Epic Level Handbook - NWNights.ru

[Pages:320]EPIC LEVEL HANDBOOK

ANDY COLLINS AND BRUCE R. CORDELL

ADDITIONAL DESIGN

JOHN D. RATELIFF, THOMAS REID,

JAMES WYATT

E

D

I

T

O

R

S

GWENDOLYN F. M. KESTREL, DAVID NOONAN

MANAGING EDITOR

KIM MOHAN

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

ED STARK

BUSINESS MANAGER

ANTHONY VALTERRA

VICE PRESIDENT OF RPG R&D

BILL SLAVICSEK

VICE PRESIDENT OF PUBLISHING

MARY KIRCHOFF

PROJECT MANAGER

MARTIN DURHAM

PRODUCTION MANAGER

CHAS DELONG

ART DIRECTOR

DAWN MURIN

COVER

ART

ARNIE SWEKEL

INTERIOR ARTISTS DAREN BADER,, BROM, DAVID DAY, BRIAN

DESPAIN, LARRY DIXON, MICHAEL, DUTTON, JEFF EASLEY, LARS GRANT-WEST, REBECCA QUAY, JEREMY JARVI'S ALTON LAWSON, TODD LOCKWOOD, DAVID MARTIN, RAVEN MIMURA, MATTHEW MITCHELL, VINOD RAMS, WAYNE REYNOLDS, DARRELL RICHE,

RICHARD SARDINHA, MARC SASSO, MARK SMYLIE, ARNIE SWEKEL, ANTHONY WATERS

GRAPHIC DESIGNERS ROBERT CAMPBELL, CYNTHIA FLIEGE, SHERRY FLOYD, SEAN GLENN

CARTOGRAPHER

TODD GAMBLE

TYPOGRAPHER ERIN DORRIES

Based on the original DUNGEONS & DRAGONS rules created by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson and the new DUNGEONS & DRAGONS game designed by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Richard Baker, and Peter Adkison.

This WIZARDS OF THE COAST? game product contains no Open Game Content. No portion of this work may be reproduced in any form without written permission. To learn more about the Open Gaming License and the d20 System? License, please visit d20.

Sources include Defender of the Faith, Monsters of Faer?n, Sword and Fist, Tome and Blood, High Level Handbook, Will and the Way, Masters of the Wild, The Psionic Handbook, Lord of the Iron Fortress and The Living Greyhawk Journal.

Valuable advice provided by Mike Selinker, Ed Stark, Owen K.S. Stephens, and Michael S. Webster. Azu D'morr's epic sentiments provided by Stephen Radney-MacFarland.

620-88169-001-EN

FIRST PRINTING: JULY 2002

Contents

Narrowing Challenge Ratings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 Hagunemnon (Protean) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Intelligent Adversaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 Hoary Hunter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

Sudden Jeopardy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Hoary Steed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Variant Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Hunefer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

What Is an Epic Character? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 The Epic Campaign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Lavawight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

The Epic Level Handbook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Designing Site-Based Adventures . . . . . . . . . . 112 Legendary Animal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

Designing Event-Based Adventures . . . . . . . . 112 LeShay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

Chapter 1: Characters, Skills,

Character Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Living Vault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

and Feats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Demographics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Mercane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

On Beyond 20th! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Managing Wealth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 Mu Spore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Class and Level Bonuses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

More Use from Old Magic Items . . . . . . . . . . . 114 Neh-Thalggu (Brain Collector) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

Class Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

Reutilizing Important NPCs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 Paragon Mind Flayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Epic Barbarian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

Running a Mixed-Levels Campaign . . . . . . . . 115

Creating a Paragon Creature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Epic Bard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Divinations and Keeping Secrets . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Prismasaurus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Epic Cleric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Handling Wish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Pseudonatural Troll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

Epic Druid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Celebrity Breeds Opportunity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Creating a Pseudonatural Creature . . . . . . . . . 212

Epic Fighter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Lords of Their Personal Plane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Ruin Swarm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

