E6: The Game Inside D&D

[Derro]

I'm trying things out in Ravenloft. They've just started out so I won't see the effects for a while. One thing I'm going to do which is counter to the E6 philosophy is leave the Darklords as is and not reduce them to E6+X. There unique status in Ravenloft warrants this I feel.

I think that the low power level will heighten the horror in the setting because the PCs can't think to themselves that they will one day be on par with the powerful evils of the setting.

 

[modus666]

I'm trying things out in Ravenloft. They've just started out so I won't see the effects for a while. One thing I'm going to do which is counter to the E6 philosophy is leave the Darklords as is and not reduce them to E6+X. There unique status in Ravenloft warrants this I feel.

I think that the low power level will heighten the horror in the setting because the PCs can't think to themselves that they will one day be on par with the powerful evils of the setting.

very true, E6 characters would never be able to realistically take on strahd without some sort of special preparation, deus ex machina, or other such dramatic effect. but remember someone may have that as a goal, so it should be something that could be done just not in the traditional, kick the door in once we hit 20th level and PWN him sorta way

 

[modus666]

prestige feat trees

i am compiling my own little E6 document for my dragonmech players and was taking a closer look at the blackguard prestige feats that were presented many pages back, for reference sake i will copy them at the bottom of my post. i had a few concerns

1) does anyone else feel that the "fallen from grace" feat's mechanic is a bit bulky. i think it might be easier to do feat or class retraining (as presented in the PHB 2) if one were a fallen paladin than to bother with this mechanic

2) does anyone else feel that the "fiendish servant" feat is a bit out of scope? perhaps it could be boiled down a bit more?

3) i think the "blessing of darkness" feat could be easily reworded to be something like this... Benefit: Choose one spell from the following list: cause fear, corrupt weapon, cure light wounds, doom, inflict light wounds, magic weapon, and summon monster I (evil creatures only); you may cast this spell once per day, with a caster level equal to the numer of blackguard "blessing of darkness" feats you posess (up to a maximum of 6th level caster); this feat may be taken multiple times, each time choosing another spell from this list

this way the blackguard could have a more varied selection of spells without allowing any one spell to be used very often.

any thoughts? i've generally been of the opinion that most prestige classes could be boiled down to 4 or 5 feats but the blackguard tends to break that mold a bit with its varied abilities.

===================
blackguard prestige feats (before any modification)
===================
Blackguard Training [Prestige]
You have begun training as a blackguard.
Prerequisite: No other prestige feats, evil alignment, must have made peaceful contact with an evil outsider, character level 6th, skills: Hide 5 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 2 ranks, feats:Cleave, Improved Sunder, Power Attack
Benefit: The following skills become class skills for you: Concentration, Craft, Diplomacy, Handle Animal, Heal, Hide, Intimidate, Knowledge (religion), Profession, and Ride.
In addition, you gain an Aura of Evil. The power of the aura (see the detect evil spell) is equal to the number of prestige feats you posses.
Special: You may not gain this feat if you already possess any other prestige feats.

Sunder the Righteous [Prestige]
Your devotion to darkness has granted you power to harm the followers of the light.
Prerequisite: Blackguard Training, Power Attack, Cleave, Improved Sunder, character level 6th.
Benefit: Once per day, you may make a single melee attack against a good aligned target. You add your Charisma modifier (if positive) to the attack roll and deal 1 extra point of damage per prestige feat you posses, plus any bonuses from high Strength or magical effects that normally apply. If you accidentally use this ability feat against a target that is not good, the feat has no effect but is still used up for that day.

Inquisition [Prestige]
You have gained the ability to sense the righteous wherever they may lurk.
Prerequisite: Blackguard Training, Hide 4 ranks, character level 6th.
Benefit: You may use detect good as a spell like ability at will. In addition, any melee weapon you wield is considered evil aligned for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction

Fallen From Grace [Prestige]
The lords of corruption favor those who were once pure.
Prerequisite: Blackguard Training, one or more paladin levels, character level 6th.
Benefit: You immediately gain a number of prestige feats equal to your paladin level/2. For example, a 3rd-level paladin/3rd-level cleric would gain 1 extra prestige feat upon gaining this feat while a 5th-level paladin/1st-level rogue would gain 2.
Special: This feat adds to the number of prestige feats you posses as normal in addition to any added by virtue of this feat. Feats gained by this feat do not count towards the limit of prestige feats you may learn.

