low magic campaigns

[carrdrivesyou]

So our DM has decided than none of us are allowed to play casting classes. In this world, magic is incredibly rare in its pure form, so much that people tend to just memorize a spell or two in their careers to help out their lives.

This is done mechanically by multiplying INT modifier by WIS modifier and that number is the character's magic pool. Each level spell takes one point per level of spell to cast. However if a PC's wisdom or intelligence is too low, I.e. An 11 or lower, the character is either too stupid or unfocused to learn magic at all.
So a rogue with 16 int and 10 wis would net zero spell points, whereas a fighter with 13 into and 14 wis would have 2.

Our team started level four, almost five now. Party consists of my javelin chucking rogue with 13 hit points(I rolled poorly) who is going master thrower, a human fighter wanting to do a homebrew prestige, a dwarf fighter going dwarvsn defender, and a gnome ranger using a hooked hammer and a riding dog, going for mounted combat.

Thoughts?

[Dawgmoah]

Are you, the party, happy with the game? If so party on.

If you're not happy then you all may want to discuss it with the DM. A low magic campaign is one thing, but to limit magic so completely takes a lot of work which, frankly, may not be worth it or not done to everyone's satisfaction.

Are the monsters in the world the same? Lots of things out there with damage reduction? I mean low level wizards have to depend on their party members to survive most of the time already. But one or two spells?

[carrdrivesyou]

Well the idea is that the planet is roughly Jupiter sized, and we would have to across an ocean larger then the Earth to find the mage towers. Wizards, sorcerers, druids, basically any tier 1-4 caster is right out as a playable class. The DM likes to throw creative monsters and scenarios at us.

It is a very compelling story and game, with its own unique challenges, but I wonder if by the time we are level ten, if we have any chance to survive an encounter, From my experience, levels 10-15 are where the save or die concept begins, and without the typical mage in the party, we may have no chance at all to survive more than a round or two in combat, without dying.

What I guess I am really curious about is whether or not other people think we can make it to level 20. With the magic system we have incorporated, is it possible to do a dungeon crawl and come back from it.

[LunaLovecraft]

I think you can make it. It just takes thoughtfulness by the DM.

Really any DM limitations can work as long as they're not incredibly beneficial to a portion of the players. I'm planning on running a magic-rarer campaign soon where spellcasting classes are limited to the Bard and Druid (and the druid gets some additional limitations as well) because of the lore.

As a result, I'm going to build dungeons that work with the dynamic. I might incorporate some of the new classes coming in the new Paizo book as well, giving players some good options despite being limited to a few races and really only martial classes. I miiiight also allow the bard hybrid classes as well as derivatives.

The point being, at level 20 you might be at a disadvantage compared to a level 20 party with a wizard. But if the DM is clever they can make encounters that are challenging as well as doable.

[VoxRationis]

Just wait to see if your DM is designing encounters with the lack of spellcasters in mind. If he does, then despite what many would say, there's no problem with a low-magic campaign.