EL 6 Campaign Question

[myancey]

I feel as though I've seen playgrounders talk about campaigns that have a maximum level allowed (EL 6, for example). (This is for 3.5 D&D.)

I was hoping to create a secondary campaign for my more dedicated players that would not allow them to advance beyond level six. This system I feel I've seen floating around still grants XP though, awarding skill points, feats, etc.

Am I making this up? Or is there such a homebrew level cap with continued incentives to gain XP? Either way, how would I implement this?

I don't want these players to obtain a level where they can just wreck through NPCs, hence the level cap.

Campaign specifics:
The campaign setting would be in Westeros of the "Song of Ice and Fire series", around the start of the Game of Thrones ending. I want little to no magic allowed because it'll be at a point where magic hasn't been reawakening yet. And I want a low level cap--but with incentives to continue gaining some amount of XP.

Thanks guys.

[Lord Ruby34]

I believe that this (http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?352719-necro-goodness-E6-The-Game-Inside-D-amp-D) is what you're looking for.

[Yora]

That'd be Epic 6, or just E6.

Keep in mind however, that it also means NPCs are also limited to 6 class levels.

[WalkingTarget]

What you're thinking of, I believe, is called E6 (http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/206323-e6-game-inside-d-d.html).

The idea is that keeping things to under level-6 keeps things in the gritty-to-slightly-heroic fantasy mode of play. Most of what characters can do is still within the realm of real life - think Arthur more than Heracles. Even magic is toned down as it caps out at 3rd level spells.

Once you hit 6th level, XP can still be earned, you just start getting more feats rather than new class levels.

As an example - I think that, if one were to try to model Lord of the Rings using the D20 system, the E6 variant would be the way to go about it.

[myancey]

Thanks guys, exactly what I was looking for.

[Lord Ruby34]

As an example - I think that, if one were to try to model Lord of the Rings using the D20 system, the E6 variant would be the way to go about it.

Funny thing, I'm running an E6 LotR game right now.

[Incanur]

As an example - I think that, if one were to try to model Lord of the Rings using the D20 system, the E6 variant would be the way to go about it.

That's about right, though Gandalf ain't no fifth-level wizard. I'm also unsure many E6 martial characters could match Boromir's final feat of routing dozens of orcs and then standing against at least hundred for while. A hundred archers means 5 automatic hits per round and thus an average of 22.5 assuming a simple 1d8 longbow. Perhaps he was solidly epic and took Improved Toughness a lot. :smallsmile:

[Waker]

That's about right, though Gandalf ain't no fifth-level wizard. I'm also unsure many E6 martial characters could match Boromir's final feat of routing dozens of orcs and then standing against at least hundred for while. A hundred archers means 5 automatic hits per round and thus an average of 22.5 assuming a simple 1d8 longbow. Perhaps he was solidly epic and took Improved Toughness a lot. :smallsmile:

Or maybe Boromir had some artifact level armor (for E6 at least) with the Spearblock quality (DR5/Slashing or Bludgeoning).

[Yora]

Gandalf is a Solar with Polymorph any Object into an old man.

[Grod_The_Giant]

That's about right, though Gandalf ain't no fifth-level wizard. I'm also unsure many E6 martial characters could match Boromir's final feat of routing dozens of orcs and then standing against at least hundred for while. A hundred archers means 5 automatic hits per round and thus an average of 22.5 assuming a simple 1d8 longbow. Perhaps he was solidly epic and took Improved Toughness a lot. :smallsmile:

Yeah. By LotR times, Middle Earth was relatively low-magic, compared to your average D&D world, but there were still some major martial badasses running around.

[Godskook]

That's about right, though Gandalf ain't no fifth-level wizard. I'm also unsure many E6 martial characters could match Boromir's final feat of routing dozens of orcs and then standing against at least hundred for while. A hundred archers means 5 automatic hits per round and thus an average of 22.5 assuming a simple 1d8 longbow. Perhaps he was solidly epic and took Improved Toughness a lot. :smallsmile:

Or he had DR? Seriously, DR isn't *THAT* hard to get, and DR/magic while normally chided as horribly underpowered is quite strong against your common orc with non-magical vendor trash for equipment(probably not even masterwork).

Hell, I'm pretty sure its available via feats, and even if it isn't, Adamantine armor gives 3/-, and is a lot more likely on Boromir than almost anyone else, considering he's the son of a 'Steward'.

And as far as Gandalf is concerned, name one accomplishment he performed other than fighting a Balrog* that can't be modeled with a level 6 character with a suitable number of bonus feats.

*That fight doesn't actually tell us anything, since we don't know the CR on a Balrog to begin with. Could totally be something that an Epic E6 character could handle, or it could be a Balor, but we don't *KNOW*, except that it was strong enough to scare Gandalf into dismissing his party for the battle.

