Mostly Non-Magical World
In a world where there's very little magic, no PC can learn spells. This means that no player-character can take a Priest or Wizard class as his
character profession, or even as one of a dual-class or multi-class
character's professions.
In such a campaign, characters can still be Rangers and Paladins. Even they
can't learn spells . . . but they still get their other special abilities.
Paladins still have the abilities of detecting evil, +2 to saving throws,
immunity to disease, healing by laying on hands, aura of protection, turn undead,
devils, and demons, and calling of war horse; he can use the special abilities
of a holy sword in the unlikely event he can find one. All the Paladin limitations still
apply.
Rangers still have their abilities of bonuses vs. a chosen enemy, dealing with
creatures, building castles, forts, and strongholds, and attracting followers.
All the Ranger limitations still apply.
In this type of campaign, magical items and treasure of any sort are very,
very rare. They may even be nonexistent, as the DM decides.
Magical monsters, equally rare, are especially nasty and fearsome. For
example, a dragon encountered in a warriors-only campaign is more like the ferocious,
unstoppable engine of death it appears in the myths, and it takes an especially
brave St. George to confront one.
And wizards—if wizards are found, they are evil beings who have made pacts and
allegiances with nether powers and received their spells from those powers.
They're particularly nasty, powerful, and frightening because they have access
to powers which the heroes can't even approximate. The heroes must use all their
brains and brawn to confront such powerful beings, and will often have to
prepare for such a confrontation by finding artifacts, researching the history of
the wizard to discover his motives and weaknesses, and so forth.
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