Lord of Despair [Prestige]
Your body has become a conduit for negative energy.
Prerequisite: Blackguard Training, two or more prestige feats, Knowledge (religion) 2 ranks, character level 6th.
Benefit: You may command or rebuke undead a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier. You command undead as would a cleric who’s level equals the number of prestige feats you posses -2.
In addition, the dark energy you wield envelopes you in a malign aura that causes enemies within 10 feet to take a -2 penalty on all saving throws.

Fiendish Servant [Prestige]
Your dark masters have granted you an ally from the lower planes.
Prerequisite: Blackguard Training, three or more prestige feats, Knowledge (religion) 2 ranks, character level 6th.
Benefit: You acquire a fiendish servant that serves you as a guardian, helper, or mount. You may choose from the following: fiendish bat, cat, dire rat, horse, pony, raven, or toad. The servant further gains HD and special abilities based on the number of prestige feats you posses.
Five or less prestige feats grant your fiendish servant +2 HD, +1 Natural Armor, +1 Strength, an Intelligence score of 6, and the following special abilities: empathic link, improved evasion, share saving throws, and share spells. Six or more prestige feats grant your fiendish servant +4 HD, +3 Natural Armor, +2 Strength, an Intelligence score of 7, and the ability to speak with you.
Special: You may only have one fiendish servant at a time. Should your fiendish servant die, you may call for another one after a year and a day.

Blessing of Darkness [Prestige]
The dark masters you serve have invested a spark of the divine in you.
Prerequisite: Wisdom 12+, Blackguard Training, three or more prestige feats, Knowledge (religion) 2 ranks, character level 6th.
Benefit: You may cast one spell per day from the following list: cause fear, corrupt weapon, cure light wounds, doom, inflict light wounds, magic weapon, and summon monster I (evil creatures only).
In addition, you gain a bonus to your saving throws equal to your Charisma modifier (if positive).

 

[dragonlordofpoondari]

I miss rycanada.

<sniffle>

It's cool that E6 has taken on a life of its own. Game companies should hire this guy.

Rock on, E6ers.

 

[S'mon]

I think if I run 3e again I'll do it E10 with half XP, that should make something a lot like OD&D in terms of power distribution and magic level, ie there are 5th level spells and 9th level characters are 'Lords'. I think I'll use different NPC demographics though, with typical experienced NPCs around 3rd level.

 

[modus666]

arcane archer E6

Arcane Archer Prestige Feats

[[GM note: this class was easy to convert to a prestige tree, the death arrow effect was intentionally left out as it was perhaps a bit too powerful when compared to the other E6 prestige classes (assasin being the exception, but, hey, they’re assasins).]]

Arcane Archer Training [prestige]
You have begun training as an arcane archer
Prerequisite: No other prestige feats, Race: Elf or half-elf, Character Level 6, Feats: Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Weapon Focus (longbow or shortbow), ability to cast first level arcane spells
Benefit: The following skills become class skills for you: Craft (Int), Hide (Dex). Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Ride (Dex), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), and Use Rope (Dex).
In Addition, you gain the arcane archer’s Enhance arrow +1 ability.
Special: You may not gain this feat if you already possess any other prestige feats.

Arcane Arrow [prestige]
You have learned the secret of penetrating mundane barriers with your enchanted arrows
Prerequisite: Arcane Archer Training, 1 other prestige feat, Spellcraft 8 ranks, Spot 4 ranks, Knowledge (planes) 4 ranks
Benefit: you gain the Arcane Archer’s ‘phase arrow’ special ability.

Empowered Arrows [prestige]
Your arrows become more enchanted
Prerequisite: Arcane Archer Training, 1 other prestige feat, Spellcraft 8 ranks, Know (arcane) 8 ranks
Benefit: you gain the Arcane Archer’s ‘Enchance Arrow +2’ ability

Flight Mastery [prestige]
You have learned to control your enchanted arrows path in mid-flight.
Prerequisite: Arcane Archer Training, Spot 8 ranks, Spellcraft 4 ranks
Benefit: you gain the arcane archer’s ‘seeker arrow’ special ability

Hail of Arrows [prestige]
You have learned how to fire at multiple targets in one action
Prerequisite: Arcane Archer Training, 2 other prestige feats Spot 8 ranks
Benefit: you gain the Arcane Archer’s ‘hail of arrows’ ability

War-Arrow Training [prestige]
You have learned how to place an area spell upon an arrow.
Prerequisite: Arcane Archer Training, Spellcraft 4 ranks, Know (arcane) 4 ranks
Benefit: you gain the arcane archer’s ‘imbue arrow’ special ability.

