I'm currently working on a campaign where high level powers are not fitting. I've decided on capping levels and 6/8 seems to be the consensus for a fair stopping point. I've GM'd up until these levels already in a different campaign, but would be interested if anyone can give me some advice on how to make the best experience for my players under this rule variant.
Relevant information:
* The campaign is fairly slow paced (IC) and will have significant downtime, although magic item creation is entirely off-limits (as it is to NPCs with few exceptions).
* 'treadmill items' such as cloaks of resistance, headbands/belts of +stat, and rings/amulets of +armor do not exist. As the vast majority of the opponents faced will be class-level NPCs under the same restrictions, I doubt this will be game-breaking.
* There will be significant political/diplomatic overtones, the campaign is set during a rebellion, so should also have enough combat to prevent combat-centric builds becoming entirely irrelevant.
What are players supposed to do with that downtime?
A) nothing, it's all setting. ”many years later..."
B) ???
What are players supposed to do with that downtime?
A) nothing, it's all setting. ”many years later..."
B) ???
Build alliances, work on improving trade structure, research into something (e.g, try to find who the best smith in the land is, to go and commission a super-powerful sword), spread their name around the locals, it's really player driven, they could be sitting on their arse in a tavern drinking away their wealth if they thought it appropriate to the character.
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E6 is probably the best if you want your characters to remain close to 'real' capabilities in the actual world. Skills and hitpoints remain just above the edge of what humans are capable of. But most classes get cut sort of short. Things like domain powers or school powers dont quite fit in the E6 world.
E8 is a simpler fix in pathfinder because so many classes get cool mini capstones in the 7-8 range (except sorcerors who might want to have an epic feat to let them have their 9th level bloodline abilities)
E6 is probably the best if you want your characters to remain close to 'real' capabilities in the actual world. Skills and hitpoints remain just above the edge of what humans are capable of. But most classes get cut sort of short. Things like domain powers or school powers don't quite fit in the E6 world.
E8 is a simpler fix in pathfinder because so many classes get cool mini capstones in the 7-8 range (except sorcerers who might want to have an epic feat to let them have their 9th level bloodline abilities)
That sounds reasonable. I do find a lot of the level 7-8 abilities very nice and will probably talk to players on a case-by-case basis about level 9 or 10 class features that they might make a trade off to have obtainable.
Are there any notable problems with continuing to gain wealth and items while level stops improving?
What are some good ways to have players maintain a feeling of progress without any level-related benefits? I would like to think the plot I have would satisfy most of this, but realistically I do not want to rely entirely on it.
Are there any specific traits of an encounter (such as invisibility, flying, ect, ect) that a Level 6-8 party cannot reliably combat, and I should be careful introducing?
Maybe consider another game? Like Iron Heroes? Fantasy Hero? Etc.
You're trying to make the superbly designed round peg which is Pathfinder fit into the "square hole" of super low magic, etc. It just isn't designed for it.
There's a whole set of rules for e6, which you seem to be unaware of.
Go check the houserules section. You'll find that characters still gain "levels", and those levels pretty much just give you more feats.
Those, in turn, allow you to take on more powerful foes. Just be careful with monsters with special abilities. A basilisk is a lot more dangerous if no one living can reverse the petrification.
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Pathfinder E6 discussion.
E6 rules
Just to clarify, with E6/P6/E8/P8 or whatever, you would level up as normal until you hit the target level (6,8 or whatever) then after that you gain a feat at a certain interval of additional XP without gaining any more hp, abilities, spells, BAB, etc that you would gain with a level. In addition to regular feats there are usually ones put into the game to help emulate certain aspects of the classes for the next level or 2. It works well despite a good amount of loud mouths who rail against limits in any game of Pathfinder and suggestions of "play sumfin' else if'n you be hatin' Pathfinder!"
I find that I love Pathfinder up to around 8-10th level, as do a lot of other people.
basically it's a good houserule if your group doesn't mind and enjoys the game.
E6 is probably the best if you want your characters to remain close to 'real' capabilities in the actual world. Skills and hitpoints remain just above the edge of what humans are capable of. But most classes get cut sort of short. Things like domain powers or school powers don't quite fit in the E6 world.
E8 is a simpler fix in pathfinder because so many classes get cool mini capstones in the 7-8 range (except sorcerers who might want to have an epic feat to let them have their 9th level bloodline abilities)
That sounds reasonable. I do find a lot of the level 7-8 abilities very nice and will probably talk to players on a case-by-case basis about level 9 or 10 class features that they might make a trade off to have obtainable.
Are there any notable problems with continuing to gain wealth and items while level stops improving?
Well, magic items are power in pathfinder as written. This isnt an issue in my game as I've removed most of them and replaced their 'needed' bonuses with things players choose from as they level. But in a normal game if they keep gaining wealth and (presumably) more powerful magic items, their abilities will rise beyond what a party of their level would normally, though that isnt necessarily a bad thing, its something you should be aware of and manage. A 5th level fighter with a +5 keen,flaming,holy great sword is far superior to a 5th level fighter with a +1 great sword. So how you manage magic items becomes very important.
What are some good ways to have players maintain a feeling of progress without any level-related benefits? I would like to think the plot I have would satisfy most of this, but realistically I do not want to rely entirely on it.
As others have stated, its with feats. E6 (the original name) intended for players to progress, but only with feats (not spell levels, hd, bab, etc). In the game I play every 5k xp we get to pick a new feat, including a few custom 'epic' feats designed around the E6 mechanic
Are there any specific traits of an encounter (such as invisibility, flying, ect, ect) that a Level 6-8 party cannot reliably combat, and I should be careful introducing?
If the rest of the world is also limited ot that same level (and monsters dont far exceed it) then it wont really be a problem. After all a 6th level party has to deal with 6th level wizards in the normal game, they can fly and turn invisible, but its more limited, and the party's wizard in theory has the tools to counter it. But if the opponent is higher level (or CR) then the party, then the numbers, and the general abilities will move to ones the party doesnt have access to the tools to manage.
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Watch for DR. While players should be able to deal with DR/ bludgeoning, DR/good is much harder, especially if oil of align weapon doesn't exist.
Maybe consider another game? Like Iron Heroes? Fantasy Hero? Etc.
You're trying to make the superbly designed round peg which is Pathfinder fit into the "square hole" of super low magic, etc. It just isn't designed for it.
The world isn't that low magic - magical items are just much harder to create. There is a magocracy city-state which is the source of near all low-moderate power magic items.
If you're blocking off stat boosters you might want to give either more stat boosts or allow rebuilding to a higher point buy mid-game. Some feat prerequisites are too high otherwise.
...
The game starts at a decent level, and will be 25 point buy to cover the lack of stat items in these cases.
There's a whole set of rules for e6, which you seem to be unaware of.
I am aware of the rules. We don't use XP, but I might use the feats in that one link someone provided as suggestions for things they could gain during the downtime.
Watch for DR. While players should be able to deal with DR/ bludgeoning, DR/good is much harder, especially if oil of align weapon doesn't exist.
That's a good point and quite relevant as there are several unique Zelekhuts they have a chance of facing. I will be sure that their characters are aware of this problem and have the chance to aquire means to overcome it should they expect this encounter.