Kliyo's page

I'm starting an Epic6, very low magic, renaissance/enlightment era, urban adventure and I would like your opinion in some rule decisions I'm planning:

1) CAMPAIGN SETTING CONSIDERATIONS

I feel that, in that context, running around in anything heavier than studded leather armor would be socially unacceptable for anyone except the townsguard. The same goes for heavy weaponry, so they are limited to light weapons or what they can conceal or disguise as tools. Swords may be common as a status symbol and fashion accesory for the rich. Early firearms are available in military and criminal backgrounds, but gunpowder is hard to come by legally.

2) ARMOR AND AC

Under those circumstances, I feel like tying the progression of AC to armor is not ideal, and a lvl-dependant dodge AC bonus and "Armor as DR" would be preferable , but I'm not sure how to go about it. I think adding BAB to CA as a dodge bonus would do the trick, but the difference between normal AC and touch AC would be only shield bonus, which is not frequently used in this context. Most spellcaster classes will be banned for campaign setting reasons, so this won't be that much of an issue, but it is something I would like to solve.

3) VITALITY AND WOUNDS SYSTEM

I really like the wounds/vitality system for campaigns with little recovery magic, because recovering vitality after a short rest doesn't break immersion, yet it keeps the potential for long term damage. Critical hits under this system do not multiply, but simply bypass vitality. This makes armor DR more valuable, because it can prevent the one-critical-hit kill. The problem I see is that higher crit-multipliers are ignored. The best solution I could think of is giving weapons with a crit-multiplier higher than x2 the ability to bypass 2x(CritMult-2) points of armor DR (so x3 weapons bypass DR 2 and x4 weapons bypass DR 4). I think this works with many of the weapons that get the higher crit (warpicks, axes, spears), but not so much with others (scythe, crossbow), so some tweaking is needed.

4) FIREARMS

The last think I would like to run by you is firearms. First, I REALLY don't like the possibility of reducing reloading time to a swift action, so I'm limiting it so reloads are at least a part of a move action that causes attack of opportunity (I dont remember the feat combination or class ability that allowed for this, but I know it was possible). Second, I'm not sure about the damage. I think I should bump it up a bit (perhaps a size category). I don't remember where, but I read somewhere the proposal of making the firearm damage dice exploding, so to acount for the bullet bouncing arround inside the body (yeah, nasty).Lastly, I'm also changing the touch attack within the first range increment into +4 points of armor DR bypass within the first range increment. With regards to the misfire, I'm perfectly OK with it, it makes for interesting moments.

What do you think? Am I complicating it too much? Any obvious breaking points I'm not seeing? Any suggestions?

I would recommend taking a look at Epic6 guidelines.
https://www.myth-weavers.com/wiki/index.php/Epic_6

Essentially, it caps leveling at level 6, so things wont spiral out of control. This keeps casters confined to 3rd level spells, leaving anything higher to be best used as a plot point. Progression is made through feats: every 5000xp or so they can learn a new feat, increasing not so much in raw power but in versatility. Some class abilities can be easily converted into feats for this purpose.

On the other hand, hp and saving throws are left static (in the realms of 40-80hp and 4-10 st), leaving the players still vulnerable to a mob of guards (fighters lvl 1-3 with a named lvl5 NPC commanding them) without having to resort to other absurdly leveled characters to keep them in check.

Magic item scarcity plays well into this, making a simple +1 flaming sword the central piece of its own legend. And it works for monsters too, making that simple manticore THE MANTICORE of Bramblethorn Forest or whatever.

I've played this "variant" once and DM'd it another to good results. Admittedly, these were relatively short campaigns (10-12 gaming sessions), but I think it could have kept going for another story arc.

PS: In fact I'm planning an enlightment-era urban campaign using this, the wounds and vitality system, armor as dr and some lvl-dependent AC bonus.