LA +1/+2 Core Races

[craftyrat]

I'm preparing for a low magic item game (pretty much no magic items, perhaps except potions, and only one class that can cast spells). One way I am going to keep the power level closer to normal is with more powerful races. So I need ideas on how to make the core races a bit better. I want to avoid innate magical abilities, in keeping with the low magic feel, unless those abilities are integral to the race (turn to stone gaze for a medusa, for example). So for humans I might have: +2 to any ability score, +1 hit point per level, double hit points at 1st level, or some combination of these (all generic bonuses, in keeping with what humans get now).

Anyone have ideas for humans, or the other core races?

craftyrat

 

[Korak]

One good way to power up a bit is to take all the races with ability modifiers and just remove the -2s. Then give humans +2 to any stat they want.

Also, every 4th level, give humans 2 points to add to their stats, and each other race, give a +1 to the stat they have a racial bonus in and 1 free point the player can allocate as he/she desires.

Extra skill points are also a good idea, since there will be no +skill items, and there will be fewer opportunities for magic to overcome "simple" challenges, like scaling a cliff, crossing a river, or getting past a locked/barred door.

Even with these changes though, the power level of these PCs will definitely be below standard and I would advise that you shouldn't take CR for granted when constructing encounters. Think about why the monsters you want to use have a certain CR and make sure that, if it is because of certain special attacks or defenses that the party might not be properly equipped for, you factor that into your encounter design.

Edited for grammar.

 

[Spatzimaus]

I promise, one of these days (probably after I get back from a week of vacation), I'll post the full info for the homebrew we use. In the meantime:

IMC, we use a system where most races are LA+1 (or maybe LA+0.5 with the zeropoint beefed up a little), so it's very similar to what you want. An example of our races (most races are elementally oriented):

Dwarves (the Earth race) are CON +4, INT -2, WIS +2, CHA -2, Darkvision 60', Tremorsense 30', Light Sensitivity, Fast Healing 1. They have the same movement as 3E (20' but unaffected by armor), plus a 10' burrow speed in dirt or loose rock. They also get a little cantrip-level clerical magic. Plus, there are a few skill things that make them better at Craft skills and such.

Slightly unbalanced stats, and a few unusual abilities, but the end result is an LA+1 race.

 

[Zzyzx]

For the half-orc I would base it on the goliath:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/iw/20040711b&page=5

from Races of Stone. Take away the +2 to Sense Motive, trade for some other rarely-used-in-a-tank-build skill, like Survival maybe.

 

[SpiralBound]

One important thing to consider as well is that if you're intending this to be a low-magic world without many options for spell casting, then you should also take a long and hard look at the monsters you use. If you're stripping away most of the magical abilities, classes, items and spells from the PC's, then it would hardly be fair to just open the Monster Manual and let 'em have it. Many monsters would very quickly turn into party-killers, simply because they'd have magical abilities and the PC's wouldn't. Unless you're intentionally aiming for a theme of overwhelming odds, this will get old really fast. You may need to restrict which monsters are present, perhaps even modifying some to tone down their magical properties so that they're at the same scale as the PC's now are.

 

[Arkhandus]

I'd humbly suggest looking at my Rhunaria homebrew's houserule for gifts of the warrior's spirit, if you're making a low-magic campaign. These Gifts are essentially free, occasional boosts from the character's strength of spirit. They lessen the problems or weakness suffered by most classes in a game with uncommon or rare magic items (and lessen or remove the problem of facing critters with DR, since the Gifts of Manifest Spite and Manifest Fury give enhancement bonuses to ranged and melee attacks, respectively). This is in the appropriately-titled section of my Rhunaria webpage at Geocities (link in sig).

As for beefing up the races to make up for some of the power loss.....

I guess I'd suggest giving another (or extra) +2 ability score bonus to each common race; like another +2 Str for half-orcs, another +2 Con for dwarves, +2 Int for gnomes, +2 Cha for elves, +2 Dex for half-elves, and another +2 Dex for halflings. Humans should probably get +2 to any ability score of their choice. And of course some other benefits for the races to make them similar to LA+1 without actually incurring an LA..... For that, I would suggest looking at various folks' houseruled versions of the core races, here on EN World and maybe other websites, and cherry-pick whatever racial traits you like from those that fit. The "Races and Classes in this Forum" sticky thread may have some links to such stuff, and so will some peoples' signatures.

On the other hand, you could just give them all 1 free level in their racial Paragon class (from Unearthed Arcana; check the Hypertext SRD otherwise), without that paragon level counting towards their character level (essentially, it doesn't count as a level or hit die; the HD it gives would just be extra hit points (with Con mod added to it though), the other benefits just stack with the character's normal basic stats; the skill points and class skills would be separate though, and you'd probably have to decide if they quadruple their 1 Paragon level's skill points or their normal class level skill points instead; I would probably suggest quadrupling both). Then, maybe say that at 5th-level they gain their second racial Paragon class level for free, and the third racial Paragon class level at 10th (maybe 15th, depending on just how much you are or are not cutting down on magic items and stuff).

 

[RedFox]

Give them a level or two in a racial paragon class. Bam, done.