Epic Monk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Divine Ascension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Shadow of the Void . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

Epic Paladin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 100 Epic Adventure ideas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Shape of Eire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Epic Ranger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Epic Encounters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 Sirrush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

Epic Rogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Rewards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 Slaad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

Epic Sorcerer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Experience Awards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

White Slaad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

Epic Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Treasure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Black Slaad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Epic Arcane Archer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Tayellah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

Epic Assassin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Chapter 4: Epic Magic Items . . . . . . .123 Thorciasid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

Epic Blackguard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Creating Epic Magic Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 24 Titan, Elder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

Epic Dwarven Defender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Caster Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Treant, Elder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

Epic Lore-master . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Umbral Blot (Blackball) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

Epic Shadowdancer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Marker Price . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Uvuudaum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

Epic Psion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Experience Point Cost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Vermiurge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

Epic Psychic Warrior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Magic Item Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Winterwight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

New Epic Prestige Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Random Epic Magic Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Worm that Walks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

Agent Retriever . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Armor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Creating a Worm that Walks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

Cosmic Descryer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Divine Emissary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Rings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Chapter 6: An Epic Setting . . . . . . . . .231

Epic Infiltrator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Rods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 Epic Organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Guardian Paramount . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Scrolls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 The Garrote . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

High Proselytizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Staffs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 The Gleaners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

Legendary Dreadnought . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Wondrous Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 The Godkissed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

Perfect Wight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Intelligent Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 The Order of the Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

Union Sentinel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Artifacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 The Order of the Shield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

Epic Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Minor Artifacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 Planar Cartographic Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

Epic Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Major Artifacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 The Regulators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244

Combining Skill Attempts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

The Union Sentinels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246

Skill Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Chapter 5: Monsters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .155 City of Union . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248

Psionic Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Level Adjustment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 The Islands of Union . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254

Epic Feats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Monsters by Challenge Rating . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 Enemies and Allies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

Acquiring Epic Feats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Monsters by Type (and Subtype) . . . . . . . . . . . 156 Epic Adventures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

Epic Feat Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Abomination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Kerleth's Tower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

Nonepic Feats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

BUILDING ABOMINATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Adventure Concentrate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286

Anaxim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Chapter 2: Epic Spells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Atropal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 Appendix I: Epic NPCs of Faer?n . .291

Beyond 9th-Level Spells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Chichimec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 Elminster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

What Are Epic Spells? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Dream Larva . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 Storm Silverhand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

Acquiring Epic Spells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Hecatoncheircs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 Gerti Orelsdottr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

Epic Spell Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Infernal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 Halaster Blackcloak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

Epic Spellcasting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Phaethon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 The Simbul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296

Epic Spells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Phane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 Szass Tarn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

Epic Spells by Spellcraft DC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Xixecal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 Epic Red Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298

Developing Your Own Epic Spells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Behemoth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

Example of Development and Casting . . . . . . . 90 Brachyurus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 Alustriel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300

Seed Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Colossus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 Manshoon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301

Demilich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174 Iyraclea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302

Chapter 3: Running an Epic Game .103 Creating a Demilich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 Shuruppak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304

Epic Expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Devastation Vermin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Advancing to 21st Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Dragon, Advanced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 Appendix II: Epic NPCs

Retool Behind the Scenes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Dragon, Epic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 of Greyhawk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305

The First Epic Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Force Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182 Cat Lord . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305

Leave the Old World Behind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Prismatic Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 Eclavdra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306

The Epic Adventure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Elemental, Primal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186 Lord Robilar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307

The Epic Dungeon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Genius Loci . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 Mordenkainen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308

The Epic Wilderness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Gibbering Orb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

Planar Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 Gloom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 Appendix III: Epic NPCs . . . . . . . . . . .310

Average Damage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 Golem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Dealing with Time Stop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 Ha-Naga . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .318

3

INTRODUCTION

Introduction such items have established prices in epic markets. Epic magic items include armor, weapons, scrolls, rods, rings,

