ECL of character with all 18s?

[Zog]

The other thread reminded me of an old idea I had.

The PC with total amensia, found by the party naked by the side of the road - but the character has all 18s for stats.

Seriosuly for a moment - say this character is going to be akin to Alias from the FR novels or Tristan from the C.J. Cherray Fortress in the Eye of Time. Some sort of created being of shaped by magic, cast out diety, etc. etc. Exactly what they are, or were, or could be, will be part of the campaign.

Give them a level of commoner. Human for a race.

Now, what is their ECL? How many levels behind the rest of the party would this character have to be in order to be fair to the other players?


At least one. Probably 2. More?

Opinions?

<edit> fixed title

 

[Wolfspider]

Well, you're talking about a race in which the stat bonus would be +8 for the average member. Hmmm. That's pretty tough.

Or maybe not +8 all around. If you build the character according to points, it might be much less than that.

No clue.

 

[Crothian]

Nothing. If the race had huge bonuses that the average attribute was all 18's then you'd have an ECL. But a human who just happens to have all 18s has no ecl.

 

[Christian]

Well, yes, Crothian-but this isn't really a rules question per se. It's more a matter of, this character's joining a fourth level party (eg.), what level should he be if he's not to utterly outperform them? A fourth level character with all 18's will dominate a typical fourth level character ...

I'd say +2, myself, but it would probably be a good thing to playtest rather than guess at.

 

[S'mon]

It depends on what the other PCs and NPCs have for stats. If the other PCs average a +2 bonus (14-15) in each stat (total +12) and this one is +4 (18) total +24, I'd say that was about +2 ECL, maybe a little less (but more than +1). Likewise a character with average stat bonus +3 & a total + of +18 is about +1 ECL.

 

[Enkhidu]

You sure you want the character to be all 18s?

IIRC, Alias was statted (back in the 1st ed Hall of Heros) as having 17 in all stats (a bonus of about +3 on most things, except Str and Int - but remember this is 1st ed we're talking about). This made her very good in all catagories, but not the best.

Would it be a better idea to make all the stats, say 15? or 16? That would tone down the necessity to have a high ECL.

With all 18's, for fairnes and flavor, I'd say ECL+3 (maybe 4). For 16, ECL+1 or 2.

Hope that helps.

 

[poilbrun]

Isn't all 18's the default array for a character?

 

[Zog]

Actually, 17s does sound like a better, or at least more interesting idea. It gives the player more flexibility in making their character.

Hmm - 3 16s, 3 17s, let the player decide. - Introduce them when the party is most of the way to level two.

And let the player, and the events of the game, decide their future classes.


Any road, sounds like the general thought is +2 is about right.

 

[RyanL]

Maybe I'm a wierdo, but a character with all 18s doesn't sound super-powerful to me. At lower levels, maybe, but the advantage wouldn't be so great as levels are gained.

Could be this morning's dose of crack rock talking, though.

-Ryan

 

[Anabstercorian]

I'd start with ECL +1 and work from there.