What would happen if you ran a campaign in 5E where you only allowed three classes: Fighter, Cleric, or Wizard?

Well, it’d probably go quite well. Those three classes cover a lot of bases. Why did I select them? They were the original classes in Dungeons & Dragons. The rogue (thief) came along later – the first supplement added both the Thief and the Paladin.

But do you actually need a Rogue in the party? With the 5E skill system, it’s quite easy to build another character – probably a Fighter – with their core trap-finding skills. And though the Rogue’s sneak attack is nice, it’s hardly needed when everyone else is pulling their weight.

However, I didn’t choose these classes just because I wanted to run a 5E game inspired by original Dungeons & Dragons. In fact, that wasn’t the reason at all.

The reason for these classes comes from one particular idea: Limited Spell Availability. The idea that both clerics and wizards start with only a few spells available to them and must discover other spells either through research or discovery. Or making alliances with various factions or people with expanded spell lists.

There are many spells in the game. Especially for clerics, only a few get seen because you always go for the best. But if spell availability was more limited and random?

As I continued to think about this potential campaign, I also considered where I’d like to set it and how it would be structured. As finding spells – and thus discovery – would be a key part of the game, running the game as a hexcrawl was very appealing. The challenge was finding a location where the hexcrawl could be set.

Hexcrawls want wilderness. They want unknown lands where the party can explore. One of the features of the World of Greyhawk is that most of the terrain is claimed by one kingdom or another. There are probably areas in those kingdoms you could hexcrawl, but running a hexcrawl around the City of Greyhawk or the Kingdom of Furyondy doesn’t seem great. And I believe that hexcrawls also work best when there can be claiming of land. (Just looking for things to kill doesn’t need a hexcrawl).

Considering the map, I settled on the Bandit Kingdoms. It’s an area I’ve never used in my games but is a disputed territory full of small lordlings and lawlessness. As I don’t know almost anything about it, it’s perfect to put down a bunch of random hexes and stuff for the players to find.

Gary Gygax once intended to release a supplement about Stoink, a town in the area which had hosted many an adventure. I believe Gord the Rogue also visited there during those novels. Alas, Stoink never saw the light of day and – as far as I’m aware – the notes are lost. I may set my own version of Stoink as the beginning town, with several competing factions that can be used as patrons for early play. And also be not the greatest place to live – so there is a desire to get out and see the world and claim a little bit of it for yourself!

Mind you, I’m quite happy with my current Greyhawk campaign, and I expect that’ll likely run another year. Do I start a third campaign to run every week, or do I hold onto the idea until my Friday night campaign ends? I’m not sure. We’ll see.

But it gives me time to develop it.

Just to give an idea of the beginning spell selection of a cleric, here are the spells the Church of St Cuthbert teaches its devotees. I’m making this up on the fly – it will probably change based on feedback.

St Cuthbert of the Cudgel

Lawful (Neutral) Good.

St Cuthbert is the patron of the working man. He values those who go out for a day’s labour and come back fulfilled and happy. “Work hard, Pray Hard, Play Hard” might be his motto – although St Cuthbert’s and his priests tend to have a limited sense of humour. His priests and their soldiers defend the faithful against foes that would disrupt town life, or would enslave the working man. He has a particular hatred for Iuz the Old, and his followers often speak of holy wars against that evil demigod’s lands.

Note that a cleric could potentially cast any cleric spell – it’s just that their faith doesn’t have all spells in their taught knowledge. But a spell like true resurrection could be found or researched by the player – or liberated from the sacred scrolls of another faith!