Interest Check: E6 Plane of Shadow game

[Skyrock]

- Level 6
- PB32 (lower with LA)
- partial gestalt
- 2 free bonus feats
- heavily reduced magic item pr0n with Chopping down the Christmas Tree
- races and classes with ties to the Plane of Shadows like Shadar-Kai or Shadowcaster will be incentivized
- homebrew on a case-by-case basis
- Plane of Shadow planar traits. Unlike what later planar supplements state ethereal stuff like teleportation or wraiths still works through discorporation (because it would else be a huge headache), but you won't be very happy if you rely heavily on fire spells and light effects.

The premise? You are highly regarded champions of the Plane of Shadow and have garnered the patronage of its shady rulers. (You don't have to love them and are free to think of them as a bunch of jerks. Which they mostly are. It's not as if you are likely to be paladins in shining armor either.)
An even shadier conqueror who is also a massively bigger jerk has barged in and made things even worse, and will overrun the plane including your homes unless actively stopped. (The Gargoyle's Quest / Demon's Crest series is a major plot inspiration here.)

[Garryl]

I am tentatively interested. My brain is nudging me in the direction of a Decept Twilight Adept, but I need to see if there's something there beyond it being some of the last homebrew I worked on.

[skydragonknight]

A planar campaign is very rare and welcome.

[Skyrock]

Here are my current scattered notes on the mechanical side:

General:
Everyone speaks Umbral for free

Ethereal plane: Assume you still have access to abilities depending on the ethereal plane through discorporation

Races that are native to the plane:
Arima Gargoyles - free bonus feat
Dark Creeper - LA+2
Dark Stalker - LA+3
Half-Kermohryg - LA+0
Illumians - free bonus feat
Planetouched, Jukurche - LA+0 (or lesser planetouched w/ free bonus feat)
Shadar-Kai - LA+1
Shadowswyft - LA+0 (or lesser planetouched w/ free bonus feat)

Templates:
Dark Creature - LA+0
Necropolitan - no XP and gold costs
Shadow Creature - LA+1. Jukurche and Shadowswyfts can become Shadow Creatures despite being outsiders

Shade Template = not suitable for PCs
Umbral Creature = not suitable for PCs

Special animal companions / familiars
Dark Creature template for free? (Free Shadow Creature for familiars of Shadowcasters?)

Beacon Moth (Dragon Mag #322 p.20)
E6 homebrew: Beacon Mothlet (improved familiar lvl3)
Ecalypse (Manual of the Planes p.170f)
E6 homebrew: Duskmane (requires ride check DC 24)

Base classes:
Shadowcasters beefed up
Familiars gain Shadow Creature template?
https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?353464-Shadowcaster-Remix
original terrible Shadowcaster as low tier alternative?

Sha'ir with access to Shadow Gens - genie-related abilities actually useful with khayal genie trading posts
https://dnd-wiki.org/wiki/Shadow_Gen_(3.5e_Monster)

Dragon Shaman alternate totem Shadow Dragon
http://www.mit.edu/~locutus/DnD/classes/TotemDragons.html

Prestige classes:
Shadowcraft Mage available to non-gnomes

Spells:
Shadow Elementals as a summoning option for SNA/Summon Monster

Rickshaw (Sor/Wiz 1, Wu jen 1)
Palanquin Procession (Sor/Wiz 3, Wu Jen 3)
Overland travel is as fast on the Plane of Shadow whether walking, flying or on horseback. It has become a status symbol of the wealthy to travel well-rested by sitting in a palanquin.

[Garryl]

It's been a while. Where can I find the rules for E6 and for partial gestalt? If I recall correctly, partial gestalt was like normal gestalt, but only between a high-tier class on one side and a low-tier class on the other side for any given level, and E6 is just stopping at level 6 and periodically getting bonus feats afterwards?

[Skyrock]

Epic 6

Partial Gestalt was a throwaway suggestion in JaronK's original tier thread. I use a more bold version where you mix T2//6, T3//5, T4//4 and T1 has to go alone. You can find my base class tiers in my last PbP game: http://minmaxforum.com/index.php?topic=18921.0
(Shadowcaster will obviously need to be added.)