E6 and Heroic Fantasy in D&D
Have you ever looked in horror to see your options for monsters in high-level Dungeons & Dragons? Ever wondered what you even do at high-level play? Do you just not like high-level play cause everyone feels like superheroes and there is no threat, even from the world-destroyer known as a Tarrasque?
Then you might be playing in the wrong quartile of play in Dungeons & Dragons. Ryan Dancey, back in 2007, shared that there are 4 quartiles of play when it comes to games like Dungeons & Dragons, and the community has come up with some baselines.
I’ll provide a few examples for each quartile, but keep in mind this is from my experience and it could just be the average fits that tier. Still, the beginning or end of a story may be in a different quartile (also, what one person counts as high fantasy, could be gritty for others depending on their reading experience and what they enjoy).
Levels 1 - 5: Low or Gritty Fantasy (Game of Thrones, The Black Company)
Levels 6 - 10: Heroic Fantasy (Lord of the Rings, Mistborn)
Levels 11-15: Superheroic Fantasy (Eragon, Dragonlance)
Levels 16-20: Epic Heroic Fantasy (Malazan, The Wheel of Time)
So what are you to do if you have a long, epic story—but your players are gaining way too much experience too quickly or, if you are using milestone leveling, they keep asking when they get to level up or get more abilities?
E6 Campaigns
That’s where E6 comes into play (or E-X, it can be any level depending on your preferred quartile of play, even E20). This is a style of gaming in Dungeons & Dragons, first introduced back in 2007 and 3.5th edition, where player characters stop leveling up at 6th level.
Originally designed by Ryan Stoughton for 3rd edition, the goal with this idea is that your players are still seen as powerful heroes (by commoners), but they are still mortal. The more levels a character gains, the less mortal they are, and you get magic that even makes death just a nuisance, not a long-lasting problem.
It is an attempt at keeping a certain level of heroic fantasy, but keeping it all grounded and that every fight is suspenseful.
How does it work?
This style of campaign is simple to understand, though you can add on more rules to best fit the style of game you want. When the players hit 6th level (or whatever level you want), they no longer can level up, but they still track experience points. Every time they gain enough experience points to ‘level up’, they instead gain an epic feat, which could be an existing feat, an ability boost, or some other new special ability, like future class abilities but at a reduced power.
For an E6 campaign, anytime they would gain 9,000 XP after hitting level 6, they would gain that new E6 feat, but they don’t become 7th level. That means no 4th-level spells, no additional Hit Die, no 7th-level features, they just get to pick a single Epic Feat. If you were running an E10 campaign, once hitting level 10, the characters would earn an Epic Feat every time they earned 21,000 XP (the experience needed to reach 11th level from 10th).
Changes for Game Masters
While the most obvious changes in this system are going to affect players, there are a few things to keep in mind for Game Masters in regards to treasure and monsters.
While the players are getting stronger every time they gain a new feat, they are still 6th level. They have limited hit points, limited spell slots, they can’t make as many attacks, and their cantrips aren’t as powerful. The ideal monster for them to fight remains largely the same as the ones 6th level characters would fight, though you can start edging slightly higher CR the more feats that the party gains.
For example, if you are playing E6 and your party has gained 5 epic feats, a typical deadly fight would still be against a CR 10 creature, like an aboleth, however the party will have more tools at their disposal than a level 6 party with no epic feats.
As for treasure and magic items, part of the reason why you might want to use E6 is because you want to stick to a specific quartile of play. In this regard, you may want to restrict what items are available. For a typical E6 game, rare magic items may be the most powerful you allow in the game and only hand out one or two of them, while in an E11 game, you may allow very rare magic items with one or two legendary items.
Benefits of E6
While this system may seem limiting at first glance, it allows Game Masters and tables to keep their adventures going, without leaving the sweet spot that they like the best when it comes to playing Dungeons & Dragons. The difference in style of play between 1st level and 20th level is huge, and not every one wants to have wizards with the ability to wish death away, likewise, not every one wants to stop the fun at 20th level.
This system lets the Game Master decide what level and power they are most comfortable running and then putting a soft lock on it. It doesn’t stop players from advancing, but it limits what power they gain access to and ensures that they remain at a low enough level for the Game Master to continue long campaigns without worrying about spells or abilities getting out of hand.
