Best bang for the buck for a level-adjusted race?

[jasin]

Draconic creature (Draconomicon) is LA +1 for Str +2, Con +2, Cha +2, natural armor +1 and some other minor benefits, on top of another race's abilites (it's a template).

Gravetouched ghoul gets a bunch of stuff for it's LA, and it's also a template. I don't have Libris Mortis handy to check the specifics, but I remember being impressed.

You could do some interesting things with a tiefling eldritch knight, if you're willing to abuse 1) the fact that outsiders are described as proficient with martial weapons; and 2) polymorph.

I played a werepanther martial artist (homebrew class, think monk) once. It's the only LA character I've seen where the LA was worth it from a purely powergaming perspective. I've also made a "werefox" (weredog stats) iaijutsu master that seemed pretty cool on paper at least. Smallish animals can still have some pretty awesome stat modifiers for their HD, and DR 10/silver can make up for a lot of hp.

 

[Drowbane]

oops

 

[Drowbane]

I really doubt that a half-ogre will get its racial bonuses *and* the medium->large adjustments on top of them. Every single Large race I've encountered does not have this stipulation.

Cast off your doubts and have faith! Seriously though, I was floored when I saw that in Dragon... I was more so when I managed to convince a DM to let me apply it to a Thri-Kreen.

(Is it the ability to ignore damage up to power points used in that way, 1 /round as immediate action)

That one.

IIRC, it was an Elan Psion using a combonation of Dampen Power and his racial dmg negation-ability (had a feat to make it 2 or 4 points negated per psi-point). All in all it was very impressive to seen a low (5th, 6th?) lvl psion totally soak a 10d6 fireball. Then again, the party rogue just dodged it...

It has been a few years since I've seen a Elan in play, and this may just be the memory of a knee-jerk reaction ("he does what?!").

 

[Elethiomel]

Cast off your doubts and have faith! Seriously though, I was floored when I saw that in Dragon... I was more so when I managed to convince a DM to let me apply it to a Thri-Kreen.

Heh. Powergaming at its finest, then. Seriously, though, people have a lot of complaints about power creep in splat books (which is more or less inevitable with options creep and a flexible system like 3.5, but I feel they've limited it pretty well nonetheless)... but splat books apparently have nothing on Dragon Magazine.

 

[Starbuck_II]

If we use Dragon mag: then a Gheden template is sweet.

LA+1
Str +4, -2 Dex/Con/Int, -4 Cha.
Feats: Toughness, endurance, diehard.
Immune fear, confusion, and energy drain attacks. Non-lethal, stunning, and death from massive damage have no effect.
Fortification 50%, darkvision 60 ft. Mettle in regards to negative enwrgy damage (save successfully no damage).

Drawbacks;
Direct hit from holy water deals 1d4 damage (splash doesn't hurt at least). Vulnerable to turning: You are treated as undead at 1/2 your HD. You are stunned 2d4 rounds if could be controlled/destroyed. And -4 penalty if could be cowered/turned.

Pretty nice as long as not fighting clerics.

 

[HandofMystra]

avoiding SA

To add some fuel to the fire ... what are LA races/templates that give immunity to sneak attack. I know one, the Woodling from MMIII. I am making a Woodling Druid for a 3.5 arena battle we have once a month at our local game store.

 

[irdeggman]

To add some fuel to the fire ... what are LA races/templates that give immunity to sneak attack. I know one, the Woodling from MMIII. I am making a Woodling Druid for a 3.5 arena battle we have once a month at our local game store.

Anything with "fortification" would likewise be immune.

Also note that the woodling now has a susceptability to fire damage (50% more damage from things like a fireball or flaming hands).

 

[Darklone]

Where is Aranea from again?

 

[Aus_Snow]

Where is Aranea from again?

The only thing I'm familiar with, by that name, is in the Monster Manual, or alternatively the SRD. But that's not a template, and would *suck* as a PC 'race'. Badly.

 

[amethal]

Planetouched make good binders, because they are proficient with all martial weapons.

Its irritating to only be able to use your expensive magical rapier when you are bound to Paimon, for example.