E6 Campaign

[WeLoveFireballs]

We have just switched our current Campaign to the E6 system. I was just wondering if anyone had and tips or experiences with this system.

[Shademan]

Can't do much more than say "it's awesome"
keep playin'! have fun!

[Mongoose87]

Make some Prestige feats for additional variety?

[Lapak]

If it's campaign appropriate, I've tinkered with modeling gods and demi-gods as over-the-limit characters. It gives a feel that is appropriate for either a pseudo-historical "Thor is a real person who kills giants and will die" or a Conan-esque "most things people worship as gods are just powerful entities that are not necessarily nice" vibe when used in an E6 setting. I've experimented with 15th-18th level "gods" where the first 6 level are automatically Cleric and the other levels are required to be something else (something that doesn't advance divine casting; I keep a hard cutoff for divine spells at level 3 even for gods.) The basic idea is that worship gives these beings a boost beyond the norm and halts their aging.

Modeling Thor as a multiclass Cleric 6/Barbarian 12, for example, with maybe a worship-based unique power or two, makes him killable by Jormungandr but plenty powerful to overshadow 'regular mortals.' Making the Dark God-Emperor of the Shadow People a Cleric 6 / Sorcerer 9 gives him a variety of tricks that makes him truly mighty in E6 land while still leaving open the possibility of a successful knife (or broadsword) in the back.

It doesn't fit in every (or even most) E6 games - truly divine gods exclude it, it's not flavor-consistent in some cases, it still requires some fiddling about with stuff like higher-level arcane casting, and so on - but I've had some fun with it and thought I'd throw it out there.

[CockroachTeaParty]

How far can you push CR under E6? I know that post level 6, you just get extra feats, but barring Improved Toughness/Toughness and similar feats, your hp and saves are going to lag behind many higher CR monsters. What's the upper limit for a 'high level' E6 character? CR 9 or 10?

I know the CR system is pretty hard to generalize, and it would probably behoove the DM to examine any monster carefully (see Tarrasque verses a Balor, etc.).

Could you throw a beholder at a level 6++ party in E6? An aboleth? Or is it best to stick to CR 5-7 monsters?

[jokey665]

Give the PCs warning/time to gain knowledge of the enemy if you want to send a vastly higher CR creature at them it should be doable.

[WeLoveFireballs]

If it's campaign appropriate, I've tinkered with modeling gods and demi-gods as over-the-limit characters. It gives a feel that is appropriate for either a pseudo-historical "Thor is a real person who kills giants and will die" or a Conan-esque "most things people worship as gods are just powerful entities that are not necessarily nice" vibe when used in an E6 setting. I've experimented with 15th-18th level "gods" where the first 6 level are automatically Cleric and the other levels are required to be something else (something that doesn't advance divine casting; I keep a hard cutoff for divine spells at level 3 even for gods.) The basic idea is that worship gives these beings a boost beyond the norm and halts their aging.

Modeling Thor as a multiclass Cleric 6/Barbarian 12, for example, with maybe a worship-based unique power or two, makes him killable by Jormungandr but plenty powerful to overshadow 'regular mortals.' Making the Dark God-Emperor of the Shadow People a Cleric 6 / Sorcerer 9 gives him a variety of tricks that makes him truly mighty in E6 land while still leaving open the possibility of a successful knife (or broadsword) in the back.

It doesn't fit in every (or even most) E6 games - truly divine gods exclude it, it's not flavor-consistent in some cases, it still requires some fiddling about with stuff like higher-level arcane casting, and so on - but I've had some fun with it and thought I'd throw it out there.

Technically gods ARE mortal. In the Deities and Demigods book immortality is described as immunity to aging and disease (the Norse gods even needed magic apples to get this) but nothing about invincibility. They can gain powers that make them VERY hard to kill but nearly all of them can be taken down if hit hard enough. Your idea does make sense, Gods are usually level 60 so when the mortal power level is reduced by 2/3rds the gods should too.

[Yora]

The general idea is that a regular 6th level party of 4 PCs can handle with encounters up to EL 10 in a direct confrontation on equal ground. With more feats, the presentation of E6 claims this rises to EL 11 and 12.
But as a GM you can create situations in which the PCs have a clear advantage of terrain, support by additional 6th level NPCs and plot specific artifacts and magical rituals, that it can be possible to defeat even more powerful creatures.

[Rixx]

E6 is wonderful, and I highly recommend it!

It works really well with Pathfinder, and with class variants (like the ones from Unearthed Arcana) - either way, you won't have to worry about using prestige classes to customize your character.