I'm moving the conversation out of PM and to here.
For reference:
Yeah, it uses E6 rules as it's base. I'm making it gestalt because of party size. There are some house rules in play. But mostly, I want to see how the setting holds up. I've gotten the basics laid out, but until I start introducing people, I can only go so far.
Setting wise, it's a divided world. The players, in this case, just you and an npc who will help out are from Arkekk, a small city state Arkekk is the only bastion of free magic left. Is ruled by a gold dragon and houses the only real university of magic. The city lays to the north, along the coast and suffers harsh winters. South of the city, and the only reason the city hasn't yet been conquered is a massive mountain range. Beyond the mountains lays Thoun. Long ago, Thoun was many kingdoms and nations, but centuries ago, a giant came from the south, wielding magic more powerful than had been seen before. Summoning creatures and raising the dead to begin his army, the giant, calling himself the Arch Mage, conquered the land, but was stopped at the mountains. 500 years has passed since the last time armored clashed. But now, the Arch Mage has become restless.
There are no real gods in the setting, at least nothing like what is traditional in a d&d setting. This means that divine casters worship ideals instead.
Magic is rare outside of Arkekk. Within the city, it is fairly common. Psionics are present in the setting, but treated as another type of magic, much like arcane and divine. Psionics are just a form of mind magic. Incarnum, shadowcasting, truenaming, and other alternative magic systems, while possible, are too uncommon for any real setting specific reactions.
Outside of Arkekk, the Arch Mage of Thoun has outlawed magic. Only those that have been magically bound into his service can perform any sort of magic without incurring his wrath. Each year, he sends out search parties to find and either capture or kill any magic users they find. Rewards are given out to anyone who turns in a magic user.
To signify those allowed to cast spells, and as part of the ritual that binds then to the Arch Mage, they get a tattoo on their forehead, the more favor they gain from the Arch Mage, the more extensive the tattoos become until they are covered from head to toe.
The material plane in cut off. This means extra planar travel and dimensional travel do not function. Summoning and calling work a little differently. Instead of pulling a creature from another plane, the creature is pulled from the mind of the caster. Summoning lists are customizable. Begin with the standard list for the spell in question, and swap creatures at equal CRs pending DM approval. As well, the creature summoned is the same one each time. Meaning that if an imp is summoned on day one and on day three an imp is summoned by the same caster, it has the same memories and personality as the one from day one.
Tome of battle is suggested as opposed to the phb martial classes, although the phb classes are available. (I suggest this in all of my campaigns)
Character build guidelines:
Please as questions, lots if you think of them.
Gestalt 6th level, only one full casting (9th level spells by elc 20 allowed per character). Cleric/druid isn't allowed, cleric/paladin is, as an example. Prcs are allowed on both sides, but no dual spell casting.
Monstrous races will get you hunted down and killed unless you have a way to hide your monstrous-ness.
Your sidekick(the character I'll run) will be an artificer/x with you picking the other side, and I'll work with you on its feats.
If you would like to run two characters, you could, but otherwise I'm not going to be seriously optimizing the challenges, so I'm not too worried about only having you and the side kick in the party.
The special feats about e6 are what I found to be complicated, it's not a big deal though.
My thoughts so far:
We've got three options.
Option A) NPC is the tank.
NPC is an Artificer//Crusader and the party tank. Maybe warforged so I can heal, but that isn't necessary.
I am a Psion (Shaper?) //something or another
Option B) I'm the tank
NPC is an Artificer//Wizard or Archivist or Psion.
I am a Swordsage or Warblade//something
Option C) I'm a ranged guy
NPC is an Artificer//Wizard or Archivist or Psion.
I'm a Soulknife 2/Swordsage 3/Soulbow 1//Fighter 2/Full BAB class 3/Shiba Protector 1 (Wis is primary stat of this build, this would be the most optimized as it's based on one of the builds from my build thread.)