D&D 3E/3.5 Epic 6 3.5 Rebuild

[tricktroller]

So I absolutely love 3.5 D&D. I've been playing it since it came out and started playing D&D 25 years ago.
But 3.5 always got out of hand or you ended up with a useless or massively underpowered (compared to others) character at high levels.
We started playing Epic 6 (E6) about 7 years ago and haven't looked back, but there are still lots of issues with regular 3.5 D&D even at E6. SO I started to rewrite the system.
I did not create the Epic 6 rule set, but I think my changes make it come to life in a way that it lacked previously.
I removed a ton of arbitrary rules, reduced skill clutter, added in a ton more skill points, added something I call class additions, which is sort of a mini gestalting, for each class, rebuilt all of the classes that I kept in game (a lot can be emulated by other classes without having to be an entirely different class), and a ton more.
I'm thinking about releasing it for sale under the OGL when I finally have it finished, but I'm not sure if anyone is even interested in buying it.
So I'd like to ask all of y'all if this is something you'd be interested in. I have a link to a google doc (currently something like 88 pages) that would be my new Player's Handbook. I'd also be releasing a Monster Manual and Dungeon Master's Guide once I have them completed.
So my question is, would anyone care to look at my PHB and give any comments or criticisms?
Is this a product you'd be interested in?

 

[Mannahnin]

Ooh. Yes, it's in my interest wheelhouse. I've often said that sometimes I feel a bit nostalgic for 3.x, but that I'd want to try out E6 if I ever went back to it.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

One of the bigger elements about E6 that appealed to me was minimal need for any house rules. I loved the idea of handing players a PH and just 4 pages of E6-related rules (and my minimal house rule changes/additions), and never intending or foreseeing anything more. Any remaining issues I've ever found with the underlying 3.5 rules are so slight as to be irrelevant. Since I have had house-rule sets for other editions that are 60, 100 pages AND MORE (with no end in sight, and struggling to select a set of house rules from all the possibilities that was manageable for myself much less the players), the ability to let a set of rules stand on its own, unmolested, for the entire duration of just one campaign much less more than one was what REALLY sold me on E6.

To each their own and best of luck to you, but 3.5 plus 4 pages of E6/house rules is all I want or need without just changing editions to something else altogether.

 

[payn]

My preferred fantasy game right now is an E8 Pathfinder first ed. What ways does your rewrite differentiate from that?

 

[tricktroller]

Ooh. Yes, it's in my interest wheelhouse. I've often said that sometimes I feel a bit nostalgic for 3.x, but that I'd want to try out E6 if I ever went back to it.

E6 has been our favorite version of 3.5 D&D and we've been running it solidly for about 4-5 years now with no complaints from any member. You actually feel like a hero in a story, but it is challenging at the same time!

One of the bigger elements about E6 that appealed to me was minimal need for any house rules. I loved the idea of handing players a PH and just 4 pages of E6-related rules (and my minimal house rule changes/additions), and never intending or foreseeing anything more. Any remaining issues I've ever found with the underlying 3.5 rules are so slight as to be irrelevant. Since I have had house-rule sets for other editions that are 60, 100 pages AND MORE (with no end in sight, and struggling to select a set of house rules from all the possibilities that was manageable for myself much less the players), the ability to let a set of rules stand on its own, unmolested, for the entire duration of just one campaign much less more than one was what REALLY sold me on E6.

To each their own and best of luck to you, but 3.5 plus 4 pages of E6/house rules is all I want or need without just changing editions to something else altogether.

I totally understand that, but what I wanted to get away form with this rewrite was the need to dip a dozen classes and take useless feats to try to hit prestige class requirements etc and just be able to play your character the way you wanted.
The idea here is to make a new version of 3.5 that is more balanced and focused around the characters being more than just a pile of classes, stats, and skills.
Each class on its own without feats handles the vast majority of your combat needs and allows players to feel like they can add to each encounter. Each class is much more unique now too, so if you play a rogue and a scout you don't feel like you have two of the exact same character.

Also skill bloat was massive so I trimmed the skills down to 26 or 27 skills in total.

My preferred fantasy game right now is an E8 Pathfinder first ed. What ways does your rewrite differentiate from that?