[Incanur]

Hell, I'm pretty sure its available via feats, and even if it isn't, Adamantine armor gives 3/-, and is a lot more likely on Boromir than almost anyone else, considering he's the son of a 'Steward'.

The text never mentions any armor for Boromir beyond a helmet, and we know that only Gimli openly wore mail.


*That fight doesn't actually tell us anything, since we don't know the CR on a Balrog to begin with. Could totally be something that an Epic E6 character could handle, or it could be a Balor, but we don't *KNOW*, except that it was strong enough to scare Gandalf into dismissing his party for the battle.

Gandalf and the Balrog fought continuously for over week, from the bottom of frigid underground sea to the top of a high peak. Their initial contest caused a door to explode and entire chamber to collapse; the final encounter appeared as storm form a distance, turned a stone tower to dust, and leveled a mountainside. I can't imagine a D&D fight lasting an hour, much less ten days. :smalleek:

[Starbuck_II]

The text never mentions any armor for Boromir beyond a helmet, and we know that only Gimli openly wore mail.



There is a 3.25 feat grants DR (need 20 Con Prereq) each time you take it called Roll with it. So he could have taken that and somehow achieved 20 Con by being 6th level + enough to take a +1 Stat (added both level obe and that to Con) then took feat with next Xp.

[Godskook]

The text never mentions any armor for Boromir beyond a helmet, and we know that only Gimli openly wore mail.

1.Adhere to your own standards of argument. If the movie is valid, the movie is valid, and it clearly shows him wearing armor.

2.According to the books, all the halflings wear chain continuously since the Bombadil arc(at the end of that arc), and Frodo in particular is wearing mithral armor of ancient origins that made prominent mention in both book and movie tellings. And that's from 5-year old memory of the LOTR.

3.You're ignoring the point where DR is available via feat.


Gandalf and the Balrog fought continuously for over week, from the bottom of frigid underground sea to the top of a high peak. Their initial contest caused a door to explode and entire chamber to collapse; the final encounter appeared as storm form a distance, turned a stone tower to dust, and leveled a mountainside. I can't imagine a D&D fight lasting an hour, much less ten days. :smalleek:

Other than "D&D does not model long combat well", how does this demand a generally high level of Gandalf?

[Incanur]

1.Adhere to your own standards of argument. If the movie is valid, the movie is valid, and it clearly shows him wearing armor.

I've written nothing about the movies and don't plan on doing so.


2.According to the books, all the halflings wear chain continuously since the Bombadil arc(at the end of that arc), and Frodo in particular is wearing mithral armor of ancient origins that made prominent mention in both book and movie tellings. And that's from 5-year old memory of the LOTR.

Your memory is failing you. Of the Hobbits, only Frodo wears mail in the books. He wore it concealed, while Gimli openly displayed a shirt of steel rings. Nobody else in the fellowship had torso armor.


Other than "D&D does not model long combat well", how does this demand a generally high level of Gandalf?

Nothing about the battle even remotely resemble combat between sixth-level D&D characters.

[myancey]

Nothing about the battle even remotely resemble combat between sixth-level D&D characters.

Truth. That battle was pretty epic. I could possibly agree that, aside from this battle, Gandalf exhibited traits of a 6th level character..but this battle proved him something else entirely. I don't remember all of Gandalf's lore, but I'm sure he's had his share of epic moments.

[Calintares]

That's about right, though Gandalf ain't no fifth-level wizard. I'm also unsure many E6 martial characters could match Boromir's final feat of routing dozens of orcs and then standing against at least hundred for while. A hundred archers means 5 automatic hits per round and thus an average of 22.5 assuming a simple 1d8 longbow. Perhaps he was solidly epic and took Improved Toughness a lot. :smallsmile:

Where does it say Boromir did that? The closest thing I could find was that there were more than twenty dead orks there, but nothing about for how long or against how many orcs there were in total right there.

[Incanur]

Where does it say Boromir did that? The closest thing I could find was that there were more than twenty dead orks there, but nothing about for how long or against how many orcs there were in total right there.

It's in The Two Towers, not in The Fellowship of the Ring.


Then they yelled and dozens of other goblins had sprung out of the trees. Merry and he had drawn their swords, but the Orcs did not wish to fight, and had tried only to lay hold of them, even when Merry had cut off several of their arms and hands. Good old Merry!

Then Boromir had come leaping through the trees. He had made them fight. He slew many of them and the rest fled. But they had not gone far on the way back when they were attacked again, by a hundred Orcs at least, some of them very large, and they shot a rain of arrows: always at Boromir. Boromir had blown his great horn till the woods rang, and at first the Orcs had been dismayed and had drawn back; but when no answer but the echoes came, they had attacked more fierce than ever. Pippin did not remember much more. His last memo was of Boromir leaning against a tree, plucking out an arrow; then darkness fell suddenly.