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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Elder-Basilisk" data-source="post: 763916" data-attributes="member: 3146">I was actually thinking something along the lines of:20 points: -1 ECL28 points: +0 ECL36 points: +1 ECLI'd probably stop there (and house rule the half-ogre to +2 or +3 ECL (whoever made it +1 ECL was smoking crack I tell you)). Higher ECL races get spell like abilities, dramatic ability score boosts, reach, and other things that make it rather difficult to properly balance them. And allowing really high point buy would quite possibly tempt players into doing something stupid. ("Look, I can have straight 18s for ECL +4. I'll go for it!" And then I'd have to deal with the guy whining that fireball is a save or die spells against a 5th level character with 14 hp or figuring out the hard way that casting a single magic missile at 5th level is a one way trip to loserdom even if your mage is stronger than the fighter).I might also allow characters to take a level of a PC class or two levels of an NPC class for free if they started with 15 point buy attributes (I'd let players have a single free level of an NPC class at 20 point buy). PCs would then have their choice of retaining the extra classes (with a negative ECL that made them truly bonus levels) or using their first levels of experience to increase their stats to 28 points (buying off the negative ECL) and convert any NPC class levels to an appropriate PC class (warrior to fighter for instance).I guess the challenge that the system will face is this: is an (effectively) ECL +1 20 point buy drow better than an ECL +1 36 point buy human? At first level? Certainly not? At tenth level? I'm not so sure anymore. At 20th level? Almost certainly. Then again, it would really depend upon what the characters set out to be. The 36 point buy human can have all of the same stats as the drow but replace one of the drow's 8's with an 18. That makes a big difference. Similarly, it's hard to make an effective anything with 20 point buy. You really need to make some serious sacrifices. So, on balance, I think that a skilled player could make an effective character either way. However, I think the ECL and the difference in stats would mean that it would take a very skilled player a lot of levels to get a character that was more effective than a well constructed straight up ECL 0 PH race 28 point buy character. And that's the way it should be.</blockquote>

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