E6: The Game Inside D&D

[Ry]

Man. This is gold. I have a very tight day to day schedule which really makes it hard for me to fit in rules-heavy games like D&D, so this is just what the doctor ordered

That's the idea - also, recruiting from D&D player base isn't too hard. Those who crave high-level know it's not their tastes, and the others seem highly interested.

 

[Ry]

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

Thanks Akrasia! Let me know if you are going to do so - I'm hugely interested in how it works in other GMs' hands.

 

[Ry]

I immediately began thinking of higher level spells as being the dark mysterious, things man was not meant to know, found in books in long lost libraries. But, these spells would have to be cast in ritual, which is a pretty traditional fantasy staple. If a group of casters can cast spells at higher levels than any individual, you open up the villain possibilities to cultists trying to cast a high level summoning. In this case your heroes would have to stop the cultists, because there would be no way they could stop whatever it is the cultists wish to stop.

Exactly!

 

[Ry]

That's a good idea. It's probably a good idea for standard D&D, too.

This brings up a good point: E6 will always inherit D&D's balance issues in the same level range. On one hand, these issues are mostly orthogonal to E6 - it's meant to stay simple and doesn't try to be a fix for everything. On the other hand (as we're talking about multiclass characters), these issues have a big impact on what we think is a balanced E6 feat and what isn't.

 

[Koewn]

Koewn, does this chart take into consideration the idea that the characters are still using the lower-level XP chart? As for more detail of how to calculate that, I've no idea. But I'd consider giving 300*CR = XP as the players start to drift upwards from 6th.

Hrm. Shoot, I added that up all wrong anyway. I'll fix it a bit later. I accidently did 3000 XP per feat, not 5000 XP per feat. Dur.

The table itself is just a direct translation of the PHB's XP-by-level tables, into feats-earned.

I may have missed what the "lower-level XP chart" was defined as earlier?

 

[Ry]

Thanks for sharing this idea with us, rycanada!

My pleasure Meepo! The great thing about this is that depending on how you want to approach it you can still tailor your campaign by what feats you allow.

 

[Ry]

Hrm. Shoot, I added that up all wrong anyway. I'll fix it a bit later. I accidently did 3000 XP per feat, not 5000 XP per feat. Dur.

The table itself is just a direct translation of the PHB's XP-by-level tables, into feats-earned.

I may have missed what the "lower-level XP chart" was defined as earlier?

Just that players will be earning XP as 6th-level characters throughout their "epic" careers (at least in BE6/CE6, XE6 is making my head hurt thinking about it). So if they take on a CR 10 monster they get much more for it than a Level 15 character would in D&D, but probably do that less often.

 

[TonyTempest]

Hey David, sounds like what you started with was basically the same aims that I had back 2 years ago before E6 was E6. At that time, I worked up these complex gestalt XP-buy rules, but eventually my players and I realized that with all the options available all that was really getting used were feat purchasing, because they were so easy to approach.

Yes, after seeing this post (I was introduced to it at RPG.net, cause I missed it over here) I saw that it was what I wanted to have happen with my "rules". After reading the follow up posts I realized that characters could advance any aspect of their character sheet with feats that already exist, such as Open Minded (Complete Adv, XPH) for 5 skill points, and others that were mentioned or invented. It's way less complicated.

david

 

[Ry]

Yes, after seeing this post (I was introduced to it at RPG.net, cause I missed it over here) I saw that it was what I wanted to have happen with my "rules". After reading the follow up posts I realized that characters could advance any aspect of their character sheet with feats that already exist, such as Open Minded (Complete Adv, XPH) for 5 skill points, and others that were mentioned or invented. It's way less complicated.

One other thing it can handle: I had one player who just couldn't stop talking about how AE would let his character combine slots up on a 3:1 ratio and split down on a 1:2 ratio.

I made it into a feat.

Feats not being in short supply, it was the next one he took.

 

[Aegir]

One other thing it can handle: I had one player who just couldn't stop talking about how AE would let his character combine slots up on a 3:1 ratio and split down on a 1:2 ratio.

Indeed, I love AE, as well as Iron Heroes (in fact, ever since I played an AE Magister, I can't bring myself to play a D&D wizard/sorcerer, it just feels clunky by comparison). In fact, I'm entertaining adapting this system to AE, and possibly even an AE/IH hybrid.