Yes, I'm creating another epic thread. Apologies to those that consider this spam.
Given:
- players want to be able to continue playing their same characters from before 20th level to after 20th level
- the rules at high level play are cumbersome for a number of reasons (huge statblocks, slow combats, etc)
My solution:
Transition towards a simplified rules system as naturally as possible.
The way I do this is to introduce epic-only class abilities that are unilaterally better than pre-epic abilities, enough to render them obsolete. I believe there is precident for this: the capstone ability of the Fighter removes the need to ever roll to confirm criticals. My system would be a series of class features that essentially feel like capstone abilities.
So as an example, I'll look at the Barbarian's rage:
At level 21, you can take all of the advantages of the "clear mind" ability and rage at the same time.
At level 22, you no longer take -2 to AC due to rage.
At level 23, you gain the ability to rage for an infinate number of rounds per day.
At this point, rage is "auto on" all the time, with no need to ever turn it off. You can now erase your "non-raging stats" from your character sheet.
Similarly, a Rogue's Sneak Attack could be replaced with an attack that deals infinate damage to an enemy (thus isn't truly a "death attack" for purposes of creatures immune to it). Never roll that huge pile of d6s again!
Again, the idea is specifically to make it so as to render other rules completely obsolete. And frankly, these sorts of abilities "feel epic."
These abilities would primarily take place during a "demigod tier" with the goal of simplifying all classes by the same point. Let's call that point level 25.
From levels 26-36 (or however high epic goes) characters would be in the "godhood tier." Here the character are gaining new and bizarre abilities, the sorts seen the Greek myths and Hindu scriptures. (Probably the WW game "Exalted" will be cribbed for ideas.) But the point is that groups that want to avoid the complexity of high level play can create characters that start at level 26 and avoid all the headaches of complex math, etc, while still playing out an "epic" storyline.
My goal was to appease both camps. Be honest: how did I do?
My homebrew game has epic rules! -- it's just that, by the word "epic," I mean 16th level. The d20 game is capped at 20th level in the core rules for a reason -- reality is optional by then, so no set of rules would adequately govern anything too much higher.