How come there are so few Medium +0LA races with inherent spell ability?

[greywulf]

If you do want to use Reserve Feats early, play a human and take Precocious Apprentice (C.Arcane p. 181) which gives you a 2nd level spell slot but requires a DC 8 caster level check to use. The main value of this is that it fills the prereqs for several of the Reserve Feats which, if human, you could take now.

That's very cool

I could generate a Human Duskblade, taking Precocious Apprentice and one of the Reserve Feats at 1st level. That would give me loads of cantrips, plus a slot and a 2nd level spell to power the at-will Reserve Feat ability.

I would judge (harsh DM that I am) that the at-will Reserve Feat power would also require a DC8 caster level check to work, just the 2nd level spell slot does. You're still trying to handle powers beyond your ability. I can live with that.

Looks like I've found my answer. I'll keep the Drallock character as my backup (she's too cool to tear up, after all) and generate a Human Duskblade with those feats.

Ain't D&D grand?

 

[Endur]

That gives me a total of 16 0-level spell slots and spell-like abilities, plus 4 1st level spell slots (Blade of Blood. Mmmmmm.........). She can hold her own in a fight too, which is nice.

It still leaves the question though - why're there to few medium races with spell-like abilities at +0LA?

Play balance. Gnomes, Halflings, and other small races get additional racial abilities in exchange for giving up medium size. Gnomes use their additional racial abilities to get spell-like abilities.

If you want to play a medium-sized creature with spell like abilities, play a +xLA race.

Think about it ... is a 1st level character with 16 0-level spell slots and 4 1st level spell slots really balanced with a 1st level human wizard or sorceror straight out of the PHB?

 

[hbarsquared]

Human.

Use the bonus feat to take one of the feats in Complete Arcane that grants you three spell-like abilities.

You don't even have to be called "human." Just make up a new race that gets +1 skill points per level and those three spell-like abilities.

 

[greywulf]

Play balance. Gnomes, Halflings, and other small races get additional racial abilities in exchange for giving up medium size. Gnomes use their additional racial abilities to get spell-like abilities.

If you want to play a medium-sized creature with spell like abilities, play a +xLA race.

Think about it ... is a 1st level character with 16 0-level spell slots and 4 1st level spell slots really balanced with a 1st level human wizard or sorceror straight out of the PHB?

I'd say that Small is balanced with itself; in return for wielding littler weapons, you get better AC, Hide and attack rolls. That's fair and self contained. It does nark me that 95% of all Small races are further penalized with a -2 STR though, but that's another story. "Small" doesn't need to offset anything else.

This is a second-level character. In terms of "balance" (Gawd I hate that over-used word) it's no worse than a lot of 2nd level Fighters I've seen, and a well-crafted Wizard or Sorcerer could certainly give him a run for their money. There's no reason they couldn't take the feats too, of course.

There's going to be a Dracha Dragon Shaman-2 in the game as well, and this is of comparable power, I'd say.

Both (and other characters in the game) are going to be on the Heroic end of the scale, so I don't mind too much if folks optimise their character, provided it's not clearly just a load of uber-abilities tossed together to create a demi-god.

I don't see being able to cast lots of cantrips are particularly overpowering, myself. It /is/ a cool in-game schtick, though, and that's what I wanted.

Level Adjustments are something I didn't want for this character. We House Rule it so that LAs "cost" one of your free feats (at 1st or 3rd level, for +2LA critters) instead of having anything to do with "Level" at all. It works for us and means players are encouraged to play the more oddball races, and are rewarded for it rather than penalised by losing one or more entire class levels. But for this character....no. I didn't want an LA race. I was just surprised there were so few +0LA medium races with spell-like abilities, hence the title and reason for my post

Anyhow, this is the final character I'm going to go with, in case anyone is interested:

Benlior Sevescowan
Human Duskblade-2
STR 15, DEX 14, CON 12, INT 16, WIS 10, CHA 13
Fort +4, Ref +2, Will +3
HP 17, AC 16 (Mwk Studded Leather), BAB +2 Melee +4 Missile +4
Climb +7, Concentration +6, Jump +7, KS:Arcana +8, Ride +7, Spellcraft +8

+5 Mwk Greatsword, 2d6+3, 19-20/x2
+4 Longbow, 1d8, x3, 100'

Precocious Apprentice: 2nd level spell slot, DC8 to cast
Acidic Splatter: +4 ranged touch attack, 2d6 acid, 10', +1 to cast Acid spells
Arcane Attunement: Dancing Lights, Detect Magic, Flare, Ghost Sound, Read Magic a total of 6/day
Armoured Mage(Light)
WP:All, AP:All+Shield, Combat Casting

Spells (4/4/1*)
0: Acid Splash, Disrupt Undead, Ray of Frost, Touch of Fatigue, Daze
1: Blade of Blood, Kelgore's Fire Bolt, Magic Weapon
2: Melf's Acid Arrow

While my Drallock Duskblade could cast a lot more cantrips in a day (16 as opposed to this guy's 10), I liked the acid splatter ability too much to ignore. The range is very low (just 10') but I'm sure it'll see a lot of use. This character is going to be the serious heavy hitter of the group. Greatsword+Blade of Blood is just.....well......messy!