Change the Classes, Change the World Example: Cantrip

Cantrip is a something a little different. Its plentiful low magic inspired by history , sword and sorcery and the old Runequest 2. Its a bit more of a rigorous change than say Arcana Unearted in that basically none of the archetypes exist but it still shows the basic idea.

What I did is

Remove all races except Human , remove all the spell casting classes, add in Noble, a non magic Bard and Ranger and Savant (a generic scholar/crafter/merchant class) from Thieves World , add low magic rules and allow anyone with an INT of 10 or more to learn and cast L0 spells at will...

Magic items still exist but they are all Petty Artifacts (intelligent items) Lesser Artifacts or Greater Artifacts.

As you might guess, this is a very different game, far more human focused and with much scarier monsters, yet in its own small way more magic than most D&D games.

Here is the players Intro

Welcome to the Cantrip campaign.

This is a D&D world after a magi-pocalypse called the Leveling. This event destroyed the old traditional divisions of magic and most magic items

Its 32 point buy, Human Only using modified backgrounds from Thieves World and Pathfinder traits

Low magic options are in use including level based AC bonus and action points.

Classes are Fighter, Barbarian, Rogue, Scout, Modified Ranger, , Cavalier ,Savant, Noble, Bard, Warlord (modified) though explicitly magical options are not allowed. Mariner and Swashbuckler are up for consideration as well .

Anyone with an INT of 10+ may learn cantrips. Known cantrips may be cast at will without spell failure although gestures and speech are still required. Players start with INT Mod +1 cantrips and may learn more at start with a trait selection. When in doubt I the use Pathfinder rules. More cantrips may also be learned in game. It costs some GP and happens between sessions or after a level up.

Last rule BRING ME CANTRIPS. 3rd party sources of zero level cantrps are highly encouraged. and anyone bringing one I do not have is assumed to have found a spell book some time within game (their choice) and may immediately learn two approved cantrips and an additional one automatically. from that source each level up.