Now, yes, magic is one of the most key concepts of D&D, many rules and a lot of the game itself are based almost entirely on magic. But this doesn't mean that low-magic worlds can't work. One of the biggest problems that a lot of people have with low/no magic worlds, which I myself do truly hate, is how much it limits players. Many classes no longer function properly like wizards and sorcerers to name the "poster boys" of magic in D&D, and this is often on purpose. The reason some GMs make their world low magic is so they don't have to deal with more complicated aspects of the game, to make the game as simple as possible. But that's the wrong reason to make a low magic world, especially when you can deal with those more complex matters in a more open and friendly manner. But I'm not here to rant about that, I'm here to discuss low/no/outlawed magic systems. 

So, one of the biggest and most glaring problems of these systems, as previously mentioned, is the limitations it puts on not only players but GMs as well. It makes magic items scarce, even when they aren't awarded very often, it limits class selection, and it limits enemy selection. But this same problem can also be a great world-building and game-building tool. By limiting this you can create amazing moments of creativity and ingenuity among everyone at the table, but only if deployed correctly. That's point one, I think that this is a huge huge matter among these low magic settings, and while a problem, can be quite amazing if used well, but I'd still mark it as a negative personally, just because it is so hard to pull off.

But now for a point in favor of low-magic settings, they create amazing stories. Now not every world will have an in-lore explanation as to why the world is lacking in magic, but it can still create awesome stories. A country hires the party to seize a recently discovered wellspring of magic, someone discovers how to steal magic from others, or you could make the world a dystopia where magic is rationed, and so many other possibilities. Then there are the lore reasons, is there a reason the world is low-magic? Can the world recover its magic or is it on a timer? Or is magic something more directly related to the inhabitants of the world, perhaps magic is man-made, long forgotten to time, how to make more. So there's a point in a low-magic settings favor.

Now for an example. I myself have a low-magic homebrew setting, which I'll be the first to admit, definitely has its flaws. But the way I use this low-magic aspect is closer to it being a finite resource, the leftovers of an old world that the current world is just a chunk of. It can run out and the citizens know this. But instead of using this to force players to "ration" their spells I instead treat letting my players control their magic more than just normal spells, they can shape it and weave it, recycle their magic, distribute their magic to others. This, in my opinion, is a good way to run low-magic settings. Don't use it to limit players, use it to make your players think, use it to leave more room for creativity,

So, those are my thoughts. What do you think? I'm curious to know!

*P.S.   I don't think outlawed magic worlds are a good idea, they seem much more like a GM being controlling or targeting of player(s). Nations or cities can be fun, a challenge to navigate, but a whole world, I am against.

It's simply different tastes; things like Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings are distinctly low magic, with spellcasters being extremely rare and powerful beings, and those properties are immensely popular. And while there are systems for those games, for a lot of people it's easier to just use one they are already familiar with and just reskin or remove options that would be too powerful for their designated settings https://19216811.cam/  .https://1921681001.id/ 

I mostly think that if you want low/no-magic play, out-of-the-box D&D is a poor choice of system. You basically have to do a full conversion, like they did with the Tolkien book that's now available here. (I have no opinion as to whether that book did a good job, or whether it's easily adaptable to non-LotR settings.)

That’s a good point and I totally agree. But what if the reason for low-magic isn’t because it’s too powerful? Say the GM just wants to experiment with low-magic with no particular reason in mind. What then? 

I think you need to make a distinction between low magic, and low magic item, but I also think both can work. Low magic is easy to pull off, just say people with magical abilities are very rare. PCs are always exceptional, so it's fine for them to be those rare folks that can do the magical things. And you can re-flavor the non-spell magical abilities (and really, some spells) to reduce the feel of magic without changing the mechanics, if you want to dial it back even further.

