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<blockquote data-quote="clark411" data-source="post: 1084534" data-attributes="member: 4768">Racial levels exist because a Bugbear with 3 levels of Bugbear (or is it 1 level? I can't remember if the LA [+2 for BB] is applied before completion of the Racial levels) is supposedly on par with a Human or Elf with three class levels.&nbsp; It may be a hold over from previous editions, but Savage Species was written with an explicit acknowledgement that monsters could take class levels when they were done advancing normally OR they could advance, in specific examples, simply by size and HD.&nbsp; That this concept is a hold over from previous editions hardly invalidates it in the current system- if for no other reason than the existance of class levels and specific classes in previous editions.The decision to place options over balance is a tenuous one, although hardly invalidated by the risks involved.&nbsp; The problem is, when your average player is faced with two options, invariably he will pick whichever is in his best interests.&nbsp; Ideally, both options should be roughly balanced, neither mechanically superior by far, but this isn't the case if you have any monstrous race have the option to have all the benefits of its ability adjustments and special abilities without taking actual monster levels or a proper ECL hit.The Key Point: Options should be about choices but not necessarily obvious choices.&nbsp; A bugbear PC with all the advantages of a bugbear without the racial HD/levels (and has normal PC class levels instead) is obviously better than a bugbear PC that has taken the racial levels.&nbsp;&nbsp; Alternately, a bugbear PC that has an ECL commesurate with its superiority over the ECL +0 classes, but no Racial HD, will be pathetic in combat (my ECL +4 Bugbear Fighter with 12 HP after con, alongside Human Fighter 5's with 48 HP.)</blockquote>

[QUOTE="clark411, post: 1084534, member: 4768"] Racial levels exist because a Bugbear with 3 levels of Bugbear (or is it 1 level? I can't remember if the LA [+2 for BB] is applied before completion of the Racial levels) is supposedly on par with a Human or Elf with three class levels. It may be a hold over from previous editions, but Savage Species was written with an explicit acknowledgement that monsters could take class levels when they were done advancing normally OR they could advance, in specific examples, simply by size and HD. That this concept is a hold over from previous editions hardly invalidates it in the current system- if for no other reason than the existance of class levels and specific classes in previous editions. The decision to place options over balance is a tenuous one, although hardly invalidated by the risks involved. The problem is, when your average player is faced with two options, invariably he will pick whichever is in his best interests. Ideally, both options should be roughly balanced, neither mechanically superior by far, but this isn't the case if you have any monstrous race have the option to have all the benefits of its ability adjustments and special abilities without taking actual monster levels or a proper ECL hit. The Key Point: Options should be about choices but not necessarily obvious choices. A bugbear PC with all the advantages of a bugbear without the racial HD/levels (and has normal PC class levels instead) is obviously better than a bugbear PC that has taken the racial levels. Alternately, a bugbear PC that has an ECL commesurate with its superiority over the ECL +0 classes, but no Racial HD, will be pathetic in combat (my ECL +4 Bugbear Fighter with 12 HP after con, alongside Human Fighter 5's with 48 HP.) [/QUOTE]

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