There HAS to be a way to build a drow mage...there has to be.

[Falling Icicle]

I've seen a rule somewhere that allows you to play a LA creature at 1st level. Basically, you suffer a "negative level" (-1 to all ability checks, saves, skills checks, etc) for each point of LA you have. As you go up in level, this "negative level" decreases until it is -0.

So a 1st level Drow is at a -2 penalty, a 2nd level Drow at a -1, and a 3rd level Drow at -0.

I'm not sure which book it was in, but I think it might have been PGtF. Hope that helps.

 

[smootrk]

I will say it again, because it seems to have been glossed over.

Use the UA rules to 'buy off' the LA. You will just be a few thousand xp behind the rest of the group, and if your DM uses proper XP disbursments this will even be minimized over time (lower level characters get more xp than higher level ones, for the same encounter).

Really, small level adjustments (up to about +3 or +4) are best dealt with by 'buying off' the LA (per Unearthed Arcana - or variants). The way that XP are allotted make this make more sense than permanent tweaks to the race in question. You will make up most of the difference in XP, albeit over time, but the net effect is that your character will catch up to the pack and the LA will be a non-issue at that point.

 

[Sejs]

P.S. Is blur really better than a bonus feat?

Actually, yes. Really, really yes.

20% miss chance and immunity to sneak attacks for 1/min per caster level? Sign me up.

 

[Endarire]

According to my estimates on Soldarin's ECL Calculator, the PHB dwarf has a higher LA- about 1.8- than the drow's 1.4!

-EE

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

IMHO, for a creature of +2LA or less, there really isn't much wrong with just letting the player play the PC as is...

Sure, he'll be a dominant force early on, but he'll still need all those XP to go up to 2nd level...and while he's doing that, the other PCs will catch up.

 

[Perun]

I'm in the camp supporting the drow +2 LA. The spell resistance is highly useful (if the opponent is of a level equal to your ECL, his spells won't affect you 40% of the time). And as someone who played a drow wizard (albeit shortly), I suggest putting 18 in Int (assuming point-buy, of course), and taking Spellcasting Prodigy feat (I'm also assuming it's a FR campaign). That'll give you an effective Int of 22 for determining bonus spells, so 3 1st-level spells right there at 1st level (with a save DC 16). That'll allow the character to hold his own. He won't be the most powerful mage in the world, but you knew that when you picked a LA race.

I'll also support the LA buy-off rules (which are part of the SRD, and can be found here, for example). Hell be able to buy his LA off at character levels 6 (ECL 8) and 9 (ECL 10). After that, he's just some XP behind the rest of the group, and might eventually catch up (accordiing to te 3.5 XP awarding system).

Regards.

 

[Wolf72]

in my CS, drow are identical to elves with the following trades.
lowlight -> 60ft darkvision
rapier, longsword, bow proficiency -> whip, scimitar, crossbow:all.
Elven stigma as world shattering insane wizards -> Drow stigma as assassins and followers of a death god

I like that idea! yoinked, w/credit given

I think I'd turn a lot of those drow powers into racial feats ... the ones only takable at 1st level type of thing.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

Basically, my Eberron GT Drow are exactly the same as regular elves but:

Get - Darkvision 60', +2 to Saves vs. Spells/SLAs, Hand Crossbow and Rapier Prof

Suffer - Light Blindness

That's it.

--fje

 

[Falling Icicle]

I'm not a fan of the UA LA buy off rules. We have used them in our group and the result was everyone who didn't chose a LA race wishing they had.

 

[Perun]

I'm not a fan of the UA LA buy off rules. We have used them in our group and the result was everyone who didn't chose a LA race wishing they had.

When using the default XP reward method (where each character gets about the same amount of XP, with lower-level ones getting slightly more (the ratio is, IIRC, about 1:1.3, give or take), the LA +1 character will lag in XP even at 20th level (although the diference is virually negligible at that point, less than 50 XP). The higher the LA, the more pronounced the XP lag is (LA +3 is 20,000 XP behind at level 20, so he's actually level 18).

A LA +1 race can buy their LA off at character level 3 (ECL 4), when they have 6,000 XP. They lose 3,000 XP, and are now a LA 0 race at 3rd level with 3,000 XP. The rest of the party is 4th level with 6,000 XP, so our LA character is 3,000 XP behind. Sometimes, he'll catch up in levels (but not in XP), and in such cases he receives the same amount of XP as everybody else, which means they advance fater (since they've got more XP). And so on. At certain level, it doesn't matter, but then again, at certain level the racial abilities of a LA race are also irrelevant... it all balances out in the end.

Regards.