Now, there can be magic items (though still very low-level magic in D&D terms) and I'm considering buffing the power of medicinal items or making alchemic equivalents of heal spells more prevalent, but I've also told them that if their character is mortally wounded in the wilderness, two weeks from any civilization, there's a good chance they've got a ticket to the halls of Mondos. There's zero offensive magic outside of weapons, because unless you're an Istari (hint: you're not) then you ain't flinging fireballs.
Any other ideas or suggestions on how to handle low-no magic settings? I'm thinking of giving them some higher-level magical items from a certain Anatar , Lord of Gifts as part of the main story (none of them have read Silmarillion or Unfinished Tales).
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theknightofiron
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Re: Low-No Magic Campaigns

Postby theknightofiron » 27 Mar 2015, 05:33

what are you running this in?
mostly curious but it might help people give you advice.
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truehippy
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Re: Low-No Magic Campaigns

Postby truehippy » 27 Mar 2015, 11:15

I'm always interested in trying new system.
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Re: Low-No Magic Campaigns

Postby MotorWaffle » 27 Mar 2015, 16:29

My current group suggested I run it in 3.5 D&D when I suggested it.
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Re: Low-No Magic Campaigns

Postby theknightofiron » 27 Mar 2015, 17:44

yeah 3.5 could work
but i would honestly suggest 5th edition
for a few reasons. for one magic and magical items are toned down a little
for another, damage you take in battle is all healed when you take a long rest.
its much more forgiving. i feel like if you use it and structure your encounters right you won't run into the issue of people needing constant healing.
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MotorWaffle
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Re: Low-No Magic Campaigns

Postby MotorWaffle » 31 Mar 2015, 19:33

Oh, I have...a plan for healing. It involves lovely gifts from Valinor itself, given to them by the ever-generous Annatar.

Who is Annatar, you ask?

http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Annatar
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theknightofiron
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Re: Low-No Magic Campaigns

Postby theknightofiron » 31 Mar 2015, 22:42

This seems mean.
I approve :D
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Re: Low-No Magic Campaigns

Postby Senstaku » 01 Apr 2015, 21:52

I'm actually currently working on a GM document for a Bloodborne Module in 5th ed, which is going to be a low-magic module, and one of the things I've done is restricted magic using classes to the Sorcerer, who is only a 'Paleblood' variant of the Dragonblood archetype, the Warlock who is restricted to the Old One patron, the eldritch knight archetype for fighters, and the arcane trickster path for rogues.

So, no healers or access to heal spells really. In addition to this, I've restricted the races to 'Human' and 'Shifter' from the Eberron arcana PDF, and all of the players start with no equipment except clothes - so everything they use they have to find.

For Middle Earth, something you could do is take a look at The One Ring RPG series, they handle magic very carefully for the players. I know it's pretty heavily restricted, and I think only elves are capable of creating any substantial magical effects. For everyone else, they rely on food and healing items, and careful planning and tactics to not take a lot of damage.
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Moussefilledkitten
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Re: Low-No Magic Campaigns

Postby Moussefilledkitten » 11 May 2015, 09:20

I did a low magic campaign in Fate recently. The only "other" power we had was one person's stunt based on faith and my characters trouble which had her essentially be a supernatural bad penny. We had a few characters with very good crafts skills for medicine as well as a village herbalist we could go to and it worked very well. I honestly am not sure how to do it in a d&d setting.
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Re: Low-No Magic Campaigns

Postby Tinasaur » 16 May 2015, 02:03

I'm running (although we don't play often) a campaign in 3.5 where the PCs started out in a world where magic didn't exist. They played young adults in a farmers village and they actually started at level 0, so half a level worth of stats, and no special powers. The way I solved it was to make them a part of a community and not just lone adventurers. The bard for example was good at convincing others to help and give them supplies, and the paladin could with his strong belief of what was good and just make threatening people stand down.

Encounters would be things like the school bully or facing off the town drunk. If they sustained any damage they would either just go home to their parents or if more serious, visit the village wise woman who made them drink bitter tea or rub a healing salve on their wounds. This meant slow healing but I had established beforehand that they would get about 50% exp from encounters and 50% from roleplaying so there wasn't need for tedious downtime inbetween.

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