Just assembled some players for my first DnD 3.5 campaign. While I've convinced them to try Eberron, I now need to explain my so-called "house rule/variant" which will be a variant of E6. I will be opening dialogue via e-mail, so I'm pulling out my hair (few strands that are left) trying to compose the letter. Here's what I've written so far:
Here's the houserule/DnD variant:
Ryan Dancey http://forum.rpg.net/showpost.php?p=6899494&postcount=12 suggests that DnD has four very different styles of play:
Levels 1-5: Gritty: Thieves World, Wizard of Earthsea, etc.
Levels 6-10: Heroic: Lord of the Rings, Fahrd and the Grey Mouser, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, etc.
Levels 11-15: Wi-Fu: Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena: Warrior Princess, Power Rangers, X-men, etc.
Levels 16-20: Superheroes: Dr. Strange, Dragonball Z, Wonder Woman, etc.
I want to play and DM in the heroic style, and that's why your PCs in the Oriental Adventures one-shot and in the upcoming Eberron Adventerous campaign start at 6th level.
But such a style is a bit harder to accomplish at higher levels in standard DnD; at 10th level, the city militia is -- at most -- a mild exercise; giants are mincemeat; and escaping death-defying situations is easy with a teleport spell. At 18th, PCs are no more human that Superman is to Jimmy Olsen, with the party cleric able to resurrect dead PCs while Wish makes havoc of the world.
The solution, which I'd like to try out, is Epic 6, or "E6": http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=206323
Like d20, E6 is a game of enigmatic wizards, canny rogues, and mighty warriors who rise against terrible dangers and overcome powerful foes. But instead of using d20’s 20 levels to translate characters into the rules, E6 uses only the first 6. E6 is about changing one of d20’s essential assumptions, but it doesn't need a lot of rules to make that change.
To understand E6, imagine the perspective of the average medieval peasant in a d20 game. This person has the stats of a 1st-level commoner, and while they might not know their stats explicitly, they know their relation to the rest of the world. Our peasant knows that he can be killed quite easily by maurauding raiders, enemy soldiers, or even wild animals. He’s not mighty, he’s not organized, and he doesn’t have any special skills to bring to bear when danger strikes. He worries about drought and flood, and the welfare of his livestock. His extended family likely all lives within a mile of his birthplace. To him, a trip to a town ten miles off is an expedition into the unknown.
Imagine you are this peasant, and you meet a trio of 6th-level adventurers. When you address the wizard, you are speaking to someone who could incinerate your home and slay all your livestock with a few words. The fighter has prevailed against a dozen orcish skirmishers and slain them all – and he could do the same again. The cleric is a man so holy that the gods themselves have granted him the power to cure the sick and heal the wounded. These are epic heroes.
Character progression from level 1 to level 6 is as per d20. Upon attaining 6th level, for each 5000 experience a character gains, they earn a new feat. A diverse selection of feats should be made available in any E6 campaign, however, feats with unattainable prerequisites under this system remain unattainable.
For the purpose of experience awards, treat each 5 feats as +1 CR (or level), to an upper limit of 20 feats. After this, it becomes more and more difficult to bring all a character’s feats to bear in a given situation; although they continue to gain feats, 6th level characters with more than 20 feats can continue to be treated as if they were level 10 for experience and challenge purposes.
our entire Eberron campaign is scaled around 6th level. This includes monsters, feats, magic items, etc. Don't think you won't be fighting dragons or demons, though, or not be able to cast powerful spells like teleport or even wish! Additional rules, such as using incantations, "prestige feats", and rituals, will be available to allow your PCs to go toe-to-toe against the mightest threats DnD has to offer if you want to. But instead of waiting to level up, your PCs go on quests to obtain that +3 vorpal blade of fire; learn the insanity-inducing scroll that contains Evard's tentacles; or find the master of the Arcane Archer and learn -- in time -- all that prestige class' abilities.
And the feats your PC will have! Want to be able to cast two spells as once? There's a feat for that. Want your rogue to be able to jump over foes and slash down at them? There's a feat for that, too. With the exception of the fighter, most DnD classes have between 2-6 feats by the time they reach 20th level. An E6+3 feats human wizard easily have that many before they reach 7th level. And with most foes scaled between 0 through 3rd level (with the latter being captains, NPC leaders, etc.), such a wizard continues to be the fearsome force they are in story and mythology.
My variant of E6 would work as the following:
All PCs start at 6th with zero experience. When they accumulate 5000 experience points, they get a feat as per the E6 rules. When the PC has accumulated enough experience to qualify for 7th level, they get all the abilities of that level or may multiclass. Experience points again drops to zero and the entire process starts again. By the time your PCs reach 8th level, they'll easily be able to take on CR 12 or higher, all the while remaining mortal. Barely.
Let me know what you think. If you decide to give it a go but change your mind and play by the standard rules, we'll switch back. Note, though, that the complexity of the game also changes, too, at such higher levels. I've played 18th level wizards with other PCs at similar power level and the feel -- with teleport, wish, resurrection, etc., and the ability to dish out average damage in the mid-fifties -- is more superhero or over-the-top anime than anything you'll ever read in fantasy fiction.