The rules in the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS? core rulebooks staffs, and wondrous items. And because epic characters

are not enough for you. Your game promises more than often find themselves in the presence of artifacts, Chapter

what the rules can contain. Your plots run deeper and 4 includes more artifacts to use in your epic campaign.

your imagination burns stronger. Twenty levels of power Monsters (Chapter 5): Here you will find monsters

are too few, character options are too limited, and the of sufficient power to challenge, awe, and perhaps even

monsters are too weak. Until now.

scare epic characters. Favorites from earlier versions of

Welcome to the next level of power.

the D&D? game include the demilich and the winter-

WHAT IS AN EPIC CHARACTER?

wight. Mostly, new monsters are provided, including many abominations (a new grouping of outsider), bigger dragons, stronger golems, and creatures born directly of nightmare. A few templates such as the paragon are also

Put plainly, an epic character is one who has achieved provided so you can create epic monsters from their

21st character level. Though the Player's Handbook lesser kin in the Monster Manual and other sources.

describes character progression up to 20th level, legend An Epic Setting (Chapter 6): To help start up an epic

and literature are replete with heroes and villains who campaign, you'll find epic organizations that develop the

have gone beyond normal limits. Now your character prestige classes from Chapter 1; the city of Union, which

gets to join them and assume a role in legend.

provides a base of operations; an adventure starting in

the city; and several other adventure ideas.

THE EPIC LEVEL HANDBOOK Appendices: If you include epic rules in your game, you'll want the nonplayer characters (NPCs) from your

This book gives you everything you need to create and campaign to be likewise enhanced. That's why we're

play epic characters, including epic items, epic spells, done the work for you and provided versions of such

and even epic foes. It features the following chapters:

illustrious figures as Elminster (from the FORGOTTEN

Characters, Skills, and Feats (Chapter 1): This chap- REALMS Campaign Setting) and Mordenkainen (from the

ter provides instructions for developing epic progressions GREYHAWK campaign setting) in all their epic level glory.

for nearly any class or prestige class. It also provides spe- Finally, NPCs from all the classes in the Player's Handbook

cific epic progressions for the classes in the Player's Hand- are provided from levels 21st to 30th in the style of the

book, as well as the prestige classes found in the DUNGEON NPCs in Chapter 2 of the DUNGEON MASTER'S Guide.

MASTER'S Guide and the psion and psychic warrior from the

Psionics Handbook. Chapter 1 also reveals epic tasks for many WHAT'S NEW?

of the skills in the Player's Handbook, offering skill check There's no ceiling to the levels you can attain anymore,

Difficulty Classes (DCs) only an epic character could hope and no limits on the power of the foes you face. You'll

to make. Finally, Chapter 1 provides more than 150 new find enough feats, spells, items, and abilities to provide

epic feats--enough feats to provide well over one hun- endless play. Now no matter how good your character

dred levels of advancement for any character.

gets, there's always something more. There's something

Epic Spells (Chapter 2): Chapter 2 reveals how to more for your character to strive for, and something

leave the standard levels of magical power behind and more to stand in your way.

begin to cast epic spells. A few dozen epic spells are pro- That said, you'll find a lot of the Epic Level Handbook

vided as a sample, but Chapter 2 gives player characters familiar. Epic feats work like regular feats, and epic

(PCs) the ability to create their own epic spells. Sample magic items work like their more ordinary counterparts.

epic spells include damnation, time duplicate, eidolon, and They're just better. Likewise, the experience and treasure

contingent resurrection.

tables look like the ones you're already using. The biggest

Running an Epic Game (Chapter 3): This chapter departure from the D&D rules you're familiar with is the

discusses how epic characters and creatures can best be Spell Seeds section in Chapter 2.

handled in the game. Advice ranges from specifics such If you've played high-level rules for previous editions

as information on walls of epic strength to general tips on of the D&D game, you may notice a few elements from

how to structure your campaign and handle characters previous systems. Most notably, the section on epic

who accumulate significant wealth. The Encounters and spells was inspired in part by true dweomers in the High

