Dawnforge Question.

[Jehosephat]

Do the PC races have ECLs? I have been reading the core book but I haven't found any info on the ECLs yet, so I was just wondering if there were ECLs in this setting? Thanks.

 

[The Cardinal]

nope, no ECLs for the PC races. But all PC races (Doppleganger, Dwarf, Elf [Dawn, Ghost, Moon, Night], Gnome, Halfling, Human [Highlander, Lowlander, Saltborn, Trueblood], Lizardfolk, Minotaur, Ogre, Orc ["normal" and forest wight], Tiefling, Yuan-ti Thinblood) have access to a parallel "racial level" progression which allows you to take 5 so-called racial talents and 5 racial transformations during your first 10 character levels. In addition to that each PC race gets four additional +2 ability increases at 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th level - that is in addition to the starting racial ability adjustments and in addition to the usual +1 ability increase at 4th and 8th level!
E.g.: Ogre
starting racial ability adjustments: +4 Str, -2 Dex, -2 Int, -2 Cha
L3: +2 Con
L5: +2 Con
L7: +2 Str
L9: +2 Wis

 

[Samothdm]

Correct me if I'm wrong, though, since I don't have my book right here with me, but I seem to remember a chart near the end of the Races chapter that says that a Dawnforge character will obviously be a little more powerful than an average D&D character of the same level and so they provide some guidelines. For example, a party of 10th level Dawnforge characters should be equivalent to NPCs of 14th level in other games. It's something like that - I just made up the numbers, but you get the idea.

 

[d20Dwarf]

Correct me if I'm wrong, though, since I don't have my book right here with me, but I seem to remember a chart near the end of the Races chapter that says that a Dawnforge character will obviously be a little more powerful than an average D&D character of the same level and so they provide some guidelines. For example, a party of 10th level Dawnforge characters should be equivalent to NPCs of 14th level in other games. It's something like that - I just made up the numbers, but you get the idea.

1-2: +0
3-7: +1
8+: +2

Rough guidelines, of course, since CR is so variable and different parties will be at different power levels depending on the game. I think they're pretty good, though.

 

[Jehosephat]

Thanks for the input folks. Yeah, I do remeber seeing that someplace about the characters being a bit tougher than NPCs of an equal level. They also seem a tad tougher than PCs of equal level in some of the more popular D&D settings.

That does bring me to another thought. I was looking over the archtypical examples of creatures in the setting and some of them seemed kind of wimpy as presented for paragons or progenitors of their species. One in particular was the medusa. Just curious, do any of the fans of the setting feel this way?

 

[The Cardinal]

well, since *the* Medusa is the "boss" my players will have to face some time soon: no, she does not seem wimpy to me - my players are 4th level and have just reached the Island of Statues. The Medusa is (IIRC) CR9 and *not* the only threat on this island! Also remember that none of the PCs (and, if possible, the players) should be aware of the true nature of the medusa, her powers, weaknesses, etc. - so my players have no access to large mirrors, stone-to-flesh spells, or similar stuff...