E6: The Game Inside D&D

jdrakeh · Jun 30, 2007

I'm going to work on PDF-izing this over the weekend, formatting it for easy insertion (by way of glue stick) into the inside front and back covers of the PHB or DMG. That said. . . I'm going to stop short of making it available here (or at Miscellaneous Debris) until I get the official nod from Ry. So, if you want a copy for personal use, bug him

Emryys · Jun 30, 2007

rycanada said:
...why don't we just classify our suggestions and playtest experiences into BE6, CE6, and XE6?

rycanada said:
...I think E6 + the regular gestalt rules (i.e. Gestalt LEvel 1, Gestalt Level 2, Gestalt level 3) would work very well, especially with a doubled EXP chart.

jdrakeh said:
I'm going to work on PDF-izing this over the weekend...

Remember, we've now got BE6, CE6, XE6 and GE6...

Ry · Jun 30, 2007

Pssst. James - let's msn or something about a .pdf when I'm back from this infernal vacation, OK?

MeepoDM · Jun 30, 2007

Akrasia said:
This is a great idea! If I ever DM 3e again, I'm definitely using this system.

Agreed, a really slick idea. I did something quite similar earlier this year with the 1977 Holmes D&D set (level 6 max, options to purchase further abilities afterwards) and it was a big hit. I ended up adding levels 7 & 8 eventually, with a more limited/slightly altered level 4 spell list, but 6 was my first goal and I preferred it for the same reasons you stated.

But of course, hardly anyone plays Holmes D&D anymore and nearly everyone knows and prefers 3E! :lol:

I'd love to give this a whirl someday.

Thanks for sharing this idea with us, rycanada!

jdrakeh · Jun 30, 2007

rycanada said:
Pssst. James - let's msn or something about a .pdf when I'm back from this infernal vacation, OK?

Will do. Like I said, for the time being, I'm only laying out something for me (i.e., my personal use)

Thaedrus · Jun 30, 2007

Infernal vacation in June?

rycanada, I can't beleive you decided to vacation in hell during the summer. The airline rates may be slightly lower at that time, but you can usually find deals for winter vacations there, and lounging by a lake of fire is SOOOO much nicer when you have had to contend with winter weather for a while. I prefer my infernal vacations to be just after the new year, when I am tired of all the holiday crap anyway. Just a suggestion for next year.

Lee

ps. Stay away from unpeeled fruit. It can get you into trouble.

Ry · Jun 30, 2007

Thinking about XE6 - I think no matter what XE6 would be a bit of a kludge, but if I were to do it, I think I would suggest that each level be broken into 4 feats:

1) Hit Die and Class/Character Level
2) BAB and Saves
3) Skills
4) All other Class Features (incl. Spells)

With the idea being you have to take all 4 in the same class, and can only do one class for 7, and 1 class for 8.

What do people think of that approach for XE6?

Dragonblade275 · Jun 30, 2007

rycanada said:
What do people think of that approach for XE6?

Let me see if I understand...

XE6 still limits a character to 6th level max, but the XP needed for advancement is extended in some fashion. Levels would be broken down into four parts as follows:

LVL Benefit
1.00 Normal for 1st level of character's race and class.
1.25 additional Hit Die
1.50 BAB and Saves
1.75 Skill Points
2.00 All other Class Features (incl. Spells)

And, then it would just be deciding on an XP Chart to use to determine XP needed for each level and stage of each level.

This would be tricky if multi-classing. The new class would have to be declared at 1.25 and would be unchangable until 2.00. Then, a new class could be declared at 2.25.

Am I understanding this correctly?

If so, this is essentially a 24 level game (6 levels x 4 lvl parts = 24) going epic at 25th level and then only gaining feats at 25th level and beyond.

The thing that I would want to add is to give an additional feat at the .75 part of each level.

Ry · Jun 30, 2007

XE6 is about having rules that allow characters to "pop the cap" at least up to 8th level power. So I was thinking about each level as a 4-part feat chain, like this:

Seventh-Level Advancement 1
Choose a class. You gain a hit die and your character level and class level raise as if you were one level higher in that class. You gain no other benefits of levelling in that class.
Special: The class a character uses for Seventh-Level Advancement 1 must be used for Seventh-Level Advancement 2, 3, and 4.

Seventh-Level Advancement 2
Prereq: Seventh-Level Advancement 1
For the class you chose for Seventh-Level Advancement 1, you gain any increased BAB and Saves as if you had taken a level in that class. You gain no other benefits of levelling in that class.
Special: The class a character uses for Seventh-Level Advancement 1 must be used for Seventh-Level Advancement 2, 3, and 4.

Seventh-Level Advancement 3
Prereq: Seventh-Level Advancement 2
For the class you chose for Seventh-Level Advancement 1, you gain any increased skill ranks and ranks available as if you had taken a level in that class. You gain no other benefits of levelling in that class.
Special: The class a character uses for Seventh-Level Advancement 1 must be used for Seventh-Level Advancement 2, 3, and 4.

Seventh-Level Advancement 4
Prereq: Seventh-Level Advancement 3
For the class you chose for Seventh-Level Advancement 1, you gain any benefit of taking a level in that class that you have not already received from Seventh-Level Advancement 1, 2, or 3. You gain no other benefits of levelling in that class.
Special: The class a character uses for Seventh-Level Advancement 1 must be used for Seventh-Level Advancement 2, 3, and 4.