 

[Quartz]

In my experience, most players will obtain the one essential stat booster for their class. The mages will get the headband of int, rogues get gloves of dex etc. I honestly cant remember a time when every character had their slots filled with stat boosting items in my games.

How do you stop wizards gradually creating Belts of Magnificence +4? And dominating matters with wands they've crafted? (I've asked this in the House Rules forum too).

 

[Scurvy_Platypus]

i've generally been of the opinion that most prestige classes could be boiled down to 4 or 5 feats...

Every so often I come across someone talking about doing something like making prestige classes into feat trees. I'm pretty sure there's at least one version of the Arcane Archer floating around in early Enworld posts that's already been converted over.

If you're really into doing that sort of thing, you might look over Classically Modern. You can read about the base idea here: http://www.freewebs.com/merlinsworkshop/FriPreview11.htm
And you can download bits here:
http://www.freewebs.com/merlinsworkshop/index.htm

The Arcane Archer was folded into a class along with a couple of others and is called the Warmancer. You can read the entry for it in the CM2-4 doc. It's the very last page. CM3 covers the Feats, and CM4 covers the Talents.

I'm not saying that you'd be able to directly use Classically Modern to achieve what you're trying to do, but it might be a handy starting point for you.

Myself? I'd go in a different direction. I'd simply make the prestige class a standalone class and go from there. At 6 levels of development, it's not like it's going to be _that_ hard to make the Prestige Classes play nice with the others.

But as I've said before, I like E6 for different reasons than a lot of people so that idea probably won't fly.

 

[Shazman]

Has anyone made any assassain prestige feats?

 

[modus666]

assain feats

yes there were some posted several pages back, i have taken them and modified them a bit for my own campaign use (all credit due to the OP), i'll post my version here, the original versions can be easily located further back in this thread.

Assassin Prestige Feats

Assassin Training [Prestige]
You have begun training as an assassin.
Prerequisite: No other prestige feats, evil alignment, must kill someone for no other reason than to become an assassins, character level 6th, Disguise 4 ranks, Hide 8 ranks, Move Silently 8 ranks.
Benefit: The following skills become class skills for you: Balance, Bluff, Climb, Craft, Decipher Script, Diplomacy, Disable Device, Disguise, Escape Artist, Forgery, Gather Information, Hide, Intimidate, Jump, Listen, Move Silently, Open Lock, Search, Sense Motive, Sleight of Hand, Spot, Swim, Tumble, Use Magic Device, and Use Rope.
In addition, you gain the sneak attack ability which deals an additional +1d6 points of damage against an opponent that is denied its Dexterity bonus to AC. This is exactly like the rogue ability of the same name. This bonus on damage stacks with sneak attacks from another source.
Special: You may not gain this feat if you already possess any other prestige feats.

Assassin’s Guile [Prestige]
Your training as an assassin has been augmented by arcane study.
Prerequisite: Intelligence 12+, Assassin Training, Spellcraft 4 ranks, character level 6th.
Benefit: Choose one spells from the following list: Disguise Self, Detect Poison, Feather Fall, Ghost Sound, Jump, Obscuring Mist, Sleep, and True Strike. You may cast this spell once per day with a caster level equal to the number of prestige feats you possess (maximum of 6th level caster). This feat may be chosen multiple times, each time choosing a new spell from the above list.

Assassin’s Trade [Prestige]
You have learned how to quickly bring death to the unaware.
Prerequisite: Assassin Training, two or more prestige feats, Disguise 4 ranks, Hide 8 ranks, Move Silently 8 ranks character level 6th.
Benefit: You gain the Death Attack special ability.

Poison Use [Prestige]
You have learned how to safely apply poisons to your trade.
Prerequisite: Assassin Training, Craft (Alchemy) 4 ranks, character level 6th.
Benefit: When applying poison to a weapon, you no longer risk accidentally poisoning yourself.