Like John Steve I’m really trying to point out potential pitfalls. Because. Cantrips can be spammed they have much greater shenanigan potentials. And, as I’ve said before, they can take away other player’s agency. If I were to give out a freebie cantrip it would be something like guidance that doesn’t replace agency but improves it. You might want to use the UA2 version that avoids the spamming problems tho.

My world has a low to medium magical level, with a swing of greater magic in some places.

So the world at large has little to no magical people. There are magical items and such, which people use to help their day-to-day life, but they didn't make them - much like a person buys a food processor, they did not invent nor build it, but it still chops vegetables for them.

Then there are skilled people, who have a few abilities, and magical creatures are common throughout the world (Brunns are a small frog-like folk who have statblocks of Magmins, and are used in a forges of the dwarves to carry hot metal, as they are filled with flaming heat and immune to the hot metal, so they keep metal from cooling down).

Then there are the adventurers, who have a lot of magic and tend to find items.

Then there are the mages colleges and artificer NPCs, who have a lot more magic than the party. 

Basically, magic tends to be clumped together in my world, into parties and colleges.

Quote from ThorukDuckSlayer >>

My world has a low to medium magical level, with a swing of greater magic in some places.

So the world at large has little to no magical people. There are magical items and such, which people use to help their day-to-day life, but they didn't make them - much like a person buys a food processor, they did not invent nor build it, but it still chops vegetables for them.

Then there are skilled people, who have a few abilities, and magical creatures are common throughout the world (Brunns are a small frog-like folk who have statblocks of Magmins, and are used in a forges of the dwarves to carry hot metal, as they are filled with flaming heat and immune to the hot metal, so they keep metal from cooling down).

Then there are the adventurers, who have a lot of magic and tend to find items.

Then there are the mages colleges and artificer NPCs, who have a lot more magic than the party. 

 

Basically, magic tends to be clumped together in my world, into parties and colleges.

 I like it.

I keep thinking mages and artificers being busy with bigger things, but you're right, there might be some contraptions on the island of mages itself that aren't understood by the common folk, but were made by the colleges and given around as gifts.

Power level and magic level are two different things, and I’m not 100% how much you want us to talk about them separately or not from your OP. When it comes to power in my setting, it’s bumped up a little from most. After vast ages of predation by dark forces, many martial and exorsistic traditions have developed, and most able bodied citizens have statblocks more akin to guards, bandits, or cultists than commoners. It takes something special to be  on the level of the player characters though, a mark of fate that signifies them as Vanguards, defenders (though unfortunately sometimes tyrants) of mortal kind.

Likewise, magic is a means of survival, not convenience. It can’t be safely ignored, but using it frivolously is extremely foolish. There are only so many spell slots to go around, and non-Vanguards can only gain more power slowly.

So basically, lots of small amounts of power and magic, but a much narrower band of big power and magic.

I meant power level originally. 🙂 A setting can be high magic but low power, like you said. They are different things, but usually not unrelated. 

I usually like to consider the overall picture. A single god-like spellweaver in a world where everyone else is a normal person is not a high power or high magic setting in this sense. 

So what I meant is if being a level 10 PC makes you one of the strongest mortals out there or if at level 15 you might be considered a grownup if you are lucky. 😁

I could put it this way

A) High magic and high power level = there is lots powerful magic and magical monsters and you can do amazing things with magic. (Typical dnd 5e I think)

B) High magic and low power level = magic is abundant but not particularly epic, at least not to most

(Mistborn and Dragonlance. Magic is abundant, but usually very limited. The strongest typical individuals aren't insanely powerful in comparison)

C) Low magic and high power level = there are powerful individuals and creatures, but the power is generally not in the form of meteor storms. Although there could be individuals like that.

(Star Wars. Super strong force powers are rare, but generally all jedi and sith can wipe out a small army of normal people)

D) Low magic and low power level = magic is rare and people are mostly just normal people. (Game of Thrones)

So in my OP, I originally meant overall power level, but in DnD I think it goes hand in hand with magic quite a bit. 🙂