Looking for info on how E8 and E 12 work.

[Will]

In debating where to draw the line in my games, part of what I consider is 'one vs. how many?'

In E6, the 'top' characters can engage in solo combat with about 6 first level guards/bandits, and it's roughly an even fight.

In E8, it's 1 vs. 12, E10 it's 1 vs. 24, E12 it's 1 vs. 48.

Mind you, 1 vs. 12 and higher is less 'reliable' a figure.

 

[Silvercat Moonpaw]

In E6, the 'top' characters can engage in solo combat with about 6 first level guards/bandits, and it's roughly an even fight.

In E8, it's 1 vs. 12, E10 it's 1 vs. 24, E12 it's 1 vs. 48.

Hmmmmm.........the ability to take on 6 mooks by yourself multiplied by the number of people in an adventuring party sounds like enough mooks that E6 may be fine for what I'm trying to do after all.

 

[Dice4Hire]

To me the main thing with going to E10 or e12 or so is that the casters, including Druids and such, will start to outshine the melee types (always a problem in 3.5 IMO) Also, particularly with druids, their hit dice will go up, which will allow further shapes.

A second point to consider is prestige classes. In E6, there are few, and in virtually all cases, the character only gets the first level of the class. In E8+ the character can get much deeper into a prestige class, or start taking more than one of them.

I think these are things to consider closely.

 

[Will]

Note that 'even fight' means there's a 50% chance of loosing horribly.

A party of 4 max-level guys in an E6 game have a 'standard encounter' of 6 guards, a tough encounter of 12 guards, and a VERY tough encounter against 24 guards, assuming the guards are all 1st level.

Of course, once you get extra feats on top, it nudges a bit, but that's even harder to pin down.

Dice mentions a few good points. One reason I'm thinking of going E8 vs. E6 is that E8 gives a little more wiggle room to try weird stuff (LA, strange races, a little bit of PrC, some of the deeper feats).

E8 is a little more heroic fantasy without getting into the high fantasy. E6 is a little harder-edged... so it depends on what you want.

You could always start with E6 and change it later if you so choose.