Low magic campaigns are a great change of pace from standard D&D fare. Trouble is, the party always insists on taking a spellcaster (or two) in the campaign, because let's face it, being a magic user is FUN. In a low magic campaign, a spellcaster with a few item creation feats becomes a sudden powerhouse for the party, often imbalancing things worse than they could in a more contemporary setting. At times like this, what can a DM do?
Submitted for your approval, I give you the following versions of wizard spell progression and feats in a low magic campaign. This doesn't take into account most material from splatbooks, although the more exotic magic using types with essentially unlimited magic per day I would just remove as an option. It's more of a test/demo that permits conversion to cleric or druid fairly well, once a moderate nerf is made to wild shape. If you find the party is having a great deal of difficulty due to healing issues between fights, you may want to consider adding Lay on Hands to the Cleric... but that might hamper your attempts to make the world low magic.
Wizard Spell Slots[spoiler]
Level | 0th | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th |
1 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
2 | 4 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
3 | 4 | 2 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
4 | 5 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
5 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
6 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
7 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - |
8 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - |
9 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - |
10 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - |
11 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - |
12 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - |
13 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | - | - |
14 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | - | - |
15 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - |
16 | 11 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | - |
17 | 11 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
18 | 12 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
19 | 12 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
20 | 13 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
[/spoiler]
At 20th level, the total number of spells the wizard receives per day is still an incredible power house, but the slowed spell progression, especially in the higher level spells, means that at no time can the wizard really afford to use any of them carelessly, and the number of contingencies he can keep prepared for, especially higher level contingencies, is sharply curtailed. Spells for high ability modifiers is treated normally, with one exception: The caster receives a number of additional 0-level spells per day equal to his Int modifier (or primary casting attribute, for conversion to other class lists).
Wait, what? WTF do they need all the 0 level spells for? For feats.
Metamagic feats[spoiler]The meta magic system is altered as well. With this reduced magic system metamagic feats are pretty damned useless if taken as they are listed in the PHB. A wizard has barely got enough spell slots for the essentials, much less highly situational spell memorizations such as a Silent Dispel Magic. But a single Silence spell can screw over the caster even worse in this scenario than normally. How to fix this?
Metamagic rating system.
Rather than increasing the level of the spell, the metamagic to be applied to a spell is given a rating according to how many levels it would normally increase the spell slot by. The metamagic desired is applied to the spell at the time of casting rather than during memorization, but to make use of this, the caster must make a Spellcraft check, with a DC equal to 10+(spell level * (metamagic rating + total number of metamagic feats applied)). When applying multiple metamagics to the same spell, all metamagic ratings are added together, to give the total metamagic rating. During such applications, expending a 0 level spell slot allows you to reduce the metamagic rating by 1, up to a maximum number of times as the number of metamagics being applied to that spell. If the spellcraft check fails, the spell and all slots expended to cast it are lost to no effect.
The beauty of the Metamagic rating system is that the cheeseball low level stuff can have a lot more interesting effects and alterations applied to it while the high end stuff is so complex all by themselves that while it's THEORETICALLY possible to add Quicken to a Meteor Swarm, only a madman or a true genius would attempt it and expect any real chance of success.
An example of a spell being metamagicked:
Elaine wants to Empower a Fireball. Since she only has one memorized, she decides to expend a 0 level spell to reduce its metamagic rating by 1. The Metamagic rating of Empower is 2, and the level of Fireball is 3. 2+1(for 1 metamagic applied) -1 = 2, multiplied by 3, gives a total DC of 16 to the spellcraft check. Since she has an intelligence of 17 and 8 ranks in Spellcraft, she's got a +11... meaning that she still has a 20% chance of botching the application and losing the spell. Had she not expended the 0 level spell, the DC would have been 19, meaning she would fail on a natural 7 or less- 35% chance. Feeling lucky?
Jarret, on the other hand, wants to apply Quicken, Silent, and Still to his Magic Missile spell. Magic Missile is a first level spell, and Quicken has a metamagic rating of 4, while Silent and Still each have a metamagic rating of 1. 4+1+1+3(for 3 metamagics applied)+10 = 19. This means that with no expenditure of 0 level spell, the DC for this casting is 19. Jarret has a base +18 to his spellcraft, so he could do this one in his sleep. If he was distracted, suffered from negative levels, or had some other effect that penalized his skill checks, he might decide to trot out the 0 level slots to drop the dc a bit, however... [/spoiler]
Reserve Feats[Spoiler]
The only other major alteration to feats that are added to this system are Reserve feats. Reserve feats ordinarily allow an unlimited use of a spell like ability at will- but this mechanic would circumvent the flavor and mystique of a low magic campaign. Despite this, they can be a fun and useful thing for a wizard to take, allowing them to extend their meager resources over a longer period of time. The compromise I have put forward is this: Rather than getting that ability for free, every time a Reserve feat is used, it filters through the foundation spell slot a 0-level spell that provides the spark needed for the effect to occur. This permits the use of Reserve feats to help a wizard conserve their ammo, so to speak, without breaking the flavor of the campaign. [/spoiler]
Alright, I know that was a little bit to have to read through and some rather funky mechanics, but I've playtested them a little and they work surprisingly smoothly in bridging the gap between lower tier classes and the high end guys, not to mention helping along the flavor of a low magic setting. Item Creation Feats I have yet to address in depth, which is why I haven't fully writtin out a campaign for this yet, but I imagine having to divide their feats between the now more versatile Metamagics and snapping up the much needed extension of their powers that Reserve feats provide, they end up with fewer item creation feats than they might have otherwise.
Comments? I welcome any and all well intended feedback, so long as abuse is limited to my idea and not extended speculatively towards my ancestry, hygeine, and likely financial traits. Intellect and education is alright to abuse