Challenges specific to E8/E10?

[Godskook]

I'm thinking about adding E6-like mechanics to an upcoming campaign I'm setting up, but honestly, I find E6 constraining. You don't qualify for most prestige classes, some iconic spells don't show up at all, and whole hosts of feats are just simply unavailable. E6 sits at the precipice of the Heroic Fantasy quartile; what happens when we go all the way?

And yes, I'm aware of abuse cases surrounding certain core spells, such as Polymorph and the calling/creation subschools.

[avr]

At E10 teleport is almost certainly available; scry/buff/teleport becomes a thing, as does bypassing any number of travel problems. Some people prefer death to be permanent in game to allow certain plots, and with raise dead it's not if they die in front of you at least. Transmute rock to mud breaks castles and the like. Plane shift makes things possible which you might not like to include.

At E8 dimension door and overland flight are lesser versions of the constraints which teleport puts on the challenges you can include. Fabricate breaks the economy. Casters tend to overtake martial characters about now, possibly at their own game.

[Florian]

I'm thinking about adding E6-like mechanics to an upcoming campaign I'm setting up, but honestly, I find E6 constraining. You don't qualify for most prestige classes, some iconic spells don't show up at all, and whole hosts of feats are just simply unavailable. E6 sits at the precipice of the Heroic Fantasy quartile; what happens when we go all the way?

Congratulations: You now have understood E6.

Now bend your brain at understanding this: Your actions matter, not the math behind it.

[ATHATH]

If you want to qualify for some prestige classes in e6 that wouldn't normally be available, I recommend (ab)using the Primary Contact feat, bloodline levels, and/or the ability of Dragons (they don't have to be true Dragons, IIRC, so Dragonwrought Kobolds can pull this off without any much rules iffyness) to automatically qualify for any prestige class or feat that has having the Dragonblood subtype, regardless of the other prerequisites. A Dragonwrought Kobold with a level of Commoner could qualify for Singer of Concordance at level 2, for example.

[ATHATH]

Plus, ACF's and substitution levels can create variety in e6 as well. Example: the Trap Expert Spiritual Connection Planar Shapechanging Mystic Ranger (Favored Enemy (Evil)) 2/Shooting Star Ranger 1/Fangshields Ranger 1/Mystic Ranger 2.

You can find a list of the non-Dragon Magazine ACF's here: http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=7908
You can find a list of the Dragon Magazine ACF's here: http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=9028.0

[Mr Adventurer]

You can't multiclass into the same class with different ACFs, though.

[ATHATH]

You can't multiclass into the same class with different ACFs, though.
I'm not. I just took the 3rd level Shooting Star and the 4th level Fangshields substitution levels.

[Eloel]

You can't multiclass into the same class with different ACFs, though.

Sometimes, you can.


Multiclassing And Variant Classes
Multiclassing between variants of the same class is a tricky subject. In cases where a single class offers a variety of paths (such as the totem barbarian or the monk fighting styles), the easiest solution is simply to bar multiclassing between different versions of the same class (just as a character can't multiclass between different versions of specialist wizards). For variants that are wholly separate from the character class—such as the bardic sage or the urban ranger—multiclassing, even into multiple variants of the same class, is probably okay. Identical class features should stack if gained from multiple versions of the same class (except for spellcasting, which is always separate).

[johnbragg]

Since E6 is already a variant ruleset, you can just wave your hands and poof, entrance requirements for PrCs change.

So to qualify for Arcane Archer, instead of 1st level arcane spells, +6 BAB, and the 3 feats, make it 1st level arcane spells, +1 BAB and the 3 feats.
So Fighter 1/Wizard 1/ARcane Archer 4. Throw in Phase Arrow as an E6 Epic feat if you want to.

Any of your blend classes you can drop the requirements to 1 level each in the 2 "parent" classes. So Arcane Trickster 1 rogue 1 arcane caster level, or abilities you get from the class.

If you really want a feat that has a +8 BAB requirement, you either create E6 Epic feats that boost BAB, or just straight up drop the requirement to +6 BAB. Boom, now you can have Improved Critical if that's what you're missing.

Some of the iconic spells you can include as Incantations, and encode them in a single-use item. Or, again, include them as Epic Feats.

If all that doesn't work, are you sure you want to play E6/8/10?