Epic Level Handbook

More documents

Recommendations

Info

CHAPTER 1:CHARACTERS,SKILLS & FEATSbeyond 10th level, but only if your character level isalready 20th or higher. You cannot advance the classlevel of a class with fewer than ten levels beyond themaximum described for that class, regardless of yourcharacter level.Epic Save Bonus: Your base save bonus does not increaseafter your character level reaches 20th. However,you do receive a cumulative +1 epic bonus on all savingthrows at every even-numbered level beyond 20th, asshown on Table 1–1: Epic Save and Epic Attack Bonuses.In other words, you have a +1 epic bonus on all savingthrows at 22nd level, a +2 epic bonus on all saving throwsat 24th level, and so on. Any time feat, prestige class, orother rule refers to your base save bonus, use the sum ofyour base save bonus and epic save bonus.Epic Attack Bonus: Similarly, your base attack bonusdoes not increase after your character level reaches 20th.However, you do receive a cumulative +1 epic bonus onall attacks at every odd-numbered level beyond 20th, asshown on Table 1–1: Epic Save and Epic Attack Bonuses.Any time feat, prestige class, or other rule refers to yourbase attack bonus (except for gaining additional attacks),use the sum of your base attack bonus and epic attack bonus.Experience Points: This column on Table 1–2:Experience and Level-Dependent Benefits shows theexperience point total needed to achieve a given characterlevel. For multiclass characters, experiencepoints determine overall character level, not individualclass levels.Though Table 1–2 only shows experience point totalsthrough 30th level, you can easily calculate the experiencepoints needed to reach 31st level and higher. Simplyadd your current level times 1,000 XP to the experiencepoints required for your current level. For instance,reaching 31st level would require an additional 30 ×1,000 XP (or 30,000 XP), taking the character’s XP totalfrom 435,000 to 465,000.Class Skill Max Ranks: The maximum number ofranks a character can have in a class skill is equal to his orher character level +3.Cross-Class Skill Max Ranks: For cross-class skills(skills neither associated with nor forbidden to the character’sclass), the maximum number of ranks is one-halfthe maximum for a class skill.Feats: Every character gains one feat (which may be anepic or nonepic feat at the player’s choice) at every leveldivisible by three (21st, 24th, 27th, and so on). These featsare in addition to any bonus feats granted in the classdescriptions later in this chapter.Ability Increases: Upon gaining any level divisible byfour (20th, 24th, 28th, and so on), a character increasesone of his or her ability scores by 1 point. The playerchooses which ability score to improve.For multiclass characters, feats and ability increasesare gained according to character level, not class level.Thus, a 13th-level wizard/11th-level fighter is a 24thlevelcharacter and eligible for both a feat and an abilityscore increase.TABLE 1–1: EPIC SAVE AND EPIC ATTACK BONUSESCharacter Epic Save Epic AttackLevel Bonus Bonus21st +0 +122nd +1 +123rd +1 +224th +2 +225th +2 +326th +3 +327th +3 +428th +4 +429th +4 +530th +5 +5BEHIND THE CURTAIN: EPIC LEVELS ANDPRESTIGE CLASSESThese rules allow you to go beyond the normal level limit in aprestige class, but only if it is a ten-level class. Why can’t youadd levels to a prestige class with fewer than ten levels?It’s Too Easy: Maxing out a ten-level prestige class takes a lotof time and effort, detracting significantly from