Thor had Mjölnir and Mejingjard. Cú Chulainn had Gáe Bulg. Most of the D&D game I've seen, the magic item list for a character is longer than the skill list.
In most mythos, and for that matter video games, the people with magic are really rare.
"Oh, you can use an Evoker to use your Persona? So can everyone
else noob!"
"Wow! The guild seal reacted to you! Just what we need around here,
another Hero."
^These didn't happen.
So I got to thinking, what would it be like to have a campaign world where the PC's were really something special. Not unique (there are always others, including those that came before), but definitely rare, special, and different. Less than 1/10,000 even getting a reaction from a basic magic item.
What if, instead of having a laundry list of little trinkets, you had just a few magic items that really defined your character. Your personal regalia, if you will.
Where you can't just go to "ye olde magic mart" in "Big city A" to get your magic item upgraded for a few GP. Rather you had to go and slay Coinchenn yourself, and take the bones to Scáthach as payment for her to upgrade your stuff (she wanted the bones to make a spear for her apprentice, of course).
What would this world be like? How would the races act toward one another? How would they react toward the people who had these scary powers? Powers that common folk and nobles alike needed around to fight off monsters with terrifying powers, as well as those who were using their power for ill purpose.
Where your powers were rare, but horrid monsters for you to use them on were not.
Because the Arcana is Lost.
Interesting?
Because, umm... I might have
quite a bit prepared for this.
I also have other
Houserules.
Let me know
Warning: I DM in "hard mode" at the start of a game, to whit:
- The world operates without much overall CR fluctuation. Which means that as you get to higher levels, the harder you'll have to search for a decent challenge, whereas at the start most fights will seem "Nintendo Hard" or even "Gygaxian" (though I hate that term's inaccuracy).
You are starting at level 3. CR base is 8.