how does Level Ajustment and ECL work?
- Thread starter Yog-Blake
- Start date
Cenatur level ajust +2 / ECL 6
How does this effect his EXP table?
Hi,
As an encounter, neither of these things are relevant: he has a CR of 3, which is how EXP works if the centaur is an encounter.
As for the ECL, centaurs have 4 hit dice ('monster dice'; essentially he has four levels as "monstrous humanoid") and a LA of +2, which makes his ECL as a character 6. So a second level fighter would be an eigth level character (4 monster levels, 2 fighter levels, and a level adjustment of 2), and as a character would advance like that.
Hope this helps.
How does this effect his EXP table?
Hi,
As an encounter, neither of these things are relevant: he has a CR of 3, which is how EXP works if the centaur is an encounter.
As for the ECL, centaurs have 4 hit dice ('monster dice'; essentially he has four levels as "monstrous humanoid") and a LA of +2, which makes his ECL as a character 6. So a second level fighter would be an eigth level character (4 monster levels, 2 fighter levels, and a level adjustment of 2), and as a character would advance like that.
Hope this helps.
You add level adjustment and hit dice to get effective character level. A centaur from the monster manual has 4 hit dice and +2 level adjustment. Add them together for an ECL of 6. This means that the centaur as presented in the monster manual is roughly as powerful as 6th level character of a core race from the player's handbook.
Say you want to play a centaur character, beginning with 1 level of ranger, and then increase your ranger levels normally as you gain experience during play. Add 4 hit dice for being a centaur, 1 hit die for your 1 ranger level, then the +2 level adjustment, for an ECL of 7. Look on the 7th row of the Xp table, the row for a 7th level character. You have 21,000 experience points. To advance to your next ranger level, you need 28,000 Xp, same as an 8th level character of a race from the PHB. For 3rd ranger level, 36,000 Xp and so on.
Say you want to play a centaur character, beginning with 1 level of ranger, and then increase your ranger levels normally as you gain experience during play. Add 4 hit dice for being a centaur, 1 hit die for your 1 ranger level, then the +2 level adjustment, for an ECL of 7. Look on the 7th row of the Xp table, the row for a 7th level character. You have 21,000 experience points. To advance to your next ranger level, you need 28,000 Xp, same as an 8th level character of a race from the PHB. For 3rd ranger level, 36,000 Xp and so on.
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Li Shenron
Legend
As a player character:
- ECL = CL (class levels, equal to class HD) + HD (racial hit dice) + LA
- ECL is the "equivalent character level" that you use as reference for the XP advancement of the character
For example, a Centaur Ranger 1 has 4 racial HD (+1 HD from the Ranger level) and level adjustment +2, therefore ECL = 7: starts with 21000xp and needs 7000 more xp to get the second character level.
As a monster against the party:
- disregard ECL, just use the CR to calculate how many xp the party gets if they defeat the creature
- ECL = CL (class levels, equal to class HD) + HD (racial hit dice) + LA
- ECL is the "equivalent character level" that you use as reference for the XP advancement of the character
For example, a Centaur Ranger 1 has 4 racial HD (+1 HD from the Ranger level) and level adjustment +2, therefore ECL = 7: starts with 21000xp and needs 7000 more xp to get the second character level.
As a monster against the party:
- disregard ECL, just use the CR to calculate how many xp the party gets if they defeat the creature
atom crash
First Post
For the sake of clarification:
Is this centaur ranger 1 a true 7th level character or just the equivalent of a 7th level character?
In other words, could this 1st level ranger centaur take the Leadership feat (he has an ECL of 7) or must he wait until he has 6 character levels (for an ECL of 12)?
Is this centaur ranger 1 a true 7th level character or just the equivalent of a 7th level character?
In other words, could this 1st level ranger centaur take the Leadership feat (he has an ECL of 7) or must he wait until he has 6 character levels (for an ECL of 12)?
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From the DMG pg 172
“Use ECL instead of character level when referring toTable 3-2: Experience and Level-Dependent Benefits in the PHB, to determine how many experience points a monster character needs to reach its next level. Also use ECL with Table 5-1: Character Wealth by Level to determine starting wealth for a monster character.”
So you can see that ECL is only used for determining experience needed for the next level and starting wealth. Now IIRC monster hit dice count as levels for other things, it is only the LA that comes into play here.
So the centaur has LA of +2 and would be considered a 5th level character in regards to feats, etc. in the example you give.
“Use ECL instead of character level when referring toTable 3-2: Experience and Level-Dependent Benefits in the PHB, to determine how many experience points a monster character needs to reach its next level. Also use ECL with Table 5-1: Character Wealth by Level to determine starting wealth for a monster character.”
So you can see that ECL is only used for determining experience needed for the next level and starting wealth. Now IIRC monster hit dice count as levels for other things, it is only the LA that comes into play here.
So the centaur has LA of +2 and would be considered a 5th level character in regards to feats, etc. in the example you give.
