Help Balancing a Homebrew World Idea

[Doctor Despair]

So I was toying with a homebrew campaign that I'll probably never run (like the other 500), but I thought I'd see what you guys thought of the balance on things here.

The campaign takes place in a pocket dimension, separated from the other planes in some manner such that planar travel is inaccessible to anything short of a deity. This means no interplanar creatures, either, so classes gaining "Summon Monster X" would instead gain summon nature's ally of the same caliber.

It is unheard of for adventurers to reach level 13; the population at large assumes they die off, so there are fewer career-adventurers and fewer still mages since the payoff lessens without high-level spells.

Clerics have alignment restrictions lifted, but the world is monotheistic; there are evil, good, and neutral sects as well as lawful, chaotic, and true neutral sects, all intermixed between various schisms, allowing for lots of diversity.

Monsters surpass the level 12 limit by having a higher ECL with their racial HD; on that note, if players wish to play monsters or magical creatures of that nature, there is a template available to let them avoid the HD if they wish.

Immature: by taking -4 to all physical stats, -4 to wisdom, and -2 on all skill checks, a creature-character may forgo the racial HD it would normally take and also take a LA of -1. The LA and penalties disappear when the creature reaches its mature age.

In this lower-magic environment, there is also another trait that has developed:

Nonmagical: this character is unable to cast spells or use SLAs in any way, but may operate wands or staffs if their class allows them to take UMD. They may use any Su or Ex abilities they gain. They receive +4 to their physical stats and +2 to one mental stat, SR equal to 1 + their class levels, and +1 to resist spells and spell-like abilities.

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Have I been terribly rude to magic-users by giving these sorts of buffs to nonmagic users? Have I been too kind to rogues by allowing UMD on the nonmagical template? Is the SR given by it broken? What is unreasonable here, and what would be a better alternative?

[Flickerdart]

Uh, how exactly are you punishing mages again? You gave them Versatile Spellcaster for free, buffed their puny HP, and in exchange...they will never get past level 12, same as anyone else. Except that's the case in a normal game that doesn't extend past that level, and casters still kick ass. Plus, wizards and sorcerers can take Immature on something like Black Ethergaunt, and dominate.

Just say "level cap is 12" and move on. It's still an even playing field.

[Doctor Despair]

Uh, how exactly are you punishing mages again? You gave them Versatile Spellcaster for free, buffed their puny HP, and in exchange...they will never get past level 12, same as anyone else. Except that's the case in a normal game that doesn't extend past that level, and casters still kick ass. Plus, wizards and sorcerers can take Immature on something like Black Ethergaunt, and dominate.

Just say "level cap is 12" and move on. It's still an even playing field.


Fair enough; so we drop the compensatory buffs to mages. That's a very good point with Immature however. Is the entire concept of that template silly? Suppose we limited it to 5HD? Or perhaps -4 to all ability scores for every 3HD?

And does the lack of comment mean that the nonmagical buffs pass the Flickerdart Litmus test?

[Flickerdart]

The buff for mundanes is very front-loaded, and gives numbers, which don't help. Numbers and SR won't help a fighter disarm a trap, or cross a chasm, or sneak past a dragon, or multiply his actions, etc.

For Immature, it may be a better bet to get rid of LA rather than HD. Having 10 monstrous hit dice isn't so bad when they come with nice, meaty abilities that look sort of like class features. However, you may be better served by doing it on a case-by-case basis with your hypothetical PCs, since not all monsters are born equal.