[3.0] Drow - Help Requested

[Melkor]

I was reading through Savage Species last night, and it shows a Drow as having an ECL of 3 and a Level Adjustment of +2. There is a sidebar at the bottom of one of the pages in the front of the book that talks about 1 hit dice creatures replacing their hit die, skill points, base saves, and attack bonuses with the class equivalents when they take a class level.

In reading through the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, Drow show an ECL of +2.

I'm not quite sure what to make of this. I am about to start a campaign where one of the characters wants to play a Drow. The rest of the party is starting at 3rd Level. Does this mean that as a 1 Hit Dice creature (based on the sidebar I mentioned above) he could start as a 1st Level Fighter and still be a 3rd level character, or does this mean he would be ECL 3 +1 Fighter Level, for a total of level 4 ?

If the latter is correct, does he get the 1D8 hit points from his hit dice, the base attack bonus, skill bonus, skill points, and feats based on 'being a Drow' and then I add in all of the benefits for being a Level 1 fighter ?

I was a bit confused after reading through Savage Species.

 

[Henrix]

The LA and ECL have been greatly confused. At times, such as in the FRCS, ECL has been what LA is now.

Drow have +2 LA. A 1st lvl drow fighter has ECL3. His HD is 1d10.

 

[Melkor]

Thanks for the response.

From what I gather:
A 1 Hit Dice creature can add a character class, drop his 'monster' hit dice, and add the Level Adjustment to his class level to get his total ECL (Instead of adding his Level Adjustment to his 1 Hit Die to get his ECL).

A creature with more than 1 Hit Dice can't choose to drop his 'monster' hit dice and substitute Class Level....He has to take his ECL (Level Adjustment + Hit Dice) added to whatever his Class Level is to determine his total ECL.

Is this correct ?

 

[Henrix]

Yep!