In this edition, low magic item is also fairly simple. The game math does not require magical boosts, so if you don't give them out, people will be just fine. The only real sticky point is the creatures who resist non-magical P/S/B damage. So, you can could just give the martials each a magic weapon and get around it that way. Again, just because something is rare doesn't mean the PCs can't have one. It doesn't even have to be a +1 sword, it could be a weapon of warning with no bonuses. Or don't give the ranger a +1 bow, but give them a dozen +1 arrows, so they need to really make them count. Or just don't give them any items, and the martials do only half damage. In that case, I'd make those monsters very rare, because doing half damage all the time isn't fun. But having it pop up now and again will make them a real threat. (And then you make the next monster resist damage from spells, so the fighter gets a chance to shine while the wizard is doing half damage.)

You’re right, there is a distinction between low-magic and low magic item and you can definitely find ways to play in either case. And I totally agree that the players are often exceptional, they are the oddities, so you can totally run a game that way. And as you pointed out, it is very easy to reflavor so many things, it’s one of my favorite parts of the game.

I would say 5e is not the right game system for a low magic world, while the stated reason that Darksun has not made a 5e appearance is the long list of cultural taboos WotC has chosen not to use, the reality is the setting has low magic high psionics, and high consequences to even the simplest of spells. Half of the classes wouldn't work in a low magic setting, and they would have to nerf all the others as well. 

So instead I would suggest using a game designed for low magic, either AD&D, 3.5ed, or some of the old SRD systems like Iron Heroes. Which is one of the best low magic games I've ever run. 

Quote from gothicshark >>

I would say 5e is not the right game system for a low magic world, while the stated reason that Darksun has not made a 5e appearance is the long list of cultural taboos WotC has chosen not to use, the reality is the setting has low magic high psionics, and high consequences to even the simplest of spells. Half of the classes wouldn't work in a low magic setting, and they would have to nerf all the others as well. 

So instead I would suggest using a game designed for low magic, either AD&D, 3.5ed, or some of the old SRD systems like Iron Heroes. Which is one of the best low magic games I've ever run. 

 

 Iron heroes ftw!!! That system was amazing. 

Quote from gothicshark >>

I would say 5e is not the right game system for a low magic world, while the stated reason that Darksun has not made a 5e appearance is the long list of cultural taboos WotC has chosen not to use, the reality is the setting has low magic high psionics, and high consequences to even the simplest of spells. Half of the classes wouldn't work in a low magic setting, and they would have to nerf all the others as well. 

So instead I would suggest using a game designed for low magic, either AD&D, 3.5ed, or some of the old SRD systems like Iron Heroes. Which is one of the best low magic games I've ever run.  

There are also a lot of options outside the world of D&D variations. (And I really don't think 3.5 is designed for low magic. Even either AD&D is pushing it.) Once you're leaving 5e, you already lose rules familiarity, so the sky's the limit, and system choice depends a lot on what system features you desire. (For instance, both GURPS and FATE can be used to run a low-magic fantasy game, but they have very different target audiences.)

Low magic is definitely a valid taste, but in my opinion D&D5e ain't the system to run it with. Personally, I'd recommend The One Ring by Free League. It's a really good system that can also function with no magic - 5e relies on high magic to make it an attractive option (at least in terms of PCs, NPCs don't need it and monsters are in between).

Much of this is determined, in part, by how one describes and considers the idea of what "no-magic" and what "low magic" mean.

Then there is the aspect of if it is low magic, how much are you going to mess with spells?  In some low magic setting, a cantrip might be considered a high level spell, for example, and a fireball the penultimate.

In 2e -- the era when most D&D worlds we recall today were created -- the thinking was that the rules of the game change to fit the setting. And, indeed, for all the words, there were changes.

Some of these changes were to spells, including what spells were available at what levels. Some of these changes were to classes. Some were to Species. Some did multiple things.

The big point was that they focused on the elements of the game that are impacted and affected by the setting. So that would be Class, Species, Background, Equipment Lists, Spell Lists, and Spell Assortment. For the most part, they left other things alone. I would argue that adding in things is more likely (proficiencies and trainings, conditions and damage types, Hazards or impairments).

