E6/Epic 6: unique source and/or reference? Also, E6-verse?

[sol_kanar]

Hey there!

E6 compendium?
I read some threads about E6, and I am intrigued by the ideas and the compendium by Gnorman (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=215986).

Anyway, I found bits of E6 here and there (this forum, ENworld, wikis...), so I was wondering: is there a UNIQUE source ("E6 Handbook"?). I found an old topic (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=153150) (2010) in this forum, but at the time there was nothing. Also "Epic 6" and "E6" trigger a lot of extremely unrelated results on Google.

I think it would be really nice to have all available feats, E6-specific feats, 6-level classes, spells and monsters in one single place.

E6-verse?
Another interesting thing, inspired by the famous Typpyverse (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=222007), would be putting down a list of ideas for an E6-verse where the limits in level, spells and CR of monsters would reflect in the development of the world itself: organization of kingdoms, maximum level of people in cities, availability of spells, history and so forth.

[Cieyrin]

This is what I use whenever I consider E6: http://www.myth-weavers.com/wiki/index.php/Epic_6 contains both the general concept and goals and also the unique character creation rules and epic feats for post 6th level play.

[unundindur]

I have been working on a E6 campaign setting for a few years, but the actual world building is dragging out (big surprise...). On the other hand, my group did extend the ruleset quite a lot, and playtested it with good results.

To be fair, E6 hardly need any resources as it just works very well out of the box, but to continue on the concept of simplifying without taking away customization we have had great results by doing the following:


Remove multiclass penalties.
Removing all caster classes except wizard, and giving them access to all spell lists. Half-caster classes such as rangers and paladins are forces to take the alternate features from Complete Champion that grant feats instead of spells.
Follow the Proficiency groups from Unearthed Arcane.
Maximum HP for each level for player characters and key opponents. This have made our games feel a lot more heroic, but without the powerful abilities of high-level play.
Making regular npcs (like farmers, traders, workers etc) scale up to lv 6. Since you can progress after level 6 via feats, its realistic that about 50% of the total population is level 6, but in classes such as commoner. This helps with late game encounters, making it hard for a party to take down 1000 soldiers, even though they are level 6 with 40 feats.


That is the short version of the most important changes we made.

If you ask me, E6 is D&D fifth edition :smallwink:

[Gnorman]

If you ask me, E6 is D&D fifth edition :smallwink:

I think you mean sixth - it's that far ahead.

This thread (http://www.enworld.org/forum/d-d-legacy-discussion/200754-e6-game-inside-d-d-new-revision.html) is the original E6 thread, and contains most of the (limited number of) feats that were created specifically for the subset. As to some of the other things you mention, like 6-level classes, those don't really exist.

The thing I like about E6's limitations is that it takes some of the really stupid stuff off the table both in terms of party capabilities and economic/social conventions. Eberron lends itself well to an E6 campaign, with its low-but-pervasive magic. The Tippyverse can still be partially realized (Create Food and Water is a 3rd level spell), but you lose your teleport circles and other bits of insanity. Spellcasters are still powerful, but not so powerful that them ruling the world becomes the inevitable, natural destination.

[Darth_Versity]

The problem with an E6 compendium is that E6 is a collection of house rules designed as a guide, not a set list of rules, and many people have added or altered things since the original, so a comprehensive list of everything is very hard to do.

For example, in my E6 game my players only lvl up when I say so, yet they still gain xp for any encounters and can start buying bonus feats right away. My plates have only just reached level 2 and some have over 3k xp.

I also rule that they get +10th HP at 1st lvl and can only roll a minimum of half their HD on a lvl up (so a barbarian recieve a min of 6hp off his roll)

I've also changed or added several feats including the recommended E6 feats. I have 2 feats that increase your BAB and effective fighter level to allow access to even better feats (such as melee weapon mastery)

Now this works really well for me and my players love it, but a lot of people would probably dislike my rules. Because of that an actual list of all the options would be next to impossible as what works for one group doesn't for another.

[unundindur]

The Tippyverse can still be partially realized (Create Food and Water is a 3rd level spell), but you lose your teleport circles and other bits of insanity. Spellcasters are still powerful, but not so powerful that them ruling the world becomes the inevitable, natural destination.

We get around this via rituals. Effects beyond level 3 spells are possible, but a teleportation circle might require 50 high (level) mages working for a week. This allows for plot-required effects, and global politics that involve magic (such as invading via portals), much like rigging up mordern assaults.

As such high powered effects are never learned, they might be researched outside the rules, but are fully up to the GM.

[Gnorman]

The problem with an E6 compendium is that E6 is a collection of house rules designed as a guide, not a set list of rules, and many people have added or altered things since the original, so a comprehensive list of everything is very hard to do.

I disagree almost entirely.

E6, at its core, only contains one house rule: "Once you reach level six, you no longer gain levels but every 5,000 experience points you get an extra feat." Everything else is secondary, and can be done without.