Epic Level Handbook

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Epic Level Handbook

Epic Level Handbook for D&D v3.
Genre Role-playing game
Publisher Wizards of the Coast
Publication date
 2001
Media type Print (Hardback)
Pages 320

The Epic Level Handbook is a rule-book by Wizards of the Coast for the 3rd edition of Dungeons & Dragons. The book was published in 2001, and contains optional game rules for playing characters who have reached a higher experience level than is allowed for in the standard rules. This is referred to in the book as "epic level" play.

Contents

This books contained rules for Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition characters to attain levels above 20, the highest level accommodated for by the rules in the Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide, the core rule-books for the game. It provides epic-level progression information for all the core classes, the prestige classes from the Dungeon Master's Guide, and the Psionic classes from the Psionics Handbook. It also provides new epic-level prestige classes, magical items, monsters, and "Epic Spells", all of which follow somewhat different rules than the standard game.

Publication history

The Epic Level Handbook was designed by Andy Collins and Bruce R. Cordell, and published in 2001. Cover art is by Arnie Swekel, with interior art by Daren Bader, Brom, David Day, Brian Despain, Larry Dixon, Michael Dutton, Jeff Easley, Lars Grant-West, Rebecca Guay, Jeremy Jarvis, Alton Lawson, Todd Lockwood, David Martin, Raven Mimura, Matthew Mitchell, Vinod Rams, Wayne Reynolds, Darrell Riche, Richard Sardinha, Marc Sasso, Mark Smylie, Arnie Swekel, and Anthony Waters.

Andy Collins was the first designer scheduled for the book, and handled the core of the rules, while Bruce Cordell handled the epic spellcasting and epic monsters.[1]

The book was updated for the 3.5th edition via an update document available from the Wizards of the Coast website.

The 4th Edition covers this in an alternate manner with continuous 1-30 level progress. WotC covered the topic in their 2009 conference.[2] (need more details)

Reception

The reviewer from Pyramid commented that before the Epic Level Handbook, third edition did not make it easy to play very powerful characters, especially compared to prior editions.[3] Another reviewer commented the book "addresses how to keep the Dungeons & Dragons system functioning after 20th level. Due to the nature of the system, many conventions of the system such as save and attack bonus conventions do not work as well if extrapolated out past 20th level."[4]

References

  1. ↑ Ryan, Michael (July 17, 2002). "Product Spotlight: Epic Level Handbook". Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved August 1, 2013. 
  2. ↑ Rupp, Danny (August 7, 2009). "Beyond Level 30". Critical Hits. Retrieved 2011-07-03. 
  3. ↑ http://www.sjgames.com/pyramid/sample.html?id=2936
  4. ↑ http://www.sjgames.com/pyramid/sample.html?id=3590
The semi-round icosahedron has 20 faces. Each face is an equilateral triangle.


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