Epic Level Handbook - Use in game

[d12]

I would like to hear about everyone's experience with the Epic Level Handbook in play. Have you had fun? Has every player in the group enjoyed 20+ level play? If they haven't - why not? I ask because my group will be there in about a year and I would like to starting thinking ahead in terms of plot, mechanics, etc...

If it helps, my group is playing RttToEE in the FR.

 

[Dagger75]

My group will be there in about 2 weeks. They are all really really looking forward to it. So am I, those puny monsters in the monster manuels are weak. They will soon fear that ability draining cockroach thingy


I can tell you what the plans are for my small group.

The Druid- Going for all the shapeshifting stuff he can. He is going the elemental route.

The Cleric- Going for the epic weapon making stuff.

The Fighter- Well fighter stuff.

They all fear the epic rogue. Rogues made out like bandits (bad pun) in the epic level book.

 

[Victim]

I plan on making some Epic feats availible to lower level characters.

 

[Numion]

We played our first Epic session today. We didn't have much time, and epic combat takes a lot of time, so having said that it was still fun. Players really enjoy being head and shoulders above the common folk, and are enjoying the new abilities.

The player who had the only original PC left from the level 1 party was kinda proud, when he was congratulated for his efforts in defeating both the Temple of Elemental Evil and the Bastion of Broken Souls (the major milestones in his adventuring career). 21 levels of D&D! Huzzah!

Now were playing the Storm Lord's Keep from Dungeon. So far it's been good, and the idea behind it is truly epic, IMHO.

 

[d12]

bump

b-u-m-p

 

[ranix65]

We used it to run a one shot where we translated old characters of ours into epic levels(one was an uber-paladin, one an elf who'd turned down godhood like 5 times in favor of spending time with his fiancee, another a former god, and one was just a good old fashioned stubborn dwarf). We called it "Take Em Down". The premise was as follows: A hunting expedition across the planes to take out as many Demons as was physically possible. As Level 37 characters, we couldn't keep track of the body count.

 

[Aaron L]

We played a few games with our converted 1E characters who were in the 26 - 30 range, and it was pretty fun. Now we're playing a game we plan on taking as far as we can go (we want to get to 40 or so).

 

[ashockney]

About to begin playtest...

Our group is VERY excited to begin Epic play. We've completed two 3rd Ed campaigns to 20th level in the last two years, operating in different parts of the same campaign world, and they can't wait to see what's been "behind the scenes" pulling the strings in both the campaigns. And of course, beat them up, and take their loot!

Sadly, upon detailed review, our group has agreed that the EPIC rules are not fleshed out to the level of detail necessary for our group to play. So, instead of diving in head first, we are going to run a playtest. Therefore, once a month, at one of our gaming sessions, we're going to be running a one-hour EPIC encounter/scenario, increasing levels each time 24th, 28th, 30th, 32nd, 34th, and 38th...over six months. We are picking up another campaign that is about 9th level, and we hope to get that campaign to around 20th in that time. This will help us get a much better feel for ranges for spell abilities, spell damage, class/prestige class abilities and bonuses, melee and ranged damage ranges, armor class ranges, SR ranges, DR ranges, magic items, etc. We're doing all this so that, hopefully, when the campaign officially takes off into Epic, the DM and players have some general agreement on the power level of everything, at each level.

In our opinion, the EPIC book would work fine if you were going to start up a generic EPIC campaign, but with as many prestige classes and magic items as there are out there, it's unclear how everything should scale up to fit Epic nicely.

 

[Velenne]

defeating both the Temple of Elemental Evil and the Bastion of Broken Souls (the major milestones in his adventuring career). 21 levels of D&D! Huzzah!
.

HUZZAH!!! Kudos to him; that's no easy triumph!

My group has just started the 3rd installment of an ongoing campaign with one of our (many) DM's. Since it's inception, it's seen a huge variety of casts and has seemed to settle around two particular protagonists from the very first session who are now 15-16th level. Needless to say, we're all pretty stoked about the new party makeup and particularly the thought of getting into *BUMBUMBUM* EPIC LEVELS by the end of it.


Surely there's more people that have experience with this? The DM of our new game is extremely apprehesive of things getting out of control.

 

[F5]

I've had exaclty the opposite experience with my gaming group. They outright refuse to play epic levels. They'd rather start over with 1st level characters.
The most vocal opponents of Epic levels say that the game "breaks" at around 15th level, and everything falls apart. I don't know their specific reasoning, I guess it's just a general dislike of high-level games.
I think the focus of the game changes drastically at high levels, and is harder to DM. But it still holds up, as long as the DM has prepared the night's encounters carefully, and with high-level characters' power in mind. But that's all speculation on my part, since my group doesn't want to play that way, and I ain't got no Epic experience to draw from...