The Souljourner
First Post
What's the procedure for buying it off? I don't have AU, but a friend of mine does. Sounds interesting.
-The Souljourner
-The Souljourner
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When is LA worth it?
- Thread starter AuraSeer
- Start date
thundershot
Adventurer
The highest LA in my campaign is a Sylph, and while she doesn't have much in the way of hit points, the flight, improved invisibility, and the sorcerer spellcasting really helps if the Sylph takes actual levels of Sorcerer in addition.
Chris
Chris
Souljourner: Multiply the character's Level Adjustment by 3. When their ECL is equal to this number, they can reduce their LA by one ... but not for free. It costs them XP equal to 1000 times their ECL before the LA is reduced. Multiply any remaining LA by 3, and in that many more levels, they may repeat the process - until the character has a total level adjustment of +0.
For example: a Half-Dragon. Half-dragons have a level adjustment of +3 ... so at 9th level, the character has his first opportunity to reduce his Level Adjustment (and if he doesn't take it NOW, he can never lower his LA). At a cost of 9,000XP (lowering him to ECL 8), his level adjustment becomes +2.
This means he loses no class levels ... in effect, he "knocks one off the top".
Six levels later, at ECL 14 (with 12 class levels), he can do it again (3 times his remaining +2 LA is, of course, 6). He drops one LA, pays 14,000XP, and is now an ECL 13 character with 12 class levels.
Three levels after THAT (3 times his remaining +1 level adjustment), at ECL 16 (with 15 class levels), he removes the last point of level adjustment, paying 16,000 experience, and becoming an ECL 15 character with 15 class levels.
He has paid a total of (9K + 14K + 16K =) 39,000xp, and so, has earned 144,000xp - assuming he hasn't been crafting items, of course.
One of the benefits of this, is that he gains experience points at a slightly faster rate than his equal-lifetime-XP peers, because his average level keeps periodically dropping behind theirs by 1. Thus, by the time he's earned those 144K experience and is a 15th level character, probably, they are 16th level characters. The odds are, that in return for this added math, he will reach epic levels at roughly the same time as his peers.
The rationale behind this is that, as you go up in levels, less and less of your relative power is a result of your race ... but, level adjustment doesn't reflect that "diminishing return" if left constant. The difference between a Half-dragon Fighter(15) and a Human Fighter(15) isn't all THAT big - it's discernible, but not quite] a big enough gulf that the Half-Dragon should have had to pay 48,000 more experience (for a total of 153K) just to get there.
Using the Level Adjustment Reduction rules, a +3 race saves 9,000XP over the course of advancement to 15 class levels - and earns some of the remaining XP difference back too, in the form of being a level behind the average party level, when it comes time to hand out experience after every adventure.
For example: a Half-Dragon. Half-dragons have a level adjustment of +3 ... so at 9th level, the character has his first opportunity to reduce his Level Adjustment (and if he doesn't take it NOW, he can never lower his LA). At a cost of 9,000XP (lowering him to ECL 8), his level adjustment becomes +2.
This means he loses no class levels ... in effect, he "knocks one off the top".
Six levels later, at ECL 14 (with 12 class levels), he can do it again (3 times his remaining +2 LA is, of course, 6). He drops one LA, pays 14,000XP, and is now an ECL 13 character with 12 class levels.
Three levels after THAT (3 times his remaining +1 level adjustment), at ECL 16 (with 15 class levels), he removes the last point of level adjustment, paying 16,000 experience, and becoming an ECL 15 character with 15 class levels.
He has paid a total of (9K + 14K + 16K =) 39,000xp, and so, has earned 144,000xp - assuming he hasn't been crafting items, of course.
One of the benefits of this, is that he gains experience points at a slightly faster rate than his equal-lifetime-XP peers, because his average level keeps periodically dropping behind theirs by 1. Thus, by the time he's earned those 144K experience and is a 15th level character, probably, they are 16th level characters. The odds are, that in return for this added math, he will reach epic levels at roughly the same time as his peers.
The rationale behind this is that, as you go up in levels, less and less of your relative power is a result of your race ... but, level adjustment doesn't reflect that "diminishing return" if left constant. The difference between a Half-dragon Fighter(15) and a Human Fighter(15) isn't all THAT big - it's discernible, but not quite] a big enough gulf that the Half-Dragon should have had to pay 48,000 more experience (for a total of 153K) just to get there.
Using the Level Adjustment Reduction rules, a +3 race saves 9,000XP over the course of advancement to 15 class levels - and earns some of the remaining XP difference back too, in the form of being a level behind the average party level, when it comes time to hand out experience after every adventure.
The Souljourner
First Post
Sweet, thanks for such a detailed answer. I was expecting something succinct like "you pay xp at levels x y and z." That's awesome, though, thanks.
Hrm... cool way to do it. You do eventually start catching up, which is about how fast I'd want it to happen. Huh.
-The Souljourner
Hrm... cool way to do it. You do eventually start catching up, which is about how fast I'd want it to happen. Huh.
-The Souljourner
Li Shenron
Legend
Kalanyr said:
I agree completely. I also had the idea that every LA is estimated against the best possible (mis)use of the race/template, which unfortunately cuts off many other interesting combinations.
I am afraid that the only possibly fair way would be a variable LA, to depend on which class(es) are taken by the creature, but it would be too difficult to try.
The Souljourner
First Post
I think a level adjustment based on class would be perfect. Of course, you'd need something complex to handle multiclass... a Fighter 1/Wizard 9 is a lot different than a Wizard 1/Fighter 9 and both are different (read: better) from a fighter 5/wizard 5.
-The Souljourner
-The Souljourner
Personally, the "reducing LA" rules work just fine for me; you may be disadvantages in your class during the early levels, but that's really where your race canmatter more in terms of total, overall "power"/ability to adventure effectively. ^_^
Of course, the higher your level adjustment, the harder it is to buy it all off; an LA of +3 or less is the only one you can buy off before 20th level.
With an LA +4, you buy off at 12 (become 11), then 17 (become 16), then 22 (become 21), then 24 (become 23).
And when you have an LA +5 or more, and it just gets even worse. ^_^ At +7, you can't buy off your first point of level adjustment until 21st level. ^_^
Of course, the higher your level adjustment, the harder it is to buy it all off; an LA of +3 or less is the only one you can buy off before 20th level.
With an LA +4, you buy off at 12 (become 11), then 17 (become 16), then 22 (become 21), then 24 (become 23).
And when you have an LA +5 or more, and it just gets even worse. ^_^ At +7, you can't buy off your first point of level adjustment until 21st level. ^_^
thundershot
Adventurer
Also, if a player wants a creature simply for the RP part of it, I'll let them take one level of the creature ala Savage Species without HAVING to take all of the other levels. Let them be a younger, weaker version of the creature in exchange for taking levels in a class.
Chris
Chris
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