E6? (What is it?)

[Kansaschaser]

What it says in the title.

I know what E3 is. I also know what Septuple A is(Austro-Afro-Antarctico-Amer-Asian Auto Association), but not E6. Someone explain.

[Caliphbubba]

What it says in the title.

I know what E3 is. I also know what Septuple A is(Austro-Afro-Antarctico-Amer-Asian Auto Association), but not E6. Someone explain.

E6= Epic 6th level. bascially a game within the game of D&D. you only level to 6th, and get feats from there on if I'm following things right.

[Ballis]

I forget the exact playing of it, but essentially is stops at 6th level, then you gain extra feats from experience rather than levels. I'm sure someone else will chime in with a more complete answer.

[Yora]

Here it is. (http://www.enworld.org/forum/d-d-legacy-discussion/200754-e6-game-inside-d-d-new-revision.html)

It's basically 3.5e or Pathfinder limited to a maximum of 6 levels. Since you still want to get XP, you gain feats for every 5000 XP instead of more levels. The effect is that high level magic is almost entirely removed from the game, and you have to defeat biger monsters with your wit instead of more powerful magic. Which means non-spellcaster characters don't get outshined by spellcasters as well.

[Gullintanni]

http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?352719-necro-goodness-E6-The-Game-Inside-D-amp-D

Here you go!

Essentially it's a D&D system designed to cap 3.5 character progression at Level 6. For every 5,000 experience gained after level 6, characters gain a Feat.

The system is designed to emphasize the "sweet spot" of 3.5 D&D, that level 6-12 ECL range. The premise being that 3.5 goes a little haywire after that. Namely in that a single well played level 20 wizard can erase towns, re-write history, steamroll economies and generally be god when compared to the common people.

Contrasted in E6, or Epic 6th, characters are assumed to have reached Epic level at level 6. They are still, relative to commoners, ground shakingly powerful, but rather than ascending the ladder of godhood, they are merely heroes of legend. The common folk, if rallied, could still hope to defeat these legendary heroes, but they would suffer massive casualties in the process.

Moreover; creatures of myth, such as a Dragons and Minotaurs, are much more credible threats in a world where ECL is not designed to reach beyond 11-12. The 'end' progression if you will, has a party of characters with 6 levels and 35 extra feats (enough exp to take a character from 1-20 in vanilla 3.5) as being able to handle ECL 11-12 with a great deal of creativity and planning.

So that's it in summary. I recommend you read the linked article. Personally, I think it's a great variant on 3.5 D&D. It keeps things controlled, and the game still feels as dramatic and epic as it should. There's also a great deal less class imbalance at level 6.

[Yora]

And it's so much less work for the DM! So much fewer active spell effects to keep track off. :smallbiggrin:

[Etrivar]

E6= Epic 6th level. bascially a game within the game of D&D. you only level to 6th, and get feats from there on if I'm following things right.

Oh, I've only ever know that to be a grade in the military, Technical Sergeant in the Air Force. Huzzah for learning!

[T.G. Oskar]

It's basically 3.5e or Pathfinder limited to a maximum of 6 levels. Since you still want to get XP, you gain feats for every 5000 XP instead of more levels. The effect is that high level magic is almost entirely removed from the game, and you have to defeat biger monsters with your wit instead of more powerful magic. Which means non-spellcaster characters don't get outshined by spellcasters as well.

The explanation behind it is a little deeper.

The first thing the creators of this gaming format found was that most classes are early bloomers. Paladins, Monks and Fighters are usually best at their starting levels, when they get most (if not all) of their useful abilities. Meanwhile, classes such as Wizards and Clerics are still capable of being defeated. Thus, after some examination (which should be on the link), it was found that 6th level was the point where pretty much all classes were at a sort of equilibrium: Sorcerers got their 3rd level spells and thus were on a roughly equal footing to Wizards, creatures start to get challenging and the group becomes to depend a bit more on the spellcaster, and whatnot.

Second thing is tied to Eberron. On a E6 game, all the "legendary" heroes are 6th level; any higher and the game quickly becomes a bunch of numbers. Eberron has a similar feel; by level 5, you're just as famous as the average pop star or trendsetter; by 10th level you're either a famous artisan, a respected scholar or more popular than the Beatles. E6, while not on Eberron, ascribes to the idea that by 6th level you're already above and beyond the common man, facing threats they simply can't, but not to the point that a group of thugs or a mob of disgruntled citizens cannot become a real menace. Most modules and monsters are also pretty decent at this level, since you can retain the popular orc, goblin and kobold without having to go to very specific creatures to challenge your group.