your pursuit ofthe Player’s Handbook classes. If you could gain additionallevels in a prestige class with only five levels, for instance, youhaven’t taken more than a short detour from your main classor classes.It’s Not Significant Enough: Characters with ten levels in theblackguard prestige class undoubtedly think of themselvesas blackguards, regardless of the fact that they also have tenlevels in one or more other classes. If you’ve taken fewer thanten levels in a prestige class, those levels represent a smallerfraction of your character’s identity.It’s Hard to Build an Epic Progression: With only a few levelsto guide you, it’s hard to determine what an appropriateprogression of class features would be for the class. The rate ofimprovement of a special ability might be too fast to extrapolateover an infinite number of levels, or there might simply betoo few class features to build a unique epic progression. Epicclass progressions are described later in the chapter.That said, if your DM wants to allow a character to gain epiclevels in a prestige class with fewer than ten levels in its progression,that’s okay. Work together with your DM to create an epicprogression for the class (see the Behind the Curtain: Buildingan Epic Progression sidebar later in this chapter).NO LIMITSAlthough most of the tables in this book only snow informationup to a certain level (often 30th), that level is by no meansthe limit of a character’s advancement. Because of spacelimitations, we generally show advancement only ten levelsbeyond what’s given in the Player’s Handbook. Once you’veread this chapter, you should know how to calculate theproper values for levels beyond those shown on the tables.You can generally assume that any patterns on a particulartable continue infinitely.6
TABLE 1–2: EXPERIENCE AND LEVEL-DEPENDENT BENEFITSCharacterClassSkill MaxCross-ClassSkill MaxAbilityLevel XP Ranks Ranks Feats Increases20th 190,000 23 11 1/2 — 5th21st 210,000 24 12 8th* —22nd 231,000 25 12 1/2 — —23rd 253,000 26 13 — —24th 276,000 27 13 1/2 9th* 6th25th 300,000 28 14 — —26th 325,000 29 14 1/2 — —27th 351,000 30 15 10th* —28th 378,000 31 15 1/2 — 7th29th 406,000 32 16 — —30th 435,000 33 16 1/2 11th* —+1 +1,000 × +1 +1/2 +1* per 3 +1 per 4current level*You can choose an epic feat or nonepic feat.CLASS FEATURESBecause the Player’s Handbook only contains informationon advancement up to 20th level in any class, this bookexpands each class’s progression of class features beyond20th level. In addition, this book presents an expandedadvancement for each of the prestige classes presented inthe DUNGEON MASTER’S Guide.Many, but not all, class features continue to accumulateafter 20th level. The following guidelines describe howthe epic class progressions in this section work.• As noted earlier, your base save bonuses and base attackbonus don’t increase after 20th level. Thus, there are nocolumns for base save bonuses or base attack bonusesfor these classes. Instead, use Table 1–1: Epic Save andEpic Attack Bonuses to determine the character’s epicbonus on saving throws and attacks.• You continue to gain Hit Dice and skill points as normalbeyond 20th level.