Looking for alternatives to official Epic rules

[Piratecat]

I came up with a great epic ability for the cleric: a halo. It'll provide a +2 sacred bonus to charisma, and he can draw 1000 xp from it to power magic item creation or spell components (recharging 250 xp per week.) More importantly, it'll really embarrass him.

At 22nd lvl, the halo will be a 1500 xp battery; 2000 xp at 23rd lvl, and so on. The charisma boost will rise to +4 at 23rd lvl and +6 at 25th.

 

[Tessarael]

What's the APG cleric spell progression for levels 21-23?

21st: +1 0th, +1 1st, +1 6th
22nd: +1 2nd, +1 7th
23rd: +1 3rd, +1 8th
24th: +1 4th, +1 9th
25th: +1 5th
26th: +1 6th
27th: +1 7th
28th: +1 8th
29th: +1 0th, +1 1st, +1 2nd, +1 9th
30th: +1 3rd, +1 4th, +1 5th

Blech. It doesn't appear to follow a pattern. I would seriously consider trying to extend the PHB Cleric spell progression table, with some slots beyond 9th for metamagic spells.

 

[Dakkareth]

More importantly, it'll really embarrass him.

First a proxy then a personal angel bodyguard and now his very own halo. No rest for the wi ... erh, holy.

 

[WizarDru]

I'd really appreciate your insights, Wizard Dru. Perhaps House Rules is not the apropriate forum for general discussion of epic level gaming though.

That's a super-swell idea. Here's a thread in General Roleplaying on that very topic!

Oh, and Kevin, that Halo thing? Officially swiped. Although I think I'll we use it for the cleric's inverse shadow, but the idea's the same.

 

[Trainz]

I came up with a great epic ability for the cleric: a halo. It'll provide a +2 sacred bonus to charisma, and he can draw 1000 xp from it to power magic item creation or spell components (recharging 250 xp per week.) More importantly, it'll really embarrass him.

At 22nd lvl, the halo will be a 1500 xp battery; 2000 xp at 23rd lvl, and so on. The charisma boost will rise to +4 at 23rd lvl and +6 at 25th.

Wow. That's great.

The charisma boost will be an unnamed bonus I imagine ? I would take two levels of Paladin if I was this dude.

 

[Trainz]

Oooh. Daddy Likes. I'll have to give this the once over. I like it. A LOT. The trap stuff, too.

Yeah, I wanted my players to be able to cast spells of truly epic proportions, but without complicated mechanics.

The trap info I gave might be sketchy, so allow me to give a few examples:

Traps Design (Epic, CR20+):

First, set trap CR, then consult following parameters. Note that epic poison traps are pointless because most epic characters aren’t bothered with poisons anymore.

Attack: CR+15, Damage CR+20/d6
Touch Attack: CR+5, Damage CR+15d6
Inescapable damage group: CR+5/d6
Inescapable damage single target: CR+10/d6
Savable Damage group: CRx2/d6, ST DC CR+15, Caster Level: Trap CR+5
Savable Damage single target: (CRx2)+10/d6, ST DC CR+15, Caster Level: Trap CR+5
Lethal Spell effect: ST DC CR+15, Caster Level: Trap CR+5
Non-Lethal Spell effect: ST DC CR+20, Caster Level: Trap CR+5

Magical Trap Search/Disable DC: CR+25
Non-Magical Trap Search/Disable DC: CR+15

SO...

Let's say your PC's are level 22, and you want to make a very tough trap, so maybe 3 succeeding CR 22 traps:

Crushing Walls trap. As the PC's walk in the corridor, both walls suddenly snap together, crushing the whole party, with no chance of avoiding it. It's mechanical:
Inescapable damage group: CR+5/d6, or 22+5/d6, or 27d6. The search/disable (non-magical) is DC 37.

Then the walls recede and a lightning bolt surges through the corridor, once again affecting the whole party. This time it's magical:
Savable Damage group: CRx2/d6, ST DC CR+15, Caster Level: Trap CR+5
So that's 44d6, Reflex save DC 37 for half, caster level 27. The search/disable (magical) is DC 47. This might seem high, but a maxed out rogue will have a roughly 50/50 chance of doing it at that level.

Right after the lightning, a yellow mist erupts from tiny concealed holes at the base of the walls, enveloping the whole party, possibly inflicting on them 2d8 Con damage:
Non-Lethal Spell effect: ST DC CR+20, Caster Level: Trap CR+5
Or Fort save DC 42 or suffer 2d8 Con permanent drain, caster level 27. The search/disable (magical) is DC 47.

As the mist dissipates, the party point man says "Oh for the love of god..." as he notices a Lavawight charging at him...



The DM should pull all stops in an epic game. The PC's have more than enough ressources to face anything. Note that in the above example, the worst case scenario is that the party has to face an epic monster (Lavawight) after (if any given PC misses ALL his saves) taking 250 HP damage and losing about 10 points of Constitution (more or less another 100 HP damage). Note that the Lavawight's attacks also targets a character's constitution (drastically so, I might add), so this particular encounter is extremely nasty.

Another thing...succeeding traps has the added advantage to catch the players off guard. If the rogue spots and disarms the first trap, if the player doesn't specifically mention that he keeps looking, they will fall heedlessly into the second and third trap.

 

[Kerrick]

Yeah, I wanted my players to be able to cast spells of truly epic proportions, but without complicated mechanics.

The trap info I gave might be sketchy, so allow me to give a few examples:

The problem I see with this is that it totally circumvents the trap creation rules in the DMG. CRs for traps are based on the amount of damage they do, and have modifiers to the type of trap (multiple targets, etc. - and yeah, I think there SHOULD be a modifier for "never miss").

As well, I think "epic" traps should start at CR 10, not 20. It's nearly impossible to make a CR 10+ trap without making it hugely destructive, using an epic spell, or making it extremely well hidden. The way I figure it, 1 point of CR for a trap equals 1-2 character levels. Hence, a CR 10 trap would challenge (roughly) a level 20 party.