Melkor
Explorer
I've been looking through the 3.5 DMG, 3.0 Savage Species, 3.0 Races of Faerun book, and 3.0 Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting and I just can't wrap my brain around Level Adjustment and ECL.
Trying to figure this stuff out, I've been looking at the Drow Elf in the 3.0 "Races of Faerun" book. It lists the Level Adjustment as +2. When creating a Drow character for a 3.0 game, If a player wanted a 1st Level Fighter, we added the level adjustment to the +2 Level Adjustment to get the equivalent of a 3rd Level Character, or as we saw it, a character with an ECL of 3, who would need a total of 6000 XP to advance into 2nd level fighter.
Maybe we were doing it wrong in 3.0, but in looking at the 3.5 DMG on page 172, and using the previous 1st level Drow fighter as an example, it says that a Drow has a Level Adjustment of +2, and to figure ECL you add the following to get ECL: Racial Level Adjustment (+2), Creature's Hit Dice (1), and Class Level (of Fighter, 1 for a +1), would equal an ECL of 4 (or the equivalent of a 4th level character who would need 10,000 experience to advance to a 2nd level fighter.
I was under the impression that if you had a 1 Hit Dice creature, you could ignore the creature's Hit Die when calculating ECL, and just add in his Class Level, but I can't find this clearly stated as an exception to the rule for determing ECL (with Level Adjustment + Hit Dice + Class Level). The DMG does state:
"If a monster has 1 Hit Die or less, or if it is a template creature, it must start the game with one or more class levels, like a regular character. If a monster has 2 or more Hit Dice, it can start with no class levels (although it can gain them later)."
It also states the following a little further down on the page:
"A monster with a Hit Dice of 1 or less, a level adjustment, and class levels adds it's class levels, Hit Die, and level adjustment together when referring to Table 3-2 (on Page 22 of the PHB to determine experience needed to advance). For instance, suppose a monster with 1 Hit Die and a +1 level Adjustment has two levels of rogue. It's ECL is 4 (2 class levels +1 Hit Die +1 level adjustment). In order to gain another class level, it needs a total of 10,000xp.
Which leads me to believe that it doesn't matter if you have 1 Hit Die or not, you still have to add it to your class levels, and level adjustments to get your ECL.
In Savage Species, on page 13, it states:
"A creature with a single Hit Die, like all standard-race characters, gives up that Hit Die when it gains it's first class level. This makes such a creature somewhat different from other monster characters."
The section continues, but doesn't mention adding up ECL, so this leaves me to ask in frustration:
HOW THE HELL DO YOU FIGURE OUT ECL OF A 1 HIT DICE CREATURE WITH A LEVEL ADJUSTMENT AND 1 CLASS LEVEL !?!?!?!
Thanks in advance for the help retaining my sanity.
Trying to figure this stuff out, I've been looking at the Drow Elf in the 3.0 "Races of Faerun" book. It lists the Level Adjustment as +2. When creating a Drow character for a 3.0 game, If a player wanted a 1st Level Fighter, we added the level adjustment to the +2 Level Adjustment to get the equivalent of a 3rd Level Character, or as we saw it, a character with an ECL of 3, who would need a total of 6000 XP to advance into 2nd level fighter.
Maybe we were doing it wrong in 3.0, but in looking at the 3.5 DMG on page 172, and using the previous 1st level Drow fighter as an example, it says that a Drow has a Level Adjustment of +2, and to figure ECL you add the following to get ECL: Racial Level Adjustment (+2), Creature's Hit Dice (1), and Class Level (of Fighter, 1 for a +1), would equal an ECL of 4 (or the equivalent of a 4th level character who would need 10,000 experience to advance to a 2nd level fighter.
I was under the impression that if you had a 1 Hit Dice creature, you could ignore the creature's Hit Die when calculating ECL, and just add in his Class Level, but I can't find this clearly stated as an exception to the rule for determing ECL (with Level Adjustment + Hit Dice + Class Level). The DMG does state:
"If a monster has 1 Hit Die or less, or if it is a template creature, it must start the game with one or more class levels, like a regular character. If a monster has 2 or more Hit Dice, it can start with no class levels (although it can gain them later)."
It also states the following a little further down on the page:
"A monster with a Hit Dice of 1 or less, a level adjustment, and class levels adds it's class levels, Hit Die, and level adjustment together when referring to Table 3-2 (on Page 22 of the PHB to determine experience needed to advance). For instance, suppose a monster with 1 Hit Die and a +1 level Adjustment has two levels of rogue. It's ECL is 4 (2 class levels +1 Hit Die +1 level adjustment). In order to gain another class level, it needs a total of 10,000xp.
Which leads me to believe that it doesn't matter if you have 1 Hit Die or not, you still have to add it to your class levels, and level adjustments to get your ECL.
In Savage Species, on page 13, it states:
"A creature with a single Hit Die, like all standard-race characters, gives up that Hit Die when it gains it's first class level. This makes such a creature somewhat different from other monster characters."
The section continues, but doesn't mention adding up ECL, so this leaves me to ask in frustration:
HOW THE HELL DO YOU FIGURE OUT ECL OF A 1 HIT DICE CREATURE WITH A LEVEL ADJUSTMENT AND 1 CLASS LEVEL !?!?!?!
Thanks in advance for the help retaining my sanity.
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Frankly, it's up to you. If you want a character to keep a racial HD, it's counted toward ECL. If the character doesn't keep the racial HD, it doesn't count... and that's it.