• Generally speaking, any class feature that uses yourclass level as part of a mathematical formula, such as apaladin’s lay on hands ability, the Difficulty Class (DC)to resist a monk’s stunning fist attack, or a bard’s bardicknowledge check, continues to increase using yourclass level in the formula. A 22nd-level paladin with aCharisma of 20 (+5 bonus) can use lay on hands for (22× 5) 110 hit points per day. The DC to resist a 24thlevelmonk’s stunning attack would be 10 + 12 (halfthe monk’s level) + Wisdom modifier. A 30th-levelbard would add +30 (plus his Intelligence modifier) tobardic knowledge checks.Any prestige class feature that calculates a save DCusing the class level (such as the assassin’s deathattack) should add only half the character’s classlevels above 10th. Thus, the death attack of a 24thlevelassassin with an Intelligence of 18 (+4 bonus)would have a save DC of 31: 10 (base) + 4 (Int) + 10(first ten class levels) + 7 (fourteen class levelsbeyond 10th at 1/2 per level).• For spellcasters, your caster level continues toincrease after 20th level. Thus, a 23rd-level wizardcasts as a 23rd-level character, while a 24th-levelpaladin’s caster level is 12th (one-half her class level).However, your spells per day don’t increase after 20thlevel. The only way to gain additional spells per day(other than the bonus spells gained from a high abilityscore) is to select the Improved Spell Capacityepic feat.• The powers of familiars, special mounts, and fiendishservants continue to increase as their masters gain levels.CHAPTER 1:CHARACTERS,SKILLS & FEATSBEHIND THE CURTAIN: A LIMIT TO ATTACKSAND SAVESWhy don’t base attack bonus and base save bonus increaseafter 20th level? Ultimately, these are game play issues.If base attack bonuses continued to increase, every characterwould eventually have so many attacks per round that thegame would slow to a crawl. What’s worse, only the first fewattacks would be significant, because the drop-off in attackbonuses means that later attacks have almost no chance tohit. For this reason, the rules establish a cap on a character’sbase attack bonus, because the base attack bonus determinesthe number of attacks per round a character can make. After20th level, your base attack bonus never improves. You gainepic and other bonuses to your attack roll, but these don’t everincrease your base attack bonus and thus never grant youadditional attacks.This limit doesn’t apply to the base attack bonus derivedstrictly from a monster’s Hit Dice. For instance, a titan with 21HD using the monster advancement rules in the MonsterManual has a base attack bonus of +21. Thus, another capexists: A high base attack bonus never grants a creature morethan four attacks with any given weapon using the full attackoption. Other effects (such as haste, certain feats, and classabilities such as the monk’s special unarmed attack progression)may grant additional actions or attacks that exceed thislimit. But regardless of how high a creature’s base attackbonus gets, it can never make more than four attacks with thatweapon using a full attack action.The limit to the base saving throw bonuses is also a gameplay issue. Because saving throw bonuses progress at differentrates (“higher” versus “lower” saves), the difference between acharacter’s base save bonuses will eventually grow so greatthat two different situations with the same save DC wouldpresent two threats of wildly differing magnitude. The differencebetween the higher and lower saving throw bonuses for a60th-level character, for example, is 12 points (+32 versus +20).Add in the bonuses from high ability scores and magic itemsthat a character probably has, and you can expect the gap towiden further. This leads to situations where a character mightsucceed at a given Fortitude save with a die roll of 2 or higher,but might require a roll of 20 to succeed at a Reflex saveagainst the same DC. For this reason, base save bonuses don’tincrease after 20th level, although the epic save bonusincreases at a fixed rate for all epic characters.7
