Arrond Hess
First Post
First, this house-rule this would only be really effective by using a LA adjusted race of no more than +3, within a campaign starting out at first level. Beyond that, the penalties suffered by the player, and the reduction in XP would also slow them down to such a slow rate, that the mechanic would simply cease to work anymore.
Now, the seed for this little tidbit of insperation... the LA buy off rules in UA.
The two factors that come into play, are in trying to determine what would be a good/balanced XP penalty, as well as an appropriate XP dept to be paid off. What I did was start to look at how the LA buy off rules had been set up, and the amount of xp needed to acomplish it, and that is where I found my answer. Using the formula given in UA, and also assuming no racial hit die were involed, I figured out how much XP (total) would be needed for each of the 3 LA.
With the +1 LA, it would be a simple buy off. At a 20% penalty, the debt would be paid off after accuring 15,000 xp (-20%), with 12,000 xp left over. Compared to his friends, who have just reached 6th level, he will be just under half way done with his 5th level.
With the +2 LA, he starts out with a -30% penalty. The first buy-off marker would be 7,000 xp. This would require 23,350 xp -30%, leaving the character with 16,350 xp (Begining of 6th level). While his friends are now into 7th level.
This would now bring his effective LA down to +1 (-20%).
His next buy-off marker would be 9,00xp, requiring another 45,000xp - 30%, Leaving 36,000xp left over for his normal advancement, for a total xp of 52,350 (well on his way to 11th level), now with a +0 LA. His friends will be at 12th level, with 68,350xp.
With the +3 LA, the first LA buy-off marker is 11,000xp, requiring 27,500xp - 40% would leave him with 16,500xp (beginning of 6th level). His friends... 7th level, just under 8th.
The second LA buy-off marker is 16,000 more xp. After gaining an additional 53,350xp -30%, our hero now has 53,850 xp (about 3/4 of the way through 10th level) and now has a +1 LA. His friends (with a total of 80,850 xp) are now starting 13th level.
The last LA buy-off marker is 18,000 xp. Requiring 90,000 xp - 20% our belagured hero now has 125,850 xp (about a third of the way into 16th level), and his party members, unhindered, are just below 19th level at 170, 850 xp.
The end result of this "house-rule" is that it would allow players, who chose a LA adjusted race, to play them along side their partners, starting at 0xp, where those begining HD can make a difference in the survival of the PC.
Opinions/thought?
Now, the seed for this little tidbit of insperation... the LA buy off rules in UA.
The two factors that come into play, are in trying to determine what would be a good/balanced XP penalty, as well as an appropriate XP dept to be paid off. What I did was start to look at how the LA buy off rules had been set up, and the amount of xp needed to acomplish it, and that is where I found my answer. Using the formula given in UA, and also assuming no racial hit die were involed, I figured out how much XP (total) would be needed for each of the 3 LA.
As for the actual xp penalty...
As you can see, the +2 and +3 LA have a variable xp penalty. This is deliberate, as it is represents a decreasing burden for the character. Now, the main thing to keep in mind is that this xp lost due to the penalty goes to spend off the character LA "debt", once the debt is gone, the xp panalty no longer applies and just as with the UA buy off, he starts earning is full share of xp.
With the +1 LA, it would be a simple buy off. At a 20% penalty, the debt would be paid off after accuring 15,000 xp (-20%), with 12,000 xp left over. Compared to his friends, who have just reached 6th level, he will be just under half way done with his 5th level.
With the +2 LA, he starts out with a -30% penalty. The first buy-off marker would be 7,000 xp. This would require 23,350 xp -30%, leaving the character with 16,350 xp (Begining of 6th level). While his friends are now into 7th level.
This would now bring his effective LA down to +1 (-20%).
His next buy-off marker would be 9,00xp, requiring another 45,000xp - 30%, Leaving 36,000xp left over for his normal advancement, for a total xp of 52,350 (well on his way to 11th level), now with a +0 LA. His friends will be at 12th level, with 68,350xp.
With the +3 LA, the first LA buy-off marker is 11,000xp, requiring 27,500xp - 40% would leave him with 16,500xp (beginning of 6th level). His friends... 7th level, just under 8th.
The second LA buy-off marker is 16,000 more xp. After gaining an additional 53,350xp -30%, our hero now has 53,850 xp (about 3/4 of the way through 10th level) and now has a +1 LA. His friends (with a total of 80,850 xp) are now starting 13th level.
The last LA buy-off marker is 18,000 xp. Requiring 90,000 xp - 20% our belagured hero now has 125,850 xp (about a third of the way into 16th level), and his party members, unhindered, are just below 19th level at 170, 850 xp.
The end result of this "house-rule" is that it would allow players, who chose a LA adjusted race, to play them along side their partners, starting at 0xp, where those begining HD can make a difference in the survival of the PC.
Opinions/thought?