Rewards sections provide tables for constructing epic Level Handbook. D&D is such a vital, resilient, and versal-

encounters and awarding experience points to characters tile system that we discovered that we could go further

who overcome the epic challenges you set for them.

than we ever could before. The rules inherent to the

Epic Magic Items (Chapter 4): The difference D&D game provide the essential ballast for the Epic Level

between epic magic items and artifacts is that artifacts are Handbook, ensuring balance no matter how wild or crazy

unique items generated by a one-of-a-kind event or forg- the epic abilities become.

ing. Many epic magic items are just as powerful as arti- Do not fear the Epic Level Handbook. Rather, embrace it

facts, but epic characters know how to make them, and and all the power it offers.

4

CHARACTERS, SKILLS & FEATS CHAPTER ONE

Baba Yaga. Conan the Barbarian. Cu Chulainn. Elminster of Shadowdale. Elric of Melnibon?. Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Gandalf. Gilgamesh. Hiawatha. Odysseus. These are names of power. Names of glory.

21st level? Some Dungeon Masters (DMs) might simply allow a character to reach 21st level by gaining the 210,000 XP indicated on Table 1?2: Experience and Level-Dependent Benefits. However, this option may be too mundane for some players

Epic names.

and DMs, who prefer that the transition to epic

These heroes are examples of epic characters: heroes gaming be accompanied by a suitable event such

who have gone beyond the normal limits of skill, battle as a holy quest, series of tests, or similar great

prowess, and magical might. While still mortal beings, challenge. Chapter 3: Running an Epic Game has

these individuals--and those like them--wield powers more information on this topic.

that other characters (even 20th-level ones) can only

dream about.

CLASS AND LEVEL BONUSES

Epic characters can cast spells that kill without a gesture Regardless of the method by which you

or sound, wield their weapons so superbly mat whole achieve 21st level, once you reach that point

schools try to emulate their techniques, slip into and out you are considered an epic character. Epic

of impenetrable fortresses, challenge a god's moral author- characters--those whose character level is

ity, and write songs that will be sung a thousand years 21st or higher--are handled slightly differ-

hence. Epic characters set their feet upon the road of ently from nonepic characters. While you

omnipotence. Given time, they rival the powers of gods.

continue to gain most of the benefits of gain-

This book is about those powers, and now your char- ing levels, some benefits are replaced by

acter can do more than dream about them.

alternative gains.

Despite the 20th-level limit indicated in

ON BEYOND 20TH! the Player's Handbook, you can advance a class level beyond 20th by using the rules in this

When a character reaches 20th level, your normal pro- book. You can also advance the class level of a

gression ends. However, this is by no means the end of ten-level prestige class (such as those pre-

the character's career. But how can a character achieve sented in the DUNGEON MASTER'S Guide)

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CHAPTER 1:

CHARACTERS, SKILLS & FEATS

beyond 10th level, but only if your character level is 1,000 XP (or 30,000 XP), taking the character's XP total

already 20th or higher. You cannot advance the class from 435,000 to 465,000.

level of a class with fewer than ten levels beyond the Class Skill Max Ranks: The maximum number of

maximum described for that class, regardless of your ranks a character can have in a class skill is equal to his or

character level.

her character level +3.

Epic Save Bonus: Your base save bonus does not in- Cross-Class Skill Max Ranks: For cross-class skills

crease after your character level reaches 20th. However, (skills neither associated with nor forbidden to the char-

you do receive a cumulative +1 epic bonus on all saving acter's class), the maximum number of ranks is one-half

throws at every even-numbered level beyond 20th, as the maximum for a class skill.

shown on Table 1?1: Epic Save and Epic Attack Bonuses. Feats: Every character gains one feat (which may be an

In other words, you have a +1 epic bonus on all saving epic or nonepic feat at the player's choice) at every level

throws at 22nd level, a +2 epic bonus on all saving throws divisible by three (21st, 24th, 27th, and so on). These feats

at 24th level, and so on. Any time feat, prestige class, or are in addition to any bonus feats granted in the class

other rule refers to your base save bonus, use the sum of descriptions later in this chapter.

your base save bonus and epic save bonus.