Page 2 and 3: EPIC LEVEL HANDBOOKANDY COLLINS AND
Page 4 and 5: INTRODUCTION4IntroductionThe rules
Page 8 and 9: CHAPTER 1:CHARACTERS,SKILLS & FEATS
Page 40 and 41: Decipher ScriptYou can decipher mag
Page 56 and 57:
CHAPTER 1:CHARACTERS,SKILLS & FEATS
Page 58 and 59:
Page 60 and 61:
Page 62 and 63:
Page 64 and 65:
Page 66 and 67:
Page 68 and 69:
Page 70 and 71:
Page 72 and 73:
CHAPTER 2:EPIC SPELLSEpic casters c
Page 74 and 75:
CHAPTER 2:EPIC SPELLS71 Time Duplic
Page 76 and 77:
CHAPTER 2:EPIC SPELLSkilled, any re
Page 78 and 79:
CHAPTER 2:EPIC SPELLSRange: TouchTa
Page 80 and 81:
CHAPTER 2:EPIC SPELLScreature makes
Page 82 and 83:
CHAPTER 2:EPIC SPELLSLiving Lightni
Page 84 and 85:
CHAPTER 2:EPIC SPELLSYour spell fix
Page 86 and 87:
CHAPTER 2:EPIC SPELLSdamage, you ar
Page 88 and 89:
CHAPTER 2:EPIC SPELLSVerdigrisTrans
Page 90 and 91:
CHAPTER 2:EPIC SPELLSApproval: This
Page 92 and 93:
CHAPTER 2:EPIC SPELLSAdditional Par
Page 94 and 95:
CHAPTER 2:EPIC SPELLSClass using a
Page 96 and 97:
CHAPTER 2:EPIC SPELLSdealt, increas
Page 98 and 99:
CHAPTER 2:EPIC SPELLSGranting spell
Page 100 and 101:
CHAPTER 2:EPIC SPELLSkills a creatu
Page 102 and 103:
CHAPTER 2:EPIC SPELLSinclude the ar
Page 104 and 105:
CHAPTER 3:RUNNING ANEPIC GAMERETOOL
Page 106 and 107:
CHAPTER 3:RUNNING ANEPIC GAMEover t
Page 108 and 109:
CHAPTER 3:RUNNING ANEPIC GAMEgang o
Page 110 and 111:
CHAPTER 3:RUNNING ANEPIC GAMEis to
Page 112 and 113:
CHAPTER 3:RUNNING ANEPIC GAMEthe ga
Page 114 and 115:
CHAPTER 3:RUNNING ANEPIC GAMETABLE
Page 116 and 117:
CHAPTER 3:RUNNING ANEPIC GAMEagains
Page 118 and 119:
Page 120 and 121:
Page 122 and 123:
CHAPTER 3:RUNNING ANEPIC GAMEmagic
Page 124 and 125:
CHAPTER 4:EPIC MAGICITEMSCREATING E
Page 126 and 127:
CHAPTER 4:EPIC MAGICITEMSTABLE 4-2:
Page 128 and 129:
CHAPTER 4:EPIC MAGICITEMSthrow (DC
Page 130 and 131:
CHAPTER 4:EPIC MAGICITEMSTABLE 4-9:
Page 132 and 133:
CHAPTER 4:EPIC MAGICITEMSTABLE 4-14
Page 134 and 135:
CHAPTER 4:EPIC MAGICITEMSwounds; Ma
Page 136 and 137:
CHAPTER 4:EPIC MAGICITEMSCaster Lev
Page 138 and 139:
CHAPTER 4:EPIC MAGICITEMSand cures
Page 140 and 141:
CHAPTER 4:EPIC MAGICITEMSIn additio
Page 142 and 143:
CHAPTER 4:EPIC MAGICITEMSMetamagic
Page 144 and 145:
CHAPTER 4:EPIC MAGICITEMS• Prisma
Page 146 and 147:
CHAPTER 4:EPIC MAGICITEMScreature w
Page 148 and 149:
CHAPTER 4:EPIC MAGICITEMSTABLE 4-30
Page 150 and 151:
CHAPTER 4:EPIC MAGICITEMSthe charac
Page 152 and 153:
CHAPTER 4:EPIC MAGICITEMSExcept as
Page 154 and 155:
CHAPTER 4:EPIC MAGICITEMSEye of Gru
Page 156 and 157:
CHAPTER 5:MONSTERSMONSTERS BY CHALL
Page 158 and 159:
CHAPTER 5:MONSTERSability damage. T
Page 160 and 161:
CHAPTER 5:MONSTERSit mouths obsceni
Page 162 and 163:
CHAPTER 5:MONSTERSNo one knows how
Page 164 and 165:
CHAPTER 5:MONSTERSINFERNALLarge Out
Page 166 and 167:
CHAPTER 5:MONSTERSFiery Touch (Ex):
Page 168 and 169:
CHAPTER 5:MONSTERSSpecial Attacks:
Page 170 and 171:
CHAPTER 5:MONSTERSBRACHYURUSLarge M
Page 172 and 173:
CHAPTER 5:MONSTERSA stone colossus
Page 174 and 175:
CHAPTER 5:MONSTERSsort. Its feature
Page 176 and 177:
CHAPTER 5:MONSTERSHit Dice, as well
Page 178 and 179:
CHAPTER 5:MONSTERSDEVASTATION SCORP
Page 180 and 181:
CHAPTER 5:MONSTERSthe Colossal size
Page 182 and 183:
CHAPTER 5:MONSTERSEPIC DRAGON OVERL
Page 184 and 185:
CHAPTER 5:MONSTERSSpecial Qualities
Page 186 and 187:
CHAPTER 5:MONSTERSSample Prismatic
Page 188 and 189:
