E6 Balance?

[Dr. Roboto]

Hey there,

I'm going to be starting a E6 game shortly. (For those who don't know what it is. (http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/206323-e6-game-inside-d-d.html)) Now, I'm new to E6 and DMing in general, so I'm a bit worried about balancing encounters correctly. The normal CR rules won't work once the enemies/PCs get above 6th level, so how do I figure out what kinds of enemies to pit them up against?

As a sidenote, are there any good sources for premade NPCs, E6 or otherwise?

Thanks.

[Tyndmyr]

Generally, increase 1 CR for every 5 feats. It may vary somewhat from that depending on group, but it's a good starting point.



MMm, I once started writing a book of 101 NPCs...should finish that someday.

[Dr. Roboto]

Thanks for the reply. I noticed it on the E6 page, and now feel silly.

One other question; how should I handle wealth-by-level?

[The Rabbler]

One other question; how should I handle wealth-by-level?

The general rule with all things E6 is to pretend the characters have leveled up every 5 feats past level 6. a level 6 character with 5 extra feats should be considered roughly equal to a level 7 character. This tops out at around level "10", as feats generally aren't enough to close that level gap anymore. Not that you should run into too much trouble, though; most E6 campaigns cut out long before feats stop mattering as much.

EDIT: to more directly answer your question: Wealth-wise, assume they've leveled up after earning roughly 25,000 xp.

[Wookie-ranger]

yeah,
generally +5feats = +1CR. but this is only a guideline.
Depending on the op level, and feat choices you can go in power by a lot. Think about a Wiz that uses Metamagic reducer feats, a cleric with DMM using getting lots of turning attempts, and even a fighter that focuses on Trip.

as in the regular d20 it all depends on the characters; but with less chance of becoming broken. give them a lot they are good against, give them a little they need/should run from.

[Dr. Roboto]

Thanks a lot, everyone. I'm not too worried about balance being an issue, since my group is mostly made up of new players.

[Lonely Tylenol]

Thanks a lot, everyone. I'm not too worried about balance being an issue, since my group is mostly made up of new players.

I'm working on a set of pregen level 6 characters of every class (race and alignment nondescript), which means that they will be completely untemplated; you can insert a race or template, along with all of its benefits, therein with no problems. (Alignment-specific feats will not factor in at any time in any way, either.) This will likely include multiples of some classes (I will build 9 Wizards, 1 specialist of every type plus 1 generalist; 5 Clerics, one each for Lawful Good, Chaotic Good, Lawful Evil, Chaotic Evil, and True Neutral, who can slide along the axis once to hit every deity; a handful of Warblades, Swordsages, and Crusaders, each tailored to the Martial Adept style of their choosing; a handful of Sorcerers, representing different spell selections, or simply different spell loadouts for the same build; a few different Psions, representing the different disciplines; and so on).

I was considering building them at every level, with magic items to boot (at NPC WBL), but I'm incredibly laaaaaaazyyyyyyyy...

[gorfnab]

I have found Gnorman's (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=215986) E6 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=231153) to be quite interesting.

[Tyndmyr]

Thanks for the reply. I noticed it on the E6 page, and now feel silly.

One other question; how should I handle wealth-by-level?

Randomly generated wealth according to normal CR works pretty well.

[Novawurmson]

The original E6 page has good advice on how to scale encounters with increasingly powerful "level 6" characters.

On another topic, I started to build a database of pregenerated PF NPCs one time...maybe we should start another thread on this...

[Dr. Roboto]

I have found Gnorman's (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=215986) E6 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=231153) to be quite interesting.

These look impressive, but I'm not entirely sure what they are. Is he making a new set of races and classes for E6? Why's it necessary?

[Lonely Tylenol]

These look impressive, but I'm not entirely sure what they are. Is he making a new set of races and classes for E6? Why's it necessary?

Mostly because, while 6th level is generally more balanced than 20th level, it doesn't change the fact that:
1) No class was ever designed with balancing around 6th level in mind; and
2) Most classes (or, more generally, concepts) were designed to blossom around 7th level or later, or the level where relevance is attained is totally arbitrary between classes. For example, Warlocks and Dragonfire Adepts become much better at level 6, when they get their choice of at-will flying and other goodies. By contrast, Shadowcasters get a dead level at 6th--and their initiate mysteries, AKA the good ones, come online at level 7.

They're not, strictly speaking, necessary--but they WERE designed with 6th-level balance (and concept fulfillment) in mind.