rycanada said:
The [stone to flesh] feat's been tossed around before; there's a few reasons it's the way it is.
1) The 18 INT requirement is because 18 INT casters don't get an extra 4th level spell.
I actually went to my PHB and back before I realized that you don't mean that 18 int doesn't give a 4th level spell slot, which of course it does. What you mean is, since by default no casters in E6 ever get 4th level spells, the bonus spell slot that 18 int does give, is totally wasted on E6 casters.
Sorry, I know it was obvious to you, but it was totally non-obvious to me at first, so I wanted it spelled out in case anyone missed the boat like I did
So, I agree it sucks that 18 in a stat gives a caster in E6 no benefit to spell slots. Not sure what to do about that. Wrapping the stat bonuses around more quickly might not be a terrible idea.
+1 1
+2 2
+3 3
+4 1 x2
+5 2 x2
+6 3 x2
+7 1 x3
...
where x2 is 2 extra spell slots. All levels are cumulative, so at +4 you actually have 3 bonus 1st level spells, a bonus 2nd, and a bonus 3rd.
I've always thought the spell slot bonuses for high stats were way too conservative anyway.
I know it's a departure from the simple "D&D until 6th, then feats every 5k", but it's not too bad. Plus, you assume there's not going to be nearly the inflation of stats in E6.
rycanada said:
2) I put it in because there are legitimate CR enemies that have stone attacks, and DMs don't necessarily want those to be permanent. This was a way to say "Hey, you're turned to stone, but if the party can get you back to this powerful wizardly alchemist, and he can reverse it."
I still think it's ok to say that, but not have it be something PCs can do. NPCs can always do wacky stuff PCs can't, this could be one of them.
rycanada said:
3) I made it a feat rather than a ritual or a plot point because I try to keep all my low-level tinkering with the rules at the feat level.
I think that's a good goal, and I agree that you don't want to tweak stuff too much, since then it stops being "D&D until 6th level" etc.
I just don't think any player I know would ever take that feat unless they were in a game where there were unusually consistent encounters with stone-turning enemies.
Anyway.... Not really that big of a deal, I was more just trying to figure out exact motivations and hopefully stimulate some thought.