Here's the houserule/DnD variant:
Ryan Dancey http://forum.rpg.net/showpost.php?p=6899494&postcount=12 suggests that DnD has four very different styles of play:
Levels 1-5: Gritty: Thieves World, Wizard of Earthsea, etc.
Levels 6-10: Heroic: Lord of the Rings, Fahrd and the Grey Mouser, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, etc.
Levels 11-15: Wi-Fu: Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena: Warrior Princess, Power Rangers, X-men, etc.
Levels 16-20: Superheroes: Dr. Strange, Dragonball Z, Wonder Woman, etc.
I want to play and DM in the heroic style, and that's why your PCs in the Oriental Adventures one-shot and in the upcoming Eberron Adventerous campaign start at 6th level.
But such a style is a bit harder to accomplish at higher levels in standard DnD; at 10th level, the city militia is -- at most -- a mild exercise; giants are mincemeat; and escaping death-defying situations is easy with a teleport spell. At 18th, PCs are no more human that Superman is to Jimmy Olsen, with the party cleric able to resurrect dead PCs while Wish makes havoc of the world.
The solution, which I'd like to try out, is Epic 6, or "E6": http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=206323
Like d20, E6 is a game of enigmatic wizards, canny rogues, and mighty warriors who rise against terrible dangers and overcome powerful foes. But instead of using d20’s 20 levels to translate characters into the rules, E6 uses only the first 6. E6 is about changing one of d20’s essential assumptions, but it doesn't need a lot of rules to make that change.
To understand E6, imagine the perspective of the average medieval peasant in a d20 game. This person has the stats of a 1st-level commoner, and while they might not know their stats explicitly, they know their relation to the rest of the world. Our peasant knows that he can be killed quite easily by maurauding raiders, enemy soldiers, or even wild animals. He’s not mighty, he’s not organized, and he doesn’t have any special skills to bring to bear when danger strikes. He worries about drought and flood, and the welfare of his livestock. His extended family likely all lives within a mile of his birthplace. To him, a trip to a town ten miles off is an expedition into the unknown.
Imagine you are this peasant, and you meet a trio of 6th-level adventurers. When you address the wizard, you are speaking to someone who could incinerate your home and slay all your livestock with a few words. The fighter has prevailed against a dozen orcish skirmishers and slain them all – and he could do the same again. The cleric is a man so holy that the gods themselves have granted him the power to cure the sick and heal the wounded. These are epic heroes.
Character progression from level 1 to level 6 is as per d20. Upon attaining 6th level, for each 5000 experience a character gains, they earn a new feat. A diverse selection of feats should be made available in any E6 campaign, however, feats with unattainable prerequisites under this system remain unattainable.
For the purpose of experience awards, treat each 5 feats as +1 CR (or level), to an upper limit of 20 feats. After this, it becomes more and more difficult to bring all a character’s feats to bear in a given situation; although they continue to gain feats, 6th level characters with more than 20 feats can continue to be treated as if they were level 10 for experience and challenge purposes.
our entire Eberron campaign is scaled around 6th level. This includes monsters, feats, magic items, etc. Don't think you won't be fighting dragons or demons, though, or not be able to cast powerful spells like teleport or even wish! Additional rules, such as using incantations, "prestige feats", and rituals, will be available to allow your PCs to go toe-to-toe against the mightest threats DnD has to offer if you want to. But instead of waiting to level up, your PCs go on quests to obtain that +3 vorpal blade of fire; learn the insanity-inducing scroll that contains Evard's tentacles; or find the master of the Arcane Archer and learn -- in time -- all that prestige class' abilities.
And the feats your PC will have! Want to be able to cast two spells as once? There's a feat for that. Want your rogue to be able to jump over foes and slash down at them? There's a feat for that, too. With the exception of the fighter, most DnD classes have between 2-6 feats by the time they reach 20th level. An E6+3 feats human wizard easily have that many before they reach 7th level. And with most foes scaled between 0 through 3rd level (with the latter being captains, NPC leaders, etc.), such a wizard continues to be the fearsome force they are in story and mythology.
My variant of E6 would work as the following:
All PCs start at 6th with zero experience. When they accumulate 5000 experience points, they get a feat as per the E6 rules. When the PC has accumulated enough experience to qualify for 7th level, they get all the abilities of that level or may multiclass. Experience points again drops to zero and the entire process starts again. By the time your PCs reach 8th level, they'll easily be able to take on CR 12 or higher, all the while remaining mortal. Barely.
Let me know what you think. If you decide to give it a go but change your mind and play by the standard rules, we'll switch back. Note, though, that the complexity of the game also changes, too, at such higher levels. I've played 18th level wizards with other PCs at similar power level and the feel -- with teleport, wish, resurrection, etc., and the ability to dish out average damage in the mid-fifties -- is more superhero or over-the-top anime than anything you'll ever read in fantasy fiction.
