Benjamin Pass
First Post
At some point or another, most, if not all, of us have wanted to take our characters to new heights of power beyond 20th level. When WotC released the ELH, they gave us a means for doing just that and up until around level 40-60 the system works reasonably well until it starts to break down. The system it seems, just isn't meant to work well at very high levels, and only works moderately well at mid-epic levels.
Ideally, I think that an epic level system should meet a few criteria:
- Being able to stack feats to improve abilities, without being pigeonholed into doing so.
-Provide at least some incentive for taking more than 20 levels in a class or 10 levels in a PRC
-Maintain a stable probability curve where well into high levels wherein fighter types have a good change to hit with their attacks, spellcasters have a good chance to overcome SR, sneaky types/skill monkeys have a good chance of succeeding at using skills vs. opponents of appropriate CR.
-A challenge rating system which is consistent and stable and offers enough EXP for epic level characters to progress at a only slightly diminishing rate as the levels climb higher, while still providing interesting combat
I want, very desperately, to know all of your experiences and opinions on epic level play using the 3.0/3.5/3.X system. Please discuss them!
I for one find the epic spellcasting/power manifestation system particularly troublesomse.
Firstly, when a character researches an epic spell, they only need to pay the gp cost to develop that epic spell the first time they research it; provided that the spells’ seeds, factors, mitigating factors and final spellcraft DC remain unchanged. Henceforth, they may prepare that epic spell once per day by paying it’s experience cost, as normal, but without paying the research cost in gp.
Secondly, a character may take an epic feat (Epic Spell Knowledge) in order to avoid paying the experience cost to prepare a given epic spell that they have researched before one per day. This feat may be taken multiple times. Each time it is taken, you may apply it to a different epic spell or to prepare the epic spell one additional time per day.
Also, with the published version of Epic Spellcasting you can use the Fortify seed to buff your stats to the point of absurdity, especially if you are willing to sacrifice a significant chunk of XP or if you are willing to convert the spell in question to an epic ritual. I recommend limiting spells that use the fortify seed to one point of bonus per caster level/manifester level. For example, a 25th level caster could only create an epic spell with a maximum bonus of +25 to any given attribute. Also, given the potential for abuse from epic rituals, I recommend limiting the minus to spellcraft DC to -1 per level of spell slot contributed to the ritual. For example, a 9th level spell slot only brings the final spellcraft DC down by 9, instead of the -17 as proposed in the ELH.
Ideally, I think that an epic level system should meet a few criteria:
- Being able to stack feats to improve abilities, without being pigeonholed into doing so.
-Provide at least some incentive for taking more than 20 levels in a class or 10 levels in a PRC
-Maintain a stable probability curve where well into high levels wherein fighter types have a good change to hit with their attacks, spellcasters have a good chance to overcome SR, sneaky types/skill monkeys have a good chance of succeeding at using skills vs. opponents of appropriate CR.
-A challenge rating system which is consistent and stable and offers enough EXP for epic level characters to progress at a only slightly diminishing rate as the levels climb higher, while still providing interesting combat
I want, very desperately, to know all of your experiences and opinions on epic level play using the 3.0/3.5/3.X system. Please discuss them!
I for one find the epic spellcasting/power manifestation system particularly troublesomse.
Firstly, when a character researches an epic spell, they only need to pay the gp cost to develop that epic spell the first time they research it; provided that the spells’ seeds, factors, mitigating factors and final spellcraft DC remain unchanged. Henceforth, they may prepare that epic spell once per day by paying it’s experience cost, as normal, but without paying the research cost in gp.
Secondly, a character may take an epic feat (Epic Spell Knowledge) in order to avoid paying the experience cost to prepare a given epic spell that they have researched before one per day. This feat may be taken multiple times. Each time it is taken, you may apply it to a different epic spell or to prepare the epic spell one additional time per day.
Also, with the published version of Epic Spellcasting you can use the Fortify seed to buff your stats to the point of absurdity, especially if you are willing to sacrifice a significant chunk of XP or if you are willing to convert the spell in question to an epic ritual. I recommend limiting spells that use the fortify seed to one point of bonus per caster level/manifester level. For example, a 25th level caster could only create an epic spell with a maximum bonus of +25 to any given attribute. Also, given the potential for abuse from epic rituals, I recommend limiting the minus to spellcraft DC to -1 per level of spell slot contributed to the ritual. For example, a 9th level spell slot only brings the final spellcraft DC down by 9, instead of the -17 as proposed in the ELH.
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