Talk:E6 (3.5e Sourcebook)

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Aez favors this article and rated it 4 of 4!

I am always hugely irked by the D&D level system. It is divvied up into 20 parts in order to allow players the feeling of gradual advancement. Gradual advancement is great! I have no problem with that. What I dislike is that each level is based upon ever increasing numerical factors. I don't care about how many numbers my character has, I care about things that I could do now that I could not do before. While these numbers can be a proxy for this, this ends up putting characters in a situation where things break down cognitively in a hurry. For instance, why should a level 20 wizard sans buffs be any tougher than a level 1 commoner. Or better at attacking things. Or better at dodging traps. Granted, many players would like their wizards to be able to do those things, but that should be a character decision left up to them that they have some degree of sacrifice for. The stats are all scaling up across the board so fast that every stat apparently needs to scale up in order to compensate. However, it doesn't always happen equally. AC is the classic example of how it matters at the beginning of the game and rapidly loses relevance as the attack bonus gains simply outpace it. I could deal with that sort of implausibility if it didn't result in such a dramatic power difference between characters of different levels. Encounters are forced into a constant power creep in order to continue challenging the players (the classic MMO scaling problem). More importantly, average commoners, citizens, NPCs in general cease being relevant to the players. The players can slaughter their way through any village / township / etc. they want by level 15~. The commoners often have little chance at opposing the mildest skill checks and spells. There simply becomes no repercussion for most PC actions. The solve of things like FR has been to just scale everything up along the board, so level 20 wizards are common so there can be consequences for the players. This of course creates the dichotomy in the setting where the players wonder where those high level characters were before, why they don't solve all the problems the players have been solving, and why they choose to interfere as DMPCs so often. Same thing goes for all the high level monsters the party has to face in the lategame. Simply put, in the real world, even the best athletes, brightest geniuses, etc. hardly eclipse level 4. E6 jumps right to that conclusion by placing characters in a much more reasonable power level. So players can be more varied and do more different things as they advance without compromising the setting and challenges they previously faced. But then again, am a hardcore roleplayer and left my PvP D&D server days behind me long ago, so what do I know.

	Fangotango favors this article and rated it 4 of 4!
	Looks great, especially as it seems easy to adapt to different levels of group play. If your group finds the sweet spot is level 10, then adjust it for E8-E10 or so. Nice system. I have some 10 year olds who want to try D&D. Maybe I'll use an E3 system for them, like the old D&D Basic kit : )

	DanielDraco favors this article and rated it 4 of 4!
	Great way to make the game a little more sane with very little work.