Finally, it's a way to deal with Epic. By 20th level the divide between spellcasters and non-spellcasters is far too evident; by 21st level it breaks into pieces as spellcasters get Epic Spellcasting (which is basically a win button, one of the many they already have) while non-spellcasters get stuff that merely provide an extra +1 bonus to something they already have; the divide is basically above and beyond what currently exists in a game below level 20th. However, some of the rules of Epic are reasonable enough; a +1 might not mean a lot by 18th level, but it means a lot more at 6th where the buffs WILL be scarce. A feat such as Weapon Focus might have some more utility, since every point of bonus will value much, much more. Of course, depending on your selection of books you may end up with Weapon Focus (and the chain behind it) remain just as pointless. The implementation of Capstone feats allows characters to simulate gaining a new level but very, VERY slowly (spellcasters might get 4th or even 5th level spells, while non-spellcasters might get the equivalent of a +1 to BAB or a +1 to an ability score).

It also works for something else: make short campaigns. In fact, it's perfect for that: since you won't get higher than 6th level, you can use more monsters than before and strain your access to XP to a point where you can keep them within a sweet spot and still allow them to feel a degree of completion, something that can't usually be done with a 1-20 regular campaign. By the time they're 6th level, characters playing on a E6 game WILL feel epic, but still threatened; compare to regular campaigns where you'll feel powerful, but not really EPIC, and yet small fries can't threaten you (you could easily vanquish entire armies on your own, but that's mostly if you're a spellcaster or REALLY lucky with a Cleave-based warrior).

[Kansaschaser]

http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?352719-necro-goodness-E6-The-Game-Inside-D-amp-D

Here you go!

Essentially it's a D&D system designed to cap 3.5 character progression at Level 6. For every 5,000 experience gained after level 6, characters gain a Feat.

The system is designed to emphasize the "sweet spot" of 3.5 D&D, that level 6-12 ECL range. The premise being that 3.5 goes a little haywire after that. Namely in that a single well played level 20 wizard can erase towns, re-write history, steamroll economies and generally be god when compared to the common people.

Contrasted in E6, or Epic 6th, characters are assumed to have reached Epic level at level 6. They are still, relative to commoners, ground shakingly powerful, but rather than ascending the ladder of godhood, they are merely heroes of legend. The common folk, if rallied, could still hope to defeat these legendary heroes, but they would suffer massive casualties in the process.

Moreover; creatures of myth, such as a Dragons and Minotaurs, are much more credible threats in a world where ECL is not designed to reach beyond 11-12. The 'end' progression if you will, has a party of characters with 6 levels and 35 extra feats (enough exp to take a character from 1-20 in vanilla 3.5) as being able to handle ECL 11-12 with a great deal of creativity and planning.

So that's it in summary. I recommend you read the linked article. Personally, I think it's a great variant on 3.5 D&D. It keeps things controlled, and the game still feels as dramatic and epic as it should. There's also a great deal less class imbalance at level 6.

Ok. Interesting. I think I'm going to leave it at that. My mom always said that if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.

[Essence_of_War]

Aww don't knock it so quickly!

It is actually a blast and it allows you to play "iconic" DnD in the sweet spot between where the PCs have overcome the grittiness of low levels and where they start to diverge in Wuxia/Heroic Fantasy.

[Gullintanni]

Seriously...play it before you discard it. 3.5 is a great game at level 6. And with the extra feats, you've got to get creative, but you can have some truly epic battles from ECL 9-12... a lot less like driving an arcane steam roller over every encounter in the game.

It's also, by virtue of being played at lower caster levels, a game that's much less dependent on the magic item christmas tree that is 3.5. You're more dependent on your actual class. IMO, a very good thing.

[Talakeal]

Ok. Interesting. I think I'm going to leave it at that. My mom always said that if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.

Odd. In my experiance D&D is always most fun at the lower mid levels as the system is too random at low and just plain broken at high, and I haven't never met anyone who disagrees. If you truly hate the mid level experiance so much maybe D&D isn't the right game for you?

I ASSUME that it is because you like super high powered high magic games, in which case maybe a super hero game or Exalted would be to your liking?