Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Conaill" data-source="post: 1042156" data-attributes="member: 1264">I don't own SS myself, but from borrowing my DM's copy, I didn't get the impression that SS had any &quot;accurate&quot; method to calculate LA at all! It has *guidelines* mainly, but is lacking a lot of concrete formulas.For example, SS recommends adding a LA for &quot;unbalanced ability scores&quot;, but AFAIK it doesn't actually give you a formula to calculate how much the LA for unbalanced ability scores should be. Let's say a creature has a +8 to STR, and +6 to DEX and CON. How much should the LA be for these stats? Soldarin's calculator suggests a +2 LA (STR DEX and CON are worth .1 each; INT, WIS and CHA are worth .05 each).AFAIK, SS also doesn't suggest Level Adjustments for weaknesses the creatures posess. For example, most animals have no hands and cannot use most types of equipment (unless they're specially adapted for them, like barding). In Soldarin's calculator those count as Medium weaknesses, worth a discount to LA of -0.5.Savage Species may be the &quot;bible&quot; of assigning Level Adjustments for 3.5, but it requires a lot more judgement calls to apply. Soldarin's calculator is a lot more detailed, but probably needs adjusting for 3.5.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Conaill, post: 1042156, member: 1264"] I don't own SS myself, but from borrowing my DM's copy, I didn't get the impression that SS had any "accurate" method to calculate LA at all! It has *guidelines* mainly, but is lacking a lot of concrete formulas. For example, SS recommends adding a LA for "unbalanced ability scores", but AFAIK it doesn't actually give you a formula to calculate how much the LA for unbalanced ability scores should be. Let's say a creature has a +8 to STR, and +6 to DEX and CON. How much should the LA be for these stats? Soldarin's calculator suggests a +2 LA (STR DEX and CON are worth .1 each; INT, WIS and CHA are worth .05 each). AFAIK, SS also doesn't suggest Level Adjustments for weaknesses the creatures posess. For example, most animals have no hands and cannot use most types of equipment (unless they're specially adapted for them, like barding). In Soldarin's calculator those count as Medium weaknesses, worth a discount to LA of -0.5. Savage Species may be the "bible" of assigning Level Adjustments for 3.5, but it requires a lot more judgement calls to apply. Soldarin's calculator is a lot more detailed, but probably needs adjusting for 3.5. [/QUOTE]

Verification