Even in the original Kara-Tur, while they did completely re-invent the martial arts system of 1e, they did it in a way that didn't change the normal resolution system. Several of the other worlds had their own changes -- Krynn messed with how magic was done, and species. Eberron introduced a bunch of stuff and it isn't even a 2e era thing.

Conan was a part of D&D. Al'Qadim had a whole new way of dealing with Clerics. Dark Sun...

ok, you probably get my point.

But all of them looked at those things I described, and adapted and adjusted them to meet the needs of that setting.

There are more people who have played D&D only in 5th edition than all the people who have played all the older editions combined. They mostly only know (and many think the most commonly used world is) Faerun -- the Forgotten Realms. They do not realize that the majority of games are played in places other than Faerun. THey have experienced only a small sliver of what is possible -- and aren't really ready to experiment yet.

Which is why they will often poopoo it on social media. But also, they think of Classes, Species, Backgrounds, Spell Lists, and Spell Assortment as "sacrosanct" in a sense -- if it isn't the way it is in the books, then it isn't "real" , and therefore is wrong and bad.

Because FR is a world that is intentionally designed to change and include everything in D&D (even Kara-Tur, Maztica, and Al'Qadim) as the game changes -- it is a world that changes to fit the game -- the opposite philosophy that guided much of the creation of alternative worlds.

Now, most people and most DMs create their own worlds, and they do that kind of change the rules to fit the game (often through the addition of homebrew, but rarely to remove things). They are often not going to interact with social media in a way that gets them attacked, so they don't talk about it.

But they are indeed trying out things like low magic worlds and such -- and there is a variety of them. The key difference being how they determine hat is low magic and how much work the put into making that low magic setting a reality and functional.

You could have gunslingers, explorers, swashbucklers, solders, scientists, and other classes -- but you have to create them in order to have the variety of classes that the default game possesses, and a common refrain one encounters out there in the wilds is "why don't you try another game? Why do all that work?"

despite the suggestion being "go use someone else's end product who did all that work", the reality is they just haven't reached a point where they are ready to experiment, or where they understand how classes are designed and built, or where they are feeling like giving up their favorite carefully researched build originally found on youtube.

But it is starting to change. And 2024 does encourage that a bit, and so I suspect in the next decade we will see a lot more low magic options and such. Somethign that was just more or less given the nod by the inclusion of the 5e lotR rules here on DDB.

Low magic worlds can be a blast. a four year campaign in one was among my two longest campaigns ever. Not a single spell above 3rd level in sight -- but a lot of spells were adjusted down and some even adjusted up. 

Most of the time, you don't even need to create a new system -- you can just add on to what is already there.

But a lot of folks don't know that, because they just think it will be hard -- when it is only as hard as they themselves will make it out to be.

(disclosure: I tend to make it really hard on myself. But I like to write things, in case you hadn't guessed.)

How to Run a Low Magic Campaign.  Some ideas there, though a bit vague, nothing too concrete.
And doesn't really address the problem of classes that automatically acquire spells.   To run a really low magic campaign, I don't think I'd cut spell lists, even high level spells.  But eliminate the automatic spell acquisition of any class, and make it part of the adventure to get them. Finding scrolls, tomes, etc even for Clerics or sorcerers.  Quests from Warlock benefactors.  There is where you can control it more and make it fit within 5E.

Also reactions to how magic is perceived by NPCs can be another limiting factor.   Is a town going to try to burn a character as a witch if they are seen casting a spell might limit when and where they use it. 

That's a major change and you'd want to talk to your players before doing it, but could be fun, and help spur adventure ideas for the campaign.  Actually played a 3.5 campaign where every class had to train to gain any ability.   You couldn't just train a level and get all the perks.   It was low magic to the extreme given we had no spell casters to start.  And even applied to 1st level abilities, we were 0 level to start and kind of had to find our way into classes from our characters backgrounds and what we were doing in game.  Was always curious to see that DMs homebrew ruleset for that.