Ability Increases: Upon gaining any level divisible by

Epic Attack Bonus: Similarly, your base attack bonus four (20th, 24th, 28th, and so on), a character increases

does not increase after your character level reaches 20th. one of his or her ability scores by 1 point. The player

However, you do receive a cumulative +1 epic bonus on chooses which ability score to improve.

all attacks at every odd-numbered level beyond 20th, as For multiclass characters, feats and ability increases

shown on Table 1?1: Epic Save and Epic Attack Bonuses. are gained according to character level, not class level.

Any time feat, prestige class, or other rule refers to your Thus, a 13th-level wizard/11th-level fighter is a 24th-

base attack bonus (except for gaining additional attacks), level character and eligible for both a feat and an ability

use the sum of your base attack bonus and epic attack bonus. score increase.

Experience Points: This column on Table 1?2:

Experience and Level-Dependent Benefits shows the TABLE 1?1: EPIC SAVE AND EPIC ATTACK BONUSES

experience point total needed to achieve a given char-

Character

Epic Save

Epic Attack

acter level. For multiclass characters, experience

Level

points determine overall character level, not individual

21st 22nd

class levels.

23rd

Though Table 1?2 only shows experience point totals

24th

Bonus +0 +1 +1 +2

Bonus +1 +1 +2 +2

through 30th level, you can easily calculate the experi-

25th

+2

+3

ence points needed to reach 31st level and higher. Simply

26th 27th

+3 +3

+3 +4

add your current level times 1,000 XP to the experience

28th

+4

+4

points required for your current level. For instance,

29th

+4

+5

reaching 31st level would require an additional 30 ?

30th

+5

+5

BEHIND THE CURTAIN: EPIC LEVELS AND PRESTIGE CLASSES These rules allow you to go beyond the normal level limit in a prestige class, but only if it is a ten-level class. Why can't you add levels to a prestige class with fewer than ten levels?

It's Too Easy: Maxing out a ten-level prestige class takes a lot of time and effort, detracting significantly from your pursuit of the Player's Handbook classes. If you could gain additional levels in a prestige class with only five levels, for instance, you haven't taken more than a short detour from your main class or classes.

It's Not Significant Enough: Characters with ten levels in the blackguard prestige class undoubtedly think of themselves as blackguards, regardless of the fact that they also have ten levels in one or more other classes. If you've taken fewer than ten levels in a prestige class, those levels represent a smaller fraction of your character's identity.

It's Hard to Build an Epic Progression: With only a few levels to guide you, it's hard to determine what an appropriate progression of class features would be for the class. The rate of

improvement of a special ability might be too fast to extrapolate over an infinite number of levels, or there might simply be too few class features to build a unique epic progression. Epic class progressions are described later in the chapter.

That said, if your DM wants to allow a character to gain epic levels in a prestige class with fewer than ten levels in its progression, that's okay. Work together with your DM to create an epic progression for the class (see the Behind the Curtain: Building an Epic Progression sidebar later in this chapter).

NO LIMITS Although most of the tables in this book only snow information up to a certain level (often 30th), that level is by no means the limit of a character's advancement. Because of space limitations, we generally show advancement only ten levels beyond what's given in the Player's Handbook. Once you've read this chapter, you should know how to calculate the proper values for levels beyond those shown on the tables. You can generally assume that any patterns on a particular table continue infinitely.

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CHAPTER 1:

CHARACTERS, SKILLS & FEATS

TABLE 1?2: EXPERIENCE AND LEVEL-DEPENDENT BENEFITS

Class Cross-Class

Character

Skill Max Skill Max

Level

XP

Ranks

Ranks

20th

190,000

23

11 1/2

21st

210,000

24

12

22nd

231,000

25

12 1/2

23rd

253,000

26

13

24th

276,000

27

13 1/2

25th

300,000

28

14

26th

325,000

29

14 1/2

27th

351,000

30

15

28th

378,000

31

15 1/2

29th

406,000

32

16

30th

435,000

33

16 1/2

+1

+1,000 ? +1

+1/2

current level

*You can choose an epic feat or nonepic feat.

