A low magic world: getting it right from the start

[New Spirit]

If you want a low magic world, you should keep it simple from the start. Meaning to allow only non/low magic classes and prestige classes.
The guideline is to reduce magic but still keep it powerful.
I just want to cover basic classes in this thread, and write more detail if my ideas are well recieved

Definitions, that you know what i'm talking about:

Basic classes with no magic:
barbarian, fighter, rogue, monk

Basic classes with low/med magic:
Ranger, paladin, bard

Basic classes with high magic:
wizard, sorcerer, cleric, druid

At the start of utt3, only no magic classes are selectable. Then you take some time to adjust spells and abilities for the low/med magic classes and one after the other
make them available for play.
Ranger and paladin should not take that long to customise (few spells). Bard might take a bit longer.
Gradually, the world will be filling up with a little bit of magic. That lets you see exactly what impact each spell has on quests/gameplay/rp. Too powerful or too weak spells can be spotted quickly and modified without giving players time to complain.

Now the high magic classes: they are only available to players as a reward for remarkably good rp. The apearance of a high magic character probably involves a plot.
That way you make sure they are handled sensibly, and not many of them are around.
The high magic classes can remain quite powerful (as magic should be), without worry of abuse.

Comments, feedback, lets hear it.
If you like the concept, i'll write more detail.

[DM_Kev]

Judging by your definitions, we are working somewhat closely to that.

Here's some info on the actual setup of magic which i've just finished a trial version of this week:

(Only classes with magic are listed here)

Low/Medium: Pally, Cleric, Druid

High: Sorcerer



Notes:

Bards have many varieties of their music which give different bonuses. This is sufficient for our needs. Boosted base attack and hit die. All magic removed.

Paladins (known now as Champions) are pretty much the same. General re-themeing done in places. Weapon buffs removed.

Rangers in ME are somewhat different to the DnD version. Modified these to reflect a more skilled, light melee class.

Wizards are fully dropped, as per UTT2. Sorcerers use the wizard spell gain and use system though. They have spell level 0-9 with mostly non damaging spells. They are now more capable in melee.

Clerics (known now as Healers) only have healing, removal and simple protective spells now. Boosted melee ability. Spell levels 0-5

Druids have some healing spells, nature-like buffs and can summon animals and change shape. Spell Levels 0-5. Some boosts to melee ability, but less so than clerics


That's a brief summary of the initial setup. It is in no way the final setup.

[usaerah]

Well I must admit I am glad that this roleplay community is still thriving. It has been a while since I have visited. I would have to say that utt2 has always been my favorite roleplay experience being a pronounced low-majik advocate. Though, I have not been on mainly because I am busy playing nww2. It is good to see that you are brain storming on utt3. Have you guys set a time frame for starting this nwn2 server for Tolkien's world?

-usaerah

[DM_Kev]

Hello, thanks for dropping by!

Our position on NWN2 and the UTT series has somewhat shifted over recent months.

The upshot of it all is that at this time, there are no plans to develop a NWN2 gaming world of the magnitude we currently enjoy with NWN1. Reasons for this include unclear limitations of the NWN2 game engine to run large worlds, the hardware limitation our players have and also my current lack of desire to once again spend years developing a large world and painstakingly create all the structure. The final point should not be considered any disillusionment of mine - I just want to do something different at this time, NWN2 wise.

What I can confirm is that we WILL be using NWN2, but for a different project. The campaign format we are developing in UTT2 looks to be very successful - I plan to use this as a basis to produce some stand-alone NWN2 campaigns which players can download from us and either play solo, in a party or with a party and DM structure. This can all be done privately by players or maybe on occasion we will run sessions of these games much like NWN Connections. These campaigns will be set in our "UTT Universe", so a lot of things like NPCs, locations and items will be familiar with fans of the series.

At the same time, UTT2 will continue to flourish with new campaigns being added to regions and improvements being made all-round. The exact time the first NWN2 campaign will be produced is unknown as first I intend to iron out some of UTT2's larger issues, such as the level-gulf and high level content.

An idea im playing with, is to produce a NWN2 version of the Forochel campaign im working on now for UTT2. This would be a great way of weighing up the pro's and con's of NWN1 and NWN2.

Either way, you'll be hearing more on our plans soon. So sorry, no UTT3 world at this time (that's always subject to change!). But the planned projects can certainly be seen as UTT3, but in a different incarnation.