D&D 4E Is Essentials the answer to E6 for 4E?

[Gradine]

While I can understand the sentiment behind it, E6 always missed the mark for me. Before I heard of E6, my friends and I always held (and I always thought was near universal) that the suite spot of 3.5 was that 7-9 area, where your prestige classes start paying off and your spellcasters are just getting their first tastes of true power before being able to nuke the world. Also feats were always far less interesting to me than skills, and I would have imagined a system of that nature would have emphasized skills to a much higher degree.

Also, considering the main reason at stopping 6th level was stated to be balance, then the answer would be that 4e is the answer to E6 for 4e. For the other main stated reason for E6 (ie, low-magic, gritty fantasy (it talks a big game about "heroic" fantasy but I don't exactly buy it)) there is no 4e answer. 4e generally starts with heroic fantasy and very quickly beings routinely upping the stakes. Stating that 4e with a level cap or other mechanical tweaking is E6 for 4e is disingenuous; you're creating an entirely different idea at best, and at worst all you're doing is playing 4e, just with a level cap. The core ideas behind E6 are simply incompatible with 4e. I haven't really looked at Essentials yet but I highly doubt that will change.

 

[Dice4Hire]

Focusing on the 6 in E6 does E6 an injustice. If you like 7-9, then do E10. Simple enough. The concept is independent from the actual number behind the E.

 

[Gradine]

Focusing on the 6 in E6 does E6 an injustice. If you like 7-9, then do E10. Simple enough. The concept is independent from the actual number behind the E.

Copout meant to deflect criticism. Capping the level 6 was a very deliberate decision by the think tank based on a number of different factors, from game balance to capturing that "gritty fantasy" feeling. If you're going to defend the E6 (which I think is absolutely feasible), you have to defend the 6. Otherwise all you're defending a generic level cap and a feat-load system that I think also completely misses what makes D20 fun (ie., not feats.)

Obviously a number of people here swear by it and it captures what they enjoy most about D20. I've just never bought into it.

And none of that changes the fact that you really can't recreate what makes E6 E6 with 4e.

 

[DracoSuave]

relatively well known set

It's actually fairly obscure. The only thing I'd ever heard of it was in two threads on this forum... and those two threads happen to be the top two google hits for a search for e6 and D&D.