Racial Substitution Levels

Abraxas · Jul 9, 2005

Does anyone here have experience with the various racial substitution levels in the various books?

I am starting an Eberron campaign and right now am allowing the racial substitution levels but am having some misgivings. A few things that jumped out are

1) Why the Hit Die increase for most of the fighter substitution levels?
2) The half orc paladin's righteous fury ability seems significantly stronger then the standard smite evil ability - anyone see it in actual play?
3) Are there any substitution levels for humans?

Thanx

CM · Jul 9, 2005

1. Higher or lower hit dice than the standard classes really won't make much difference, as there are a maximum of three substitution levels for each class that can be taken. Dwarves and half-orcs tend to be tougher than humans, so the HD are higher for most of their racial substitution levels. It's assumed that the abilities they give up compensate for the slight HP boost.

2. As half-orc paladin is already a suboptimal choice with its racial charisma penalty, I don't think this will be much of an issue.

3. Well, the whole concept of racial substitution levels are to show how each race does certain classes differently from humans, so no.

Scharlata · Jul 9, 2005

Abraxas said:
3) Are there any substitution levels for humans?

Hi!

Not Racial Substitution Levels but Racial Paragon Classes. See Unearthed Arcana, p. 32 (Human Paragon, p. 43).

Kind regards

gabrion · Jul 9, 2005

Abraxas said:
2) The half orc paladin's righteous fury ability seems significantly stronger then the standard smite evil ability - anyone see it in actual play?

Thanx

Yup. It is way more powerful in play than smite evil and I recommend not allowing it. Even with the CHA hit it makes Half-Orc by far the best option for paladin characters.

Endur · Jul 9, 2005

1) Why the Hit Die increase for most of the fighter substitution levels?

More flavor for Dwarves, etc. I have seen a dwarf fighter with substitution levels. Much more flavor. Not unbalanced.

2) The half orc paladin's righteous fury ability seems significantly stronger then the standard smite evil ability - anyone see it in actual play?

Havn't seen this one in play yet. Although I can tell you that having a low chr paladin is painful.

3) Are there any substitution levels for humans?

No, Humans are the standard.

Adoster · Jan 28, 2017

Abraxas said:
2) The half orc paladin's righteous fury ability seems significantly stronger then the standard smite evil ability - anyone see it in actual play?

First of all sorry for late answer, you're probably playing 5th Edition by now, but still...

I actually used it as a player on a 28 point-buy campaign, and I allow it anytime, you're basically taking away the paladin's smite evil ability for a version of rage that you can use less often than the barbarian, with a duration based on your racially penalised stat. Sure it lasts longer than a normal smite evil, but gives no attack bonus, so I personally find it balanced, even for a 32 point buy campaign.

But that's just my opinion

Racial Substitution Levels

Abraxas

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CM

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Scharlata

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gabrion

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Endur

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Adoster

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