Get a 3/4 or 1 ton if you don't want to worry about aftermarket suspension/brake upgrades. Lots of people do fine with a 1/2 ton. We did several trips with our Hawk on our 1/2 ton Ram and had no accidents, but we did heat the breaks up pretty bad once. We upgraded to a 3/4 ton Ram and it took a lot of worry about safety and wear/tear out of the equation. Lot's of 1/2 ton drivers will say it works just fine, but I have not seen a 3/4 or 1 ton driver complain and want to reduce to a 1/2 ton.
One thing I didn't know about when buying the 3/4 ton was the jump in registration fees (CA). In CA a 3/4 ton is automatically considered a commercial vehicle and registration is about 3 times the cost. You can reduce to non-commercial fees if you keep the camper permanently mounted, but I hear the fines for taking the camper off are pretty high.
