Warlawk
2013-08-10, 01:42 PM
So I've been rattling around some ideas for E6. Our primary DM just doesn't like running higher level games, and frankly the system starts to break anyways. We usually end up puttering to a stop and starting a new game once we reach the level 12 region, I think we made it to 14 once. For this reason I've been thinking about gathering some ideas to put forward for our next game to switch things up to an E6.
Now, I know that our group tends to like the sweet spot around 8th level more than 6th, but that's not really what this is about. It's easy enough to take standard E6 and apply it to 8th instead with just a few spells that might need to be left out etc. My main concern was more that it might feel like advancing strictly by feats would end up feeling weak and not terribly exciting, although the E6 specific feats help a lot by opening up ways to gain more spells etc.
The idea that had been rattling around in my head would be something like an E6 Gestalt advancement variant. So you've hit level 6 fighter, your skills are capped at 9 ranks, your BAB is capped at 6 etc. When you get enough XP to level, you choose a class you qualify for, and take a level in that. For the sake of example lets say you choose to take a level in Rogue. Just as for a gestalt game you now compare each ability or stat from each class at level 1 and take the better of the two. For this example you would get the fighter fortitude save, but the rogue reflex save bonus. For the purposes of reflex save you have 1 level of rogue, 5 levels of fighter. Fighter has better HP, so that remains unchanged, BAB also. Rogues have 8 skill points, so you would gain an additional 6 skill points (though you cannot go over the hard cap of 9 ranks). Essentially you follow all the rules for gestalt but you aren't advancing the classes at the same time.
There are a few things that would need to be ironed out, for instance when taking level 1 in a class would you multiply skill ranks by 4? It might be necessary to actually track what you rolled for HP at each level so that if you take a class with equal or better HD you can roll but not get less than you did originally. I'm not 100% sure yet how to handle saving throw increases from prestige classes. It seems that the increases are intended as a bit of a perk to step up your standard advancement a bit, but I don't want them to get out of hand when you can stack up a lot of levels in this setup. I was thinking that perhaps your PrC levels can be considered 'floating' for this. Most other levels are only compared straight across, level 1 is only compared across your classes at level 1. PrC saves could be 'floating' in that you can take them as a replacement for any level, so you can drop them into a dead level for another class. This would let you step your saves up just a little bit without letting things get out of hand with unlimited stacking.
Anyone have any thoughts or experiences with e6 variant they want to share, or critique on my ideas? I will note up front that we do have a strong gentlemans agreement for our gaming group. Everyone just wants to have a good fun game, and no one tries to break things.
Now, I know that our group tends to like the sweet spot around 8th level more than 6th, but that's not really what this is about. It's easy enough to take standard E6 and apply it to 8th instead with just a few spells that might need to be left out etc. My main concern was more that it might feel like advancing strictly by feats would end up feeling weak and not terribly exciting, although the E6 specific feats help a lot by opening up ways to gain more spells etc.
The idea that had been rattling around in my head would be something like an E6 Gestalt advancement variant. So you've hit level 6 fighter, your skills are capped at 9 ranks, your BAB is capped at 6 etc. When you get enough XP to level, you choose a class you qualify for, and take a level in that. For the sake of example lets say you choose to take a level in Rogue. Just as for a gestalt game you now compare each ability or stat from each class at level 1 and take the better of the two. For this example you would get the fighter fortitude save, but the rogue reflex save bonus. For the purposes of reflex save you have 1 level of rogue, 5 levels of fighter. Fighter has better HP, so that remains unchanged, BAB also. Rogues have 8 skill points, so you would gain an additional 6 skill points (though you cannot go over the hard cap of 9 ranks). Essentially you follow all the rules for gestalt but you aren't advancing the classes at the same time.
There are a few things that would need to be ironed out, for instance when taking level 1 in a class would you multiply skill ranks by 4? It might be necessary to actually track what you rolled for HP at each level so that if you take a class with equal or better HD you can roll but not get less than you did originally. I'm not 100% sure yet how to handle saving throw increases from prestige classes. It seems that the increases are intended as a bit of a perk to step up your standard advancement a bit, but I don't want them to get out of hand when you can stack up a lot of levels in this setup. I was thinking that perhaps your PrC levels can be considered 'floating' for this. Most other levels are only compared straight across, level 1 is only compared across your classes at level 1. PrC saves could be 'floating' in that you can take them as a replacement for any level, so you can drop them into a dead level for another class. This would let you step your saves up just a little bit without letting things get out of hand with unlimited stacking.
Anyone have any thoughts or experiences with e6 variant they want to share, or critique on my ideas? I will note up front that we do have a strong gentlemans agreement for our gaming group. Everyone just wants to have a good fun game, and no one tries to break things.