Low Reliance on Magic Items

Probably the most difficult of the three things I'm wanting to achieve for the swashbuckler game I'm building is reducing the impact of magic items on the game. This means no magic weapons, armour, staves, scrolls, or whatever. It certainly alters the game a lot.

Here's what needs changed to accomodate this:

• Item creation feats need removed.
  
• Monster damage reduction abilities need reduced.
  
• Fighter-types need replacement cool toys to play with.
  
• The money-by-level table needs replaced.
  

Taking these in order, then: Item Creation Feats Remove all item creation feats except for the following: Scribe Scroll, Brew Potion, Craft Wand. This gives Wizards (and Clerics, Sorcerers, etc) access to the weak utility items they rely on so much, but effectively removes all other magic items from the game. They may still exist, but this will be at the DM's discretion. PCs will not be able to create such items. Note that removing the three remaining item creation feats probably makes a huge difference in the balance between classes; a Wizard who can make himself a wand of fireballs is hugely more powerful than one who cannot. Damage Reduction If the Fighters of the group can't get their hands on magic weapons, they cannot ever defeat the damage reduction of monsters. This creates a significant problem for them. Two possibilities for solving this spring to mind: 1) Don't use the monsters affected. 2) Reduce the damage reduction of the monsters. Naturally, I prefer the latter approach. My two-part suggestion is as follows: Reduce all damage reduction amounts by half. Round to the next lowest multiple of 5. So, a golem with DR 30/+3 becomes DR 15/+3. A fiend with DR 25/+2 becomes DR 10/+2. This makes it possible for characters to at least do some damage to creatures with DR they cannot overcome. Secondly, reduce the weapon needed to bypass the damage reduction. Ideally, this should be done in two steps: Reduce the 'plus' required by 2, to a minimum of +1, and add a specific vulnerability to the monster. Thus, the golem listed above might be vulnerable to meteorite iron. It's final DR, then, would be 15/+1 or meteorite iron. The fiend is more likely to be vulnerable to blessed weapons, and so have DR 10/+1 or blessed. Naturally, the weaknesses assigned to monsters aren't going to be known to PCs in general. They will have to find these out on their own, which is not an easy task when you've got a Balor approaching... Fighter-types Need Cool Toys I've posted before on the whole cool toys thing for Fighters. In a normal game, a lot of the fun such characters have, at high levels, comes from their magic items. If we remove the items, naturally they lose this benefit. Ironically, then, it's actually the non-magical classes that suffer most from reducing the reliance on magic items :-) The first, and most obvious way, to provide replacement cool toys is to add a large number of feats to the game, to allow Fighters to develop more interesting fighting styles. Ultimate Feats has a whole bunch of useful feats for this purpose; companies other than Mongoose have published their own equivalent books of feats. The second thing to do is to apply the changes suggested under 'spiffing up d20 combat'. Wizards always have fun in combat - they get to choose which of their many spells to cast. Fighter types should have the same fun, deciding what maneuver is most cinematic. And, by providing bonuses for heroic action, we get this result. Thirdly, I want to take a leaf from the Wheel of Time game, and add Masterpiece Weapons and Armour. These work just like Masterwork items, but cost even more, and are even more effective: Masterpiece Weapon: Cost: +600 gp A masterpiece weapon is constructed with such skill and attention to detail that it is measurably better than even a masterwork weapon of the same type. As such, it provides a +2 enhancement bonus to attack rolls made with the weapon. Masterpiece Armour: Cost: +300 go These suits of armour are fitted precisely to the individual who will wear them. Therefore, when worn by that individual only, they provide a reduction of 2 to armour check penalties, compared with normal armour of the same type. This reduction cannot reduce the penalty below 0. When worn by any other character than the one the armour was fitted to, masterpiece armour acts as masterwork armour of the same type. Other items: A PC may wish to acquire a sword with a spring-loaded dagger in the hilt, or clothing with special pockets, or... In general, the DM should be generous in allowing the character access to these things. The Wealth-by-Level table This is the table in the DMG that provides starting cash for PCs of higher than first level. This allows players to equip new characters in a manner that will make them balanced with their colleagues. It also acts as a nice guide for treasure awarded, since DMs are encouraged to keep their PCs in line with this table, in case new PCs must be introduced. However, after about 3rd level, the biggest expenses a new PC will have are almost guaranteed to be magic items. If these items are removed, characters will either have ridiculous amounts of cash lying around, or will be business magnates, property barons, or otherwise very influential in the setting. Instead, it is suggested that this table be changed to account for the removal of magic items. That said, I can't provide a replacement table at this time: the original is not in the SRD, and I don't have my DMG to hand at this time. (Actually, the matter is slightly more complex: the treasure per encounter, and thus the random treasure tables should similarly be adjusted. However, I don't use these tables, so don't have any interest in changing them. Didn't I mention that I'm building the game for my amusement, not for anyone else? I should have.) Conclusion
That's it - I think I've done enough to build the swashbuckler game I want. The next thing I need to do is build the campaign setting to go with it, and provide any rules that are needed to augment the setting. I have some fun ideas here, which will follow in later posts.

Comments? Arguments? Suggestions?