Fifth Edition E6

[Chainsaw Hobbit]

Is there any Fifth Edition equivalent to E6 that exists somewhere? Since feats have been made much more powerful, just using the Third Edition system would make for overpowered characters.

[Cybren]

5th edition E6 is best represented by playing from levels 1-20 of 5th edition

[CyberThread]

Yeah besides HP and prof bonus, aboustly no reason , to play E6 variant.

[Durazno]

I had the notion that it might be fun to compress the game's power curve into 6 levels just as an experiment.

[T.G. Oskar]

Overall, a 3.5 character built to 20th level will be more powerful than a 20th level character built through 5e rules. The 3.5 character will probably have more feats (3.5 characters have 7-8 feats overall, whereas 5e characters will have at most 5-6 feats, and that's if you're human), their numbers will be better (BAB will be higher, saves will be higher, skills will have better numbers...the main similarity will be HP, honestly). Their magic items will also be better.

E6 was designed to keep characters in the "tough spot" of D&D, ending strong enough to be mighty but never exceeding that level. Comparing *that* explicitly to a 20th level 5e character, you'll see some curious similarities: a full BAB character like the Fighter will have the same amount of attack bonuses (proficiency bonus tops at +6 for a 5e character), saves will be somewhat worse (3.5 has a maximum save bonus of +5, which is just one less than the maximum proficiency bonus; low saves will be better for 3.5 characters than for 5e characters which add no proficiency bonus), skills will still be better (9 skill ranks + ability score modifier; only a character with Expertise tops that), and magic items will be somewhat better for the 5e character (+3 compared to +1, and most of the current magic items will be somewhat better). A 3.5 character at 6th level will have at least 3 feats (+1 if human, plus bonus feats from other classes), whereas a 5e character at 6th level will only have ONE (or two, if human), and it must sacrifice its ability score improvement (of which the 3.5 character gets, but only up to half that benefit) to do so. Thus, even at 20th level, and considering that ability scores are bound for PCs, chances are you won't end up with that many good ability scores, particularly if you're aiming for a good amount of feats.

This small comparison should let you know something: in the case of 5e, there is no need for an E6 because it, to an extent, deals with the issues that created E6 in the first place. I say "to an extent" because 5e casters are still quite powerful by virtue of having 9th level spells and most of their spellcasting crossed over mostly untouched to 5e. E6, though, deals with bounded accuracy at its core: you'll never get beyond 6th level, and thus access to multiple bonuses will be more difficult, so at the end you can figure out what's your maximum bonus. 5e just extended that to 20 levels, but unfortunately crossed 3.5 spellcasting almost intact, and made some questionable moves (Bards being the real questionable example).

If you want to have a E6 variant, though, you most likely can do so. The feats aren't really a problem: you sacrifice your ONLY ability score increase for a feat, so it's either one or the other. A 5e-based E6 will most likely negate additional feats, since you don't get ability score increases via E6 other than spending a feat on it. You won't see much of a difference, though: spellcasters will have a great deal of their power somewhat reduced, but not by much. Paladins and Rangers will be capable of catching up; Eldritch Knight Fighters and Arcane Trickster Rogues will never get beyond 1st level spells, and Warlocks will probably never get beyond 2nd level spells but will retain their Pact Magic benefits and invocations. The big difference will be in subclasses, mostly: at least Warlocks and probably other spellcasters will get their second feature, while other classes won't. You may want to address that to an extent. Beyond that, just don't hand out more feats or ability score increases so willy-nilly. And beware of ability score boosters, as they replace the ability score rather than add a minor boost (its not the same to grant a +2 to Strength, than to make your Strength score top to 19).

However, the main reason why to have an E6 variant will be somewhat lost: for martial characters, you're already playing a sort-of E6 variant, and for casters...you're playing full 20 levels. Actually, more like 18 levels or something: you get 9th level spells, but less slots overall.

[Person_Man]

I obviously haven't seen the Monster Manual yet, but based on class design I'm guessing that the 5E equivalent of E6 will actually be E8ish, because beyond that point is when the most potent reality altering magical options start to kick in. It's not nearly as bad as it was in 3.X/PF, but there are still plenty of mid-high level spells that basically auto-win plenty of encounters. Scry and Die, Animate Dead, Dominate Person, Polymorph, etc.

If you're a DM and you just want to run a gritty dungeon exploration game without full casters bypassing entire levels with a clever use of a spell, then some kind of level cut-off is going to be required. (Or you can just ban spells, ask players not to abuse them, or set up elaborate anti-magic counter measures or contingency plans, which is how people dealt with mid-high level 3.X games).

I would also add that the first 6ish levels of 5E were clearly the most play tested and balanced. Once you get into higher levels 1/2 and 1/3 casters are gaining 2nd-5th level spells at the same levels that full casters are gaining 5th-9th level spells, and balance between the classes starts to break down.