Feats -- 8th* -- -- 9th* -- --

10th* -- --

11th* +1* per 3

Ability Increases

5th -- -- -- 6th -- -- -- 7th -- -- +1 per 4

CLASS FEATURES

Because the Player's Handbook only contains information on advancement up to 20th level in any class, this book expands each class's progression of class features beyond 20th level. In addition, this book presents an expanded advancement for each of the prestige classes presented in the DUNGEON MASTER'S Guide.

Many, but not all, class features continue to accumulate after 20th level. The following guidelines describe how the epic class progressions in this section work. ? As noted earlier, your base save bonuses and base attack

bonus don't increase after 20th level. Thus, there are no columns for base save bonuses or base attack bonuses for these classes. Instead, use Table 1?1: Epic Save and Epic Attack Bonuses to determine the character's epic bonus on saving throws and attacks.

? You continue to gain Hit Dice and skill points as normal beyond 20th level.

? Generally speaking, any class feature that uses your class level as part of a mathematical formula, such as a paladin's lay on hands ability, the Difficulty Class (DC) to resist a monk's stunning fist attack, or a bard's bardic knowledge check, continues to increase using your class level in the formula. A 22nd-level paladin with a Charisma of 20 (+5 bonus) can use lay on hands for (22 ? 5) 110 hit points per day. The DC to resist a 24thlevel monk's stunning attack would be 10 + 12 (half the monk's level) + Wisdom modifier. A 30th-level bard would add +30 (plus his Intelligence modifier) to bardic knowledge checks. Any prestige class feature that calculates a save DC using the class level (such as the assassin's death attack) should add only half the character's class levels above 10th. Thus, the death attack of a 24thlevel assassin 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 levels beyond 10th at 1/2 per level).

? For spellcasters, your caster level continues to increase after 20th level. Thus, a 23rd-level wizard casts as a 23rd-level character, while a 24th-level paladin's caster level is 12th (one-half her class level). However, your spells per day don't increase after 20th level. The only way to gain additional spells per day (other than the bonus spells gained from a high ability score) is to select the Improved Spell Capacity epic feat.

? The powers of familiars, special mounts, and fiendish servants continue to increase as their masters gain levels.

BEHIND THE CURTAIN: A LIMIT TO ATTACKS AND SAVES Why don't base attack bonus and base save bonus increase after 20th level? Ultimately, these are game play issues.

If base attack bonuses continued to increase, every character would eventually have so many attacks per round that the game would slow to a crawl. What's worse, only the first few attacks would be significant, because the drop-off in attack bonuses means that later attacks have almost no chance to hit. For this reason, the rules establish a cap on a character's base attack bonus, because the base attack bonus determines the number of attacks per round a character can make. After 20th level, your base attack bonus never improves. You gain epic and other bonuses to your attack roll, but these don't ever increase your base attack bonus and thus never grant you additional attacks.

This limit doesn't apply to the base attack bonus derived strictly from a monster's Hit Dice. For instance, a titan with 21 HD using the monster advancement rules in the Monster Manual has a base attack bonus of +21. Thus, another cap exists: A high base attack bonus never grants a creature more than four attacks with any given weapon using the full attack

option. Other effects (such as haste, certain feats, and class abilities such as the monk's special unarmed attack progression) may grant additional actions or attacks that exceed this limit. But regardless of how high a creature's base attack bonus gets, it can never make more than four attacks with that weapon using a full attack action.