CHAPTER 5:MONSTERSA primal air whir
Page 190 and 191:
CHAPTER 5:MONSTERS190GENIUS LOCICol
Page 192 and 193:
CHAPTER 5:MONSTERSorb have survived
Page 194 and 195:
CHAPTER 5:MONSTERSMagic Immunity (E
Page 196 and 197:
CHAPTER 5:MONSTERS196HAGUNEMNON(PRO
Page 198 and 199:
CHAPTER 5:MONSTERSCOMBATThe hoary h
Page 200 and 201:
CHAPTER 5:MONSTERSFire Vulnerabilit
Page 202 and 203:
CHAPTER 5:MONSTERSLegendary BearLar
Page 204 and 205:
CHAPTER 5:MONSTERSA living vault is
Page 206 and 207:
CHAPTER 5:MONSTERSCOMBATA mu spore
Page 208 and 209:
CHAPTER 5:MONSTERSdesiccation damag
Page 210 and 211:
CHAPTER 5:MONSTERSthat uses its spe
Page 212 and 213:
CHAPTER 5:MONSTERSportion regrows i
Page 214 and 215:
CHAPTER 5:MONSTERSand are therefore
Page 216 and 217:
CHAPTER 5:MONSTERS216SIRRUSHLarge M
Page 218 and 219:
CHAPTER 5:MONSTERSWhite SlaadLarge
Page 220 and 221:
CHAPTER 5:MONSTERSTAYELLAHGargantua
Page 222 and 223:
CHAPTER 5:MONSTERSSkills: Concentra
Page 224 and 225:
CHAPTER 5:MONSTERSSome sages declar
Page 226 and 227:
CHAPTER 5:MONSTERSRegeneration (Ex)
Page 228 and 229:
CHAPTER 5:MONSTERSCold Aura (Su): A
Page 230 and 231:
CHAPTER 5:MONSTERSsummon swarm (ver
Page 232 and 233:
CHAPTER 6:AN EPICSETTINGorganizatio
Page 234 and 235:
CHAPTER 6:AN EPICSETTINGwith it, an
Page 236 and 237:
CHAPTER 6:AN EPICSETTINGusing livin
Page 238 and 239:
CHAPTER 6:AN EPICSETTINGMEMBER BENE
Page 240 and 241:
CHAPTER 6:AN EPICSETTINGbring new s
Page 242 and 243:
CHAPTER 6:AN EPICSETTINGMembers of
Page 244 and 245:
CHAPTER 6:AN EPICSETTINGeven think
Page 246 and 247:
CHAPTER 6:AN EPICSETTINGwhat the po
Page 248 and 249:
CHAPTER 6:AN EPICSETTINGCITY OF UNI
Page 250 and 251:
CHAPTER 6:AN EPICSETTINGOnly mercan
Page 252 and 253:
CHAPTER 6:AN EPICSETTINGTravelTrave
Page 254 and 255:
CHAPTER 6:AN EPICSETTINGThose who c
Page 256 and 257:
CHAPTER 6:AN EPICSETTING256
Page 258 and 259:
CHAPTER 6:AN EPICSETTINGalignment l
Page 260 and 261:
CHAPTER 6:AN EPICSETTINGtheir own r
Page 262 and 263:
Page 264 and 265:
CHAPTER 6:AN EPICSETTINGis traded w
Page 266 and 267:
CHAPTER 6:AN EPICSETTINGsuites abov
Page 268 and 269:
CHAPTER 6:AN EPICSETTINGThe Materia
Page 270 and 271:
CHAPTER 6:AN EPICSETTINGof courage,
Page 272 and 273:
CHAPTER 6:AN EPICSETTINGserve as hi
Page 274 and 275:
CHAPTER 6:AN EPICSETTINGTrouble on
Page 276 and 277:
CHAPTER 6:AN EPICSETTINGteleports w
Page 278 and 279:
Page 280 and 281:
CHAPTER 6:AN EPICSETTINGThrow pillo
Page 282 and 283:
CHAPTER 6:AN EPICSETTINGautobiograp
Page 284 and 285:
CHAPTER 6:AN EPICSETTINGin the futu
Page 286 and 287:
CHAPTER 6:AN EPICSETTINGPossessions
Page 288 and 289:
CHAPTER 6:AN EPICSETTINGdetect pois
Page 290 and 291:
CHAPTER 6:AN EPICSETTINGand brighte
Page 292 and 293:
APPENDIX 1:EPIC NPCSOF FAERÛNor so
Page 294 and 295:
APPENDIX 1:EPIC NPCSOF FAERÛNmay b
Page 296 and 297:
APPENDIX 1:EPIC NPCSOF FAERÛN296TH
Page 298 and 299:
APPENDIX 1:EPIC NPCSOF FAERÛNsucce
Page 300 and 301:
APPENDIX 1:EPIC NPCSOF FAERÛNChose
Page 302 and 303:
APPENDIX 1:EPIC NPCSOF FAERÛNStaff
Page 304 and 305:
APPENDIX 1:EPIC NPCSOF FAERÛNThe c
Page 306 and 307:
APPENDIX 2:EPIC NPCS OFGREYHAWKHide
Page 308 and 309:
APPENDIX 2:EPIC NPCS OFGREYHAWKThis
Page 310 and 311:
APPENDIX 3:EPIC NPCSAppendix 3:Epic
Page 312 and 313:
APPENDIX 3:EPIC NPCSTABLE A3-4: NPC
Page 314 and 315:
APPENDIX 3:EPIC NPCSTABLE A3-7: NPC
Page 316 and 317:
APPENDIX 3:EPIC NPCSTABLE A3-10: NP
Page 318 and 319:
318Indexability increases 6abominat
show all

Epic Level Handbook

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?