| cranewings |
A lot of these rules I found online already. The rest are my own creation for a gritty, low level game. Comments welcome.
House Rules – E6
Attributes
Attributes are rolled 4d6, reroll 1s, drop the lowest.
Armor Proficiency
Characters from many parts of the game world do not have access to heavy armor. If a character from such a region would normally start with heavy armor proficiency, he instead gets a fighter feat.
Skills
All characters gain 2 additional skill points per level.
Feats
Normally paired weapons can gain the benefits of feats such as weapon focus so long as the character has the feat Two Weapon Fighting. For example, a character with TWF can take Weapon Focus Daisho instead of taking it for each sword separately.
Magic Items
This chart levels the playing field between the haves and have nots in terms of magic items. All characters receive these bonuses as they level, in addition to normal stat bonuses and feats.
All bonuses on this chart are called, “Skill Bonuses.” They stack with armor, shield, resistance, enhancement and deflection bonuses normally.
Level Bonus Provided
1 Nothing
2 AC +1, Saving Throws +1
3 Strike and Damage +1
4 AC+1
5 Attribute +2
6 AC +1, Saving Throws +1
Experience Points
Characters will advance according to the slow experience point table.
Level Advancement
Experience from levels 1 through 6 progresses normally. At 6th level, characters no longer gain levels. For every 5000 experience obtained, the character gains a new feat. At the end of this document, there is a list of feats, most of which not available until 6th level, that help to fill in the gaps created when not allowing higher level characters.
Summoner Spells
Haste is now a Third Level spell for the summoner, meaning that Summoner’s can’t cast it in an E6 game. Haste is powerful for a 3rd level spell. When given a second level spell slot, there is no reason for a summoner to cast anything else.
In addition to that, one of the joys of E6 play is that combat is quicker. Having every character hasted every fight from 4th level on is a book keeping drag, and I’m tired of it.
Healing and Death
Hitpoints gained at first level are kept separate from those gained at later levels. Hit points gained after first level are called, “Defense Points.” Defense points represent a combination of skill, fatigue and divine favor. Characters take damage to their defense points before taking it to their hit points. Characters that have only suffered defense point damage are considered unharmed.
Normal Recovery
Hitpoints recover at rate of Level + Con Modifier / day.
Defense points recover completely with five minutes of rest.
One minute of rest restores 50% of all lost defense points.
Serious Wounds
A character that has lost all of his defense points, and suffered even a single hit point of damage is considered to be “seriously wounded.” A seriously wounded character doesn’t recover his defense points at an accelerated rate. Instead, he must wait for them to slowly regenerate in the same way as normal hit points. Even if magically healed, a seriously wounded character doesn’t regain the ability to instantly recover his defense points unless the magical healing COMPLETELY restores his defense point pool.
Magical Healing of Defense Points
Clerics can heal defense points normally with channeling and healing spells. A character that hasn’t suffered a serious wound receives the magical energy as renewed vigor and the attention of favorable deities. Characters that have indeed suffered a serious wound receive the energy as additional healing to the wound and a reduction in the pain it causes them.
Essential Feats
While any E6 game should have a wide selection of feats available, the following fill very important niches in the rules.
Open Mind (Open)
You develop new skills.
Benefit: You immediately gain an extra 5 skill points. You spend these skill points as normal. If you spend them on a cross-class skills they count as 1/2 ranks. You cannot exceed the normal maximum ranks for your level in any skill. If you gain this feat when you are not gaining a level (i.e. after level 6), treat any skill that was a class skill for any of your classes as a class skill.
Special: You can gain this feat multiple times. Each time, you immediately gain another 5 skill points.
Removing Status Effects
Restoration (General)
Prerequisites: 6th level, ability to cast 3rd-level divine spells, Wisdom 18, Healing 6 Ranks
Benefit: You can use Restoration, as the spell (paying the material component), with a casting time of 1 hour.