While you could accomplish this with milestone leveling, you run into the issue that milestone leveling leaves the players feeling like they are not progressing or advancing their character, forced to wait on when the Game Master decides they’ve earned a new level, and being disconnected from their character’s advancement. On the other hand, E6 lets the players continue to advance, one of the favorite parts about playing these games.
Rules for E6
These rules limit how powerful a character can become by setting a max level known as an Epic Level. This Epic Level does not stop the character from gaining experience or advancing, but a limit to what level they attain.
When a player character reaches the max set Epic Level, like 6th level, they can no longer obtain additional levels, however, they still track any experience points that they earn. Upon reaching enough experience that they would advance to the next level, they gain an Epic Feat from the list provided below but gain no other benefits. In addition, they reset their experience back to the base of their max set Epic Level and continue tallying experience.
There is no limit to the number of Epic Feats that a character can earn, unless set by the Game Master. Instead, whenever the character gains enough experience to level up from their base Epic Level, they gain another Epic Feat.
For example, a 6th level wizard who earns enough XP to reach 7th level remains at 6th level and gains an Epic Feat. They do not earn any additional hit die, hit points, 4th-level spell slots, or any class or subclass features.
Gaining Epic Feats
The following Epic Feats can be selected when a character at their Epic Level gains enough experience to reach the next level. Some Epic Feats have prerequisites based on the number of Epic Feats they need to earn before they can select them, or require key abilities or features.
Using Class Features as Epic Feats
In some situations, a Game Master may allow a class feature to be used as an Epic Feat. In this case, it would require the character to have a number of Epic Feats plus their Epic Level to equal to the class level for that feature.
In addition, the Game Master may need to adjust the class feature to better match other Epic Feats, like reducing how many times you can use it, how much damage it does, or decreasing the size of the dice it uses.
For example, if you wanted a 14th level wizard class feature and you are playing an E6 campaign, it would require you to have a 8 Epic Feats. Your level (6) plus the number of Epic Feats (8) equals 14 (the level of the class feature you want).
Epic Feats
General Feat
You gain an available feat that you meet the prerequisites for in the Player’s Handbook or any other source that the Game Master has allowed.Ability Improvement
You gain a +2 to an Ability Score of your choice. As normal, you can’t increase an Ability Score above 20 using this feature.
Special You can take this feat multiple times, but an Ability Score can only be increased once with this feat.Empowered Health
You gain an additional hit die from your class. If you have levels in multiple classes, you gain the hit die for the class you have the most levels in.Empowered Spellcasting
Requirements You have the spellcasting feature
You gain an extra 1st-level spell slot.
Special You can take this feat multiple times. Every time you take it, increase the level of the spell slot you gain up to your maximum spell slot. You can not take this feat once you gain an extra spell slot of your highest level.Expert Proficiency
Requirements You have 3 Epic Feats (Depending on what your Epic Level is, the Game Master may allow you to gain this feat with fewer Epic Feats.)
Increase your Proficiency Bonus by 1.
Special You can take this feat multiple times, but only after obtaining an additional 4 Epic Feats.Powerful Cantrip
Requirements You can cast cantrips and have 3 Epic Feats
You treat yourself as a higher level when casting a cantrip that deals additional damage at higher levels. For example, if you are 6th level and cast firebolt, you would ordinarily roll 2d10 for its damage. Instead, you would treat yourself as a higher level and roll 3d10 for its damage.Skill Expertise
Requirements You are proficient with a skill
Select a skill that you are proficiency with. You double your Proficiency Bonus for that skill.
Special You can take this feat multiple times, selecting a different skill each time.Skill Proficiency
You become proficient in two skills.
Special You can take this feat multiple times, selecting additional skills.
Your Epic Campaigns
This is a unique style of play and is incredibly beneficial for Game Masters wanting to stick to a level range for a long time, without having to worry about upping the ante every time their players level up.
If you are considering running an epic campaign, make sure to inform your players ahead of time and talk them through what it would look like. Many players like to build characters that don’t come online until later levels, and they should be well-informed of their options.
If you do end up running an Epic Campaign, or have run one in the past, share your experience below—I’d love to hear how people use this system and what their games look like!
Like what we are doing here?
Support us on Patreon!
You’ll get early access to deep dives, the Homebrew Hoard
featuring 500+ monsters, ad-free articles, and more!
Follow us on Reddit to keep up to date on everything we talk about!
