ECL question

[0-hr]

Suppose you have a half-fiend character (ECL 4) in a group of normal folks.

When everyone else in the party is level 10, would the half-fiendish character be 4 levels behind everyone else, or would he just be 10,000 xp behind eveyone else (because it takes 10,000 xp to go from start to level 4)?



(As an aside, I'm asking because I'm trying to balance out a custom PrC that lets a teifling slowly become a half-fiend from level 6 to 10. When the character completes the PrC, I'd like him to be about equivalent to a character that had started out as a half-fiend.)

 

[javcs]

There's a progression on Wizards ... in the Savage Progressions articles.

here

 

[Christian]

4 levels behind. When the half-fiend character has 10,000 XP, he's a 5th-level character, just like anyone else with 10,000 XP. (He just has one class level and four ECL levels.) So, he needs 5,000 more XP to get to 6th level-at 15,000 XP, he'll be a 6th-level character, although with just two class levels. And so on ...

 

[Arkhandus]

He would start with the same amount of XP, but would have 4 fewer class levels.

 

[irdeggman]

He would start with the same amount of XP, but would have 4 fewer class levels.

As he/she said.


Note that the terminology is:

ECL (Effective Character Level) = Class levels + Racial Hit die + Level Adjustment (LA).


many people interchange ECL and LA which causes a lot of confusion when looking at things.


Level based feats, ability score increases, and max skill rnaks are all based on hit dice (class level a + racial hit dice) - so the LA levels will not count towards those.

I recommend using the Savage Progressions method since it is much easier to keep things "balanced" when handling them a level at a time.

 

[0-hr]

Thanks for the help! That Savage Progressions article even has a tiefling -> half fiend example:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sp/20040319a

Just to be clear, the character who takes these transition levels gets no hit points, BAB or saves increase, etc.. They ONLY get the things listed there? (And their Character Level increases accordingly, which might affect other things).

 

[irdeggman]

Thanks for the help! That Savage Progressions article even has a tiefling -> half fiend example:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sp/20040319a

Just to be clear, the character who takes these transition levels gets no hit points, BAB or saves increase, etc.. They ONLY get the things listed there? (And their Character Level increases accordingly, which might affect other things).

Yes you only get what is specified at each level.

There is an explanation page covering how these "template classes" work that states so, IIRC.

 

[justinsluder]

If you have it check out the Fiend-Blooded prestige class in Heroes of Horror starting on pg 102.

Hope this helps some as well.

 

[frankthedm]

They ONLY get the things listed there? (And their Character Level increases accordingly, which might affect other things).

While the article does use the word level to describe the steps in the transition classes, overall it sound like the transition classes are just supposed to Be ECLs spread out over time, not adding in to character level calculations.

The Tiefling/Half-Fiend Transition Class

A tiefling is born tainted by evil and saddled with a +1 level adjustment. Tieflings who wish to become half-fiends can do so in just three levels instead of the normal four that the standard template class requires.