ECL and Character Level

[frankthedm]

For those who are willing to give the FAQ a look...

Effective Character Level (ECL): Effective character
level is character level plus the level adjustment for the
character’s race. Races that are more powerful than the
standard races in the Player’s Handbook have level
adjustments to help promote some equity among the player
characters in a campaign, and to help DMs decide how much
danger a party containing members of those races can handle.
For example, a drow has a level adjustment of +2. Many people
(and even one or two rulebooks) say “ECL” when they really
mean “level adjustment.”
Use the character’s ECL to determine starting equipment
and how the character earns and benefits from experience
(including when he gains an epic attack and save bonus; DMG
p. 209), as noted on page 5 of Savage Species. Use the actual
character level for everything else.

 

[Voadam]

ECL affects suggested starting PC wealth and what level a PC is when calculating xp.

HD = CL for most everything else.

a 4th level drow has more powers than a 4th level elf and is roughly considered balanced against a 6th level fellow PC when given the same wealth to spend and gains the same xp as the 6th level elf at the end of the adventure.

For spell effects and hp and feat requirements the 4th level drow is a 4th level character.

CR =/= CL =/= ECL

 

[frankthedm]

Don't get hung up on the word "Effective". Level adjustment levels are "Dead levels" that do nothing to help the character.

 

[brehobit]

As per a previous discussion, I use EL for leadership and Vow of Poverty as well as starting stuff and use level/HD for everything else.

Just my little house rule.

 

[frankthedm]

As per a previous discussion, I use EL for leadership and Vow of Poverty as well as starting stuff and use level/HD for everything else.

Just my little house rule.

I might not be a house rule in regards to Leadership, depending on the rest of the paragraph irdeggman quoted this senctence from.

"The effective character level (ECL) of a creature determines how powerful it is as a character or cohort."

If the rest of the paragraph backs up that it is talking about the charater with the leadership feat, then it is one of the very few times the ECL rules can benefit a PC.