Stone to Flesh (General)
Prerequisites: 6th level, ability to cast 3rd-level arcane spells, Intelligence 18, Craft (Alchemy) 6 Ranks
Benefit: You can use stone to flesh, as the spell, with an expensive and secret magical ingredient with a market value of 1000 gp and a casting time of 1 day.
Natural Fighter
Defense Skill (General)
Prerequisite: Character Level 6th
Special: Gain a +1 skill bonus to AC.
Offensive Skill (General)
Prerequisite: Character Level 6th, Defense Skill
Special: Gain a +1 skill bonus to Strike and Damage.
For Casters
Expanded Knowledge (General)
Prerequisite: Character Level 6th
Benefit: Choose a spellcasting class in which you have levels. You gain an additional spell known at any level you can cast from that class's spell list. This feat can be taken once per spell level.
Expanded Casting (General)
Prerequisite: Character Level 6th
Benefit: Choose a spellcasting class in which you have levels. You gain an additional spell slot at any level you can already cast. This can be taken once per spell level.
Item Creation
Wondrous Rings (General) (Item Creation)
Prerequisites: 6th level, Craft Wondrous Item
Benefit: You treat rings as wondrous items for the purpose of meeting item creation prerequisites. You must still meet caster level requirements for any ring you create.
Ability Score Feats
Ability Training (General)
You spend time honing one of your Abilities: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma.
Benefit: Choose one Ability; treat that Ability as having a +2 bonus to that Ability Score whenever you are making an Ability Check. This bonus does not count when making a skill check or for any other use of that ability.
Special: You can gain this feat multiple times, its effects do not stack. Each time you take this feat it applies to another ability.
Ability Advancement (General)
Your training pays off, and one of your Abilities increases.
Prerequisite: Ability Training in the same ability.
Benefit: Choose one Ability. You gain a permanent +2 bonus to that ability. This bonus does not stack with the benefit from Ability Training.
Special: You can gain this feat multiple times, its effects do not stack. Each time you take this feat it applies to another ability.
Capstone Feats
Martial Veteran (General)
Prerequisites: Fighter level 6th.
Benefit: You may select feats with a requirement of up to fighter level 8, and with a Base Attack Bonus requirement of up to +8.
Special: A fighter may select Martial Veteran as one of his bonus feats.
Roguish Ability [General]
Prerequisite: Rogue 6
Benefit: You learn one rogue advanced talent.
Special: This feat may be taken only once.
Barbaric Resilience [General]
Prerequisite: Barbarian 6
Benefit: You gain DR 2/--
Skill Beyond Your Years [General]
Prerequisite: Level 6
Pick a skill. You may have up to 8 ranks in that skill.
Holy Strikes [General]
Prerequisite: Paladin 6
Benefit: Your melee attacks are considered good for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
Mighty Wild Shape [General]
Prerequisite: Druid level 6
A druid can use wild shape to change into a Huge or Diminutive animal, a Medium elemental, or a Small or Medium plant creature. When taking the form of animals, a druid’s wild shape now functions as beast shape III. When taking the form of an elemental, the druid’s wild shape now functions as elemental body II. When taking the form of a plant creature, the druid’s wild shape functions as plant shape I.
Bardic Inspiration [General]
Prerequisite: Bard level 6
The bonus granted by your inspire courage and inspire competence abilities increase to +3.
Extra Domain Power [General]
Prerequisites: Wis 18 +, Cleric level 6, Knowledge (religion) 8 ranks, Skill Focus: Knowledge (religon)
Benefit: You gain the domain power of one additional domain associated with your deity. You may only take this feat once.
Extra Domain Access (General)
Prerequisities: Wis 18 +, Cleric level 6, Knowledge (religion) 8 ranks, Extra Domain Power, Skill Focus: Knowledge (religion)
Benefit: You gain access to the domain spell list of one additional domain associated with your deity. This domain must be the same one as that chosen for the Extra Domain Power feat. You may only take this feat once.