Book of Nine Swords in Birthright

[The Jew]

Pretty much, Birthright is rare magic, but where it exists it is very powerful. Much like Tolkien. Not many wizards or magical creatures to be found. But when they appeared on the scene Mountains could be shaken to their roots.

[celtibear]

I consider Birthright low-magic in the sense that magic items are not so thick on the ground as they are in, say, the Forgotten Realms.

The ability to use arcane magic as a caster is mitigated by the requirements of having elven blood or divine bloodline; this and the low-level presented by the majority of npcs in the game makes the "baseline" magic level seem low. The baseline enables me, as DM, to add proliferation of magic items and casters up to my comfort level. I have considered requiring divine casters to be blooded as well, to mirror much of the elitism practiced in much of the medieval European church.

Since my players prefer to have nifty abilities that their characters can use more or less innately, as opposed to magic items that might come and go in utility, I've made it easier for them to get bloodline abilities to better balance them with the standard D&D encounter levels in a low-item-count campaign. Having played Eberron, I disagree that it's a low-magic setting, though again, that might be more the DM's take on it than anything written for the game.

This is all part of a pre-morning-caffeine ramble, so please forgive me if I'm not expressing myself too well. I'll try to make it up to you.