Epic 12 Rules

Inspired by and derived from the Epic 6 rules, Fiend's Reach uses Epic 12.

Maximum Level
Characters level up as usual until they hit level 12. This grants all full casters 6th level spells, and ticks over feats like Power Attack or Combat Expertise for full bab classes.

This creates a smaller gap between optimized and unoptimzied builds. It makes for easier session design (avoiding the issue of 20[20] Mythic ready enemies that pose no challenge for some builds, and overpowered enemies for others). It also makes for more iconic sessions, as a CR 16+ monster will almost certainly provide a challenge regardless of optimization, as compared to the one-shotibility of Cthulhu.

Post-12 Advancement
Up until level 12, characters gain experience and level up as normal. Once they hit level 12 though, their level advancement halts. The player subtracts 330,000 experience from their character, and converts any leftover xp or xp gained in the future to Epic Experience (EExp).

Epic Experience isn't used in the same way as normal experience. Instead of being a running total of how many koblods a character has killed, it's used much more like a currency. A player can spend Epic Experience on various things, the main option being Epic Feats.

Feats
Feats (including epic feats) costs 120,000 Epic Experience per feat for the first 5 feats. Each bracket of 5 feats after cost an additional 12,000 EExp per feat (6th - 10th feat cost 132,000 EExp; 11th - 15th costs 144,000 EExp, etc).

Hero Points
A Hero Point, up to the character's maximum Hero Points, costs 40,000 EExp.

Artifacts
Owning an artifact requires an EExp tax. IL 13 items impose a 10% reduction in any EExp a character gains, while IL 14 items impose a 20% reduction. True Artifacts impose a 30% EExp reduction. Characters can only gain these artifacts through session rewards. If a character doesn't wish to pay the tax, they can forego the item.

Corruptions
Gaining a corruption imposes a permanent 25% EExp tax. If a character finds a way to cure their corruption, they can remove the tax, along with the corruption, and any manifestations or stains they acquired.

Once a character has a corruption, they can spend 120,000 EExp to gain a new manifestation, manifestation level, and stain.

Players must purchase a corruption through Roleplay Points and a character can only have 1 corruption at a time.