I'm starting up an AE campaign online. The characters are starting at level 4, and one player wants to play a Giant. He's thinking about taking all three Giant levels right away, essentially being a Giant 3/class 1. (Not sure what class he'll play.)
Taking a spin through AU/AE, I was looking at the "racial levels" for Giants. Now, I like the idea of racial levels, and the Evolved levels are kinda neat too. But looking just at the basic, three-level, basic racial level array...
...are the Giant levels really worth the cost? I know there are role-playing factors ("I just wanna be more Giantish"), long-term advancement ("I wanna qualify for the Giant Paragon Prestige Class"), and Feat access ("I wanna take the Stomp Feat"), but all of these pretty much require all three levels, since you don't achieve Large size until your third Giant level. So, if you take all three levels, you get:
d10 Hit Dice (in a system where the lowest PC Hit Die is d6, and most melee classes are d10 or d12)
An additional +2 STR (over and above the basic +2 STR, -2 DEX)
+2 WIS
+2 CON
Large Size (a mixed blessing)
2+INT bonus skill points/level
Simple weapon and light armour proficiency
Moderate BAB
Good FOR, moderate WIL, poor REF
Access to some Giant-specific Feats
I'm wondering if, in your opinion, this is worth three character levels. Don't get me wrong - the stat bonuses are great (especially since becoming size L doesn't reduce your DEX further, though it does affect your AC), and some of the long-term benefits (the aforementioned Feats and Prestige Class) are pretty keen.
So I don't think Giants are being totally screwed here. Plus, I'm not that much of a powegamer that I can't accept "roleplaying reasons" as sufficient. Nonetheless, I don't want the Giant player to end up feeling like he's not up to par. I wonder if it shouldn't maybe be a two-level array, or somesuch.
Any thoughts or experience on this?
Taking a spin through AU/AE, I was looking at the "racial levels" for Giants. Now, I like the idea of racial levels, and the Evolved levels are kinda neat too. But looking just at the basic, three-level, basic racial level array...
...are the Giant levels really worth the cost? I know there are role-playing factors ("I just wanna be more Giantish"), long-term advancement ("I wanna qualify for the Giant Paragon Prestige Class"), and Feat access ("I wanna take the Stomp Feat"), but all of these pretty much require all three levels, since you don't achieve Large size until your third Giant level. So, if you take all three levels, you get:
d10 Hit Dice (in a system where the lowest PC Hit Die is d6, and most melee classes are d10 or d12)
An additional +2 STR (over and above the basic +2 STR, -2 DEX)
+2 WIS
+2 CON
Large Size (a mixed blessing)
2+INT bonus skill points/level
Simple weapon and light armour proficiency
Moderate BAB
Good FOR, moderate WIL, poor REF
Access to some Giant-specific Feats
I'm wondering if, in your opinion, this is worth three character levels. Don't get me wrong - the stat bonuses are great (especially since becoming size L doesn't reduce your DEX further, though it does affect your AC), and some of the long-term benefits (the aforementioned Feats and Prestige Class) are pretty keen.
So I don't think Giants are being totally screwed here. Plus, I'm not that much of a powegamer that I can't accept "roleplaying reasons" as sufficient. Nonetheless, I don't want the Giant player to end up feeling like he's not up to par. I wonder if it shouldn't maybe be a two-level array, or somesuch.
Any thoughts or experience on this?