So similar to E8, your character's class features can expand to 8th effective level in my E6 game but your leveling stops at 6th (hit points, skills, BAB, spells, etc) except when using feats. Each time you hit 6,000 XP you get a new feat which you can use to gain some abilities beyond the scope of 6th level. a 4th levels pell once per week, higher levels of class features, extra skill points, extra stat points, etc.
I've also rewritten/written 27 classes for the game, each with their own selection of additional class features as well as multiple paths inside of their class. I'm in the middle of redoing the spell lists for each class and intend to make them all more or less unique entirely to each class.
Also, I've rewritten about 800 feats, reworked the skill system down to a more manageable size and given out many more skill points, I'm working on redoing armor, shields, and weapons to make them all have a reason for existing rather than just because I need padding for the system, etc.
I added combat actions as well which are sort of like Reactions from 5E but different. The overall goal of the game is to give a 3.5 D&D experience that is much more balanced, allows for more roleplay and gets rid of the need to dip, dive, dodge, duck, and dip your way to get your character to do the things you want them to do. But also multiclassing is available if you really wanted to go for something that specific.

 

[tricktroller]

One of the bigger elements about E6 that appealed to me was minimal need for any house rules. I loved the idea of handing players a PH and just 4 pages of E6-related rules (and my minimal house rule changes/additions), and never intending or foreseeing anything more. Any remaining issues I've ever found with the underlying 3.5 rules are so slight as to be irrelevant. Since I have had house-rule sets for other editions that are 60, 100 pages AND MORE (with no end in sight, and struggling to select a set of house rules from all the possibilities that was manageable for myself much less the players), the ability to let a set of rules stand on its own, unmolested, for the entire duration of just one campaign much less more than one was what REALLY sold me on E6.

To each their own and best of luck to you, but 3.5 plus 4 pages of E6/house rules is all I want or need without just changing editions to something else altogether.

Also, since the 3.5 books aren't in print anymore this would allow newer players to have 3.5 books without having to pay $100 a piece or more for some of them.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

Also, since the 3.5 books aren't in print anymore this would allow newer players to have 3.5 books without having to pay $100 a piece or more for some of them.

Don't even need books - the SRD is still available and free.

 

[tricktroller]

Don't even need books - the SRD is still available and free.

That's a bit reductive don't you think? You only have access to some of the content of 3.5 with the SRD, and while it is the lion's share, it doesn't have everything.

It's also not laid out like a handbook so it's more difficult for newer players.

The whole point of this rewrite isn't just for seasoned 3.5 players. It's to give more options. I've recently started a third group that I run for that is entirely new to 3.5 style players.

 

[tricktroller]

I've just about got the spell lists done for all classes. Each list is 99% unique from other classes. Outside of domains there are now roughly only 600 spells, powers, and invocations in the game. Domains I am currently working on reducing from the mind boggling 106 available domains.
And when I say unique to the class I mean the individual spells not necessarily their functionality. For instance, only Warmage will get fireball, only Sorcerer will get lightning bolts, and only Wizard will get vitriolic sphere. They are each a damage dealing spell but they function differently.
Now personally, as a DM I will allow players to learn spells from other lists by spending time, resources, RPing, using a feat, etc. The idea here is that each spell caster will have a unique way of going about solving problems and hopefully we don't end up with "This is the very best spell for this so it is the only one used and by every class."

 

[payn]

I've just about got the spell lists done for all classes. Each list is 99% unique from other classes. Outside of domains there are now roughly only 600 spells, powers, and invocations in the game. Domains I am currently working on reducing from the mind boggling 106 available domains.
And when I say unique to the class I mean the individual spells not necessarily their functionality. For instance, only Warmage will get fireball, only Sorcerer will get lightning bolts, and only Wizard will get vitriolic sphere. They are each a damage dealing spell but they function differently.
Now personally, as a DM I will allow players to learn spells from other lists by spending time, resources, RPing, using a feat, etc. The idea here is that each spell caster will have a unique way of going about solving problems and hopefully we don't end up with "This is the very best spell for this so it is the only one used and by every class."

Have these been playtested? I can easily see a situation where folks start seeing that Class x and y are poor choices to z.