E6: The Game Inside D&D

[Alzrius]

I wanted to ask (and apologies in advance if this has already been covered; I didn't want to look through fourteen pages of the thread), is there anything about races with natural Hit Dice in E6?

I know the basic rules describe what to do with races that have a level adjustment, but they don't really seem to talk about natural Hit Dice (other than briefly mentioning them in the LA part of the FAQ, but not talking about how to balance them).

What I'm trying to ask is, are races capped at a maximum of six HD from any source in E6, or can they have any amount of natural Hit Dice, but only six class levels?

For example, if I'm running a lizardfolk PC in an E6 game, I'd use a 25-point buy because it's a +1 LA race. However, it already has 2 natural Hit Dice. Given that, can the character gain six levels of a class, or only four more? Either way seems to create some problems. If limited to four levels, there are issues with verisimilitude (e.g. no lizardfolk in the game world can ever, say, get enough levels to cast 3rd-level spells). But if they can take six class levels, there are issues of balance (since the character has more Hit Dice, with all the commensurate, than PCs with no natural Hit Dice).

What's the answer here?

 

[unundindur]

Racial HD are still counted toward the total, so Lizardmen start as ecl 3 characters, but not with the level adjustment. Anyhow, the best solution is likely to ret-con lizardmen by removing hteir racial HD (and adjusting accordingly).

Thats my take at it at least (the HD part is covered in one of the first posts).

 

[Scurvy_Platypus]

Anyone have experience of doing E6 psionics?

I played around slightly with psionics in my E8 game, but I was using the Psychic's Handbook from Green Ronin, which goes with a skill based approach. It worked out fine, but it's not like it really got hammered on seriously.

 

[dragonlordofpoondari]

Nice to see you around here, Ryan. Best of luck to you.

 

[Shazman]

Seeing as the dead would be raised by level 8 and there's limited teleport... but the kind of "1 level of a prestige class" benefits would be at level 12. The math is just plain different. Guessing where to start would be a shot in the dark, and I'd have to play a lot of 4e to be able to say how it really works. That's not tremendously likely because I'm playing non-traditional systems these days.

(PS: I'm only sort-of back - "Is there going to be a 4e E6?" was a question from last year so I felt like you guys deserved an answer. I'm wary of wading into edition vs. edition.)

I'd say it would be E10 for 4th edition with paragon feats as capstone abilities to give you some PP abilities. It is sad that the GSL is so restrictive. The OGL was about sharing the rules with everyone and growing the community, while it seems like the GSL is just the opposite. It just goes to show that today's WotC is more about lawyers and accountants than about gamers trying to improve the hobboy.

 

[Grimstaff]

Unless someone is planning on printing, marketing, and selling a 4E E6, the GSL has nothing to do with it, whatsoever.

 

[Shazman]

Yeah, I thought of that last night. As long as it's not published, you could easily just put out 4E E10 on these boards where E6 got it's start. I'm not really sure that E10 is as necessary or as attractive as E6. 4e is just so different. Your characters start out as powerful and complex as 3.5 characters in the 4-6 level range, but their power and complexity don't increase as sharply as it does in 3.5. I'm not sure if it would be worth it. Just take a look at 4E feats. Your character already gets more of them in 4E, but they aren't as powerful as 3.5 feats. You also have a lot of feats that are restricted by tiers and race, so you are left with a handful of feats to acquire instead of levels. You'd probably have to give out feats and powers in a 4E version of E6, and there aren't a whole bunch of powers to pick from compared to 3.5 feats. You would pretty much have to start from scratch to make a 4E version of E6.

 

[Grimstaff]

Supposedly, 4E was designed to fix one of the same problems E6 does, the unnecessary complexity and redundancy of high-level 3.5 play. It'll probably be quite some time before anyone has enough high-level play experience to determine whether 4E needs that "fix" or not.

 

[Scurvy_Platypus]

Errr... not to be a wet blanket, but would it be possible to fork 4E "E6"/"E10"/whatever to a different thread?

This particular thread is pretty focused on 3E, its mechanics, and how to get a pretty specific style of play out of 3E. I don't know 4E, but from what I've heard the mechanics are sufficiently different that I'm not sure how useful a discussion about them is really going to be for folks that are planning on running a 3E E6.

 

[Shazman]

I don't think that's necessary. I've said all that needs to be said about a possible 4E version of E6. There's not enough info or play experience to really consider it at this point. Anyway, does anyone know where a comprehensive list of E6 prestige feats can be found?