The limit to the base saving throw bonuses is also a game play issue. Because saving throw bonuses progress at different rates ("higher" versus "lower" saves), the difference between a character's base save bonuses will eventually grow so great that two different situations with the same save DC would present two threats of wildly differing magnitude. The difference between the higher and lower saving throw bonuses for a 60th-level character, for example, is 12 points (+32 versus +20). Add in the bonuses from high ability scores and magic items that a character probably has, and you can expect the gap to widen further. This leads to situations where a character might succeed 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 save against the same DC. For this reason, base save bonuses don't increase after 20th level, although the epic save bonus increases at a fixed rate for all epic characters.

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CHAPTER 1:

CHARACTERS, SKILLS & FEATS

? Any class features that increase or accumulate as part of a repeated pattern (such as a rogue's sneak attack or the number of times per day a barbarian can rage) also continue to increase or accumulate after 20th level at the same rate. A 27th-level rogue adds +14d6 damage to her sneak attacks. A 32nd-level barbarian can rage nine times per day. An exception to this rule is any bonus feat granted as a class feature. If you get bonus feats as part of a class feature (such as the feats gained by fighters and wizards), these do not increase with epic levels. Instead, these classes get bonus feats at a different rate (described in each class below).

? In addition to the class features retained from nonepic levels, each class gains a bonus feat every two, three, four, or live levels after 20th. This augments each class's progression of class features, because not all classes otherwise improve class features after 20th level. You must select these feats from the list of bonus feats for that class, much like the nonepic fighter selects his bonus feats from the specific list in the Player's Handbook. These bonus feats are in addition to the feat that every character gets every three levels (as per Table 1?2: Experience and Level Dependent Benefits). You aren't limited to selecting from your class list when you select feats from Table 1?2.

? You don't gain any new class features, because there aren't any new class features described for these levels. Class features with a progression that slows or stops before 20th level (such as the monk's unarmed damage) and features that have a limited list of options (such as the rogue's special abilities) do not improve as you gain epic levels. Likewise, class features that are gained only at a single level (such as a barbarian's fast movement) do not improve.

Adding a Second Class When your single-class epic character gains a level, you may choose to increase the level of your current class or pick up a new class at 1st level. The standard rules for multiclass characters in the Player's Handbook still apply, but epic characters must keep in mind the rules for epic advancement. The epic character gains all the 1st-level class skills, weapon proficiency, armor proficiency, spells, and other

class features of the new class, as well as a Hit Die of the appropriate type. In addition, the character gets the usual skill points from the new class. Just as with standard multiclassing, adding the second class does not confer some of the benefits tor a 1st-level character, including maximum hit points from the first Hit Die, quadruple the perlevel skill points, starting equipment, starting gold, or an animal companion.

An epic character does not gain the base attack bonuses and base save bonuses normally gained when

adding a second class. Instead, an epic character uses the epic attack bonus and epic save bonus progression shown on Table 1?1: Epic Save and Epic Attack Bonus. Whenever an epic character is allowed to pick up a feat as part of character level advancement, he can choose either a nonepic feat or an epic feat (see Table 1?2: Experience and Level-Dependent Benefits). All class descriptions provide a list of bonus feats that characters must choose from. When you have to choose from a list of bonus feats in your second class, you can also choose from the bonus epic feats described for each specific class below.

EPIC BARBARIAN

The epic barbarian is a terror to behold. The very incarnation of rage, this furious warrior can cut his opponents to ribbons with awe-inspiring ease.

Focus on increasing the power of your rage while picking up other feats that boost your overall damage-dealing (and

damage-resisting) power. Chaotic Rage, Thundering Rage, and other rage-boosting fears are tailor-made for the epic barbarian. Epic Toughness, Damage Reduction, and Fast Healing allow you to continue fighting

long after others have dropped dead, while the leaps of a barbarian with Legendary Leaper are truly stupendous. Ability increases should go into Strength and Constitution, unless you need ability boosts to qualify for other feats. Other Options: Consider selecting feats from the Power Attack feat path, eventually taking Devastating Critical. If your saves are poor, think about Energy Resistance. And if you really want a frightening barbarian, Blinding Speed is the way to go. Hit Die: d12.

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