LA Revised

The 'buy-off' is included in the table.

7000 XP payed at lvl 6, and 9000 XP payed at lvl 9.
for a total of 16000 XP remaining at lvl 20.

This table represents the total XP needed for LA+2 using the UA buy-off rules.

The lowest levels are precisely when LA races do NOT need the worst penalties but the least.
<snip>
At 20th level, no racial abilities are worth one full level of power.

I disagree. Although the LA penalty is 'front-loaded', as you say, so are the racial abilities.
Instead of the Drow, let's take a look at the Half-Ogre.(from RoD).
They get:
+6 Strength, –2 Dexterity, +2 Constitution, –2 Intelligence,–2 Charisma.
Giant type.(immune to several spells that target humanoids)
Large: –1 to AC and attack. 10' reach.
Darkvision 60'.
Natural Armor +4.

That, (and several other minor things I left out) makes a formidable addition to a first level fighter or barbarian. It makes a half-ogre far more powerfull than a normal first level fighter.
We could argue whether it is worth +2, but that's a different discussion altogether.

Now, by the time he reaches lvl 20, the darkvision, natural armor, and probably even reach should be available through (permanent?) magic.
However, that +6 to strength is a racial bonus. It stacks with all other bonusses. And it can't be dispelled.

So, he's still more powerfull than a regular fighter or barbarian.

And when using the XP-by ECL rules, that 16000 XP difference will stil be gone by the time he reaches lvl 20.

Another calculation:
At 3000 XP, he's a first lvl barbarian with LA+2. Assume we put him in a party with lvl 2 characters.

He earns XP at the same rate the other characters do.

At 28000 XP, he would reach lvl 6 barbarian, for a total ECL of 8.
He pays of his first LA.
He's left with 21000 XP, for a total ECL of 7.

He now earns XP as a character one lvl lower than the other characters. (an XP gain increase of about 30%)

By the time he reaches lvl 9, the increased XP gain will have him at the same XP level as the rest of the group.

At 45000 XP, he would reach lvl 9 barbarian, for a total ECL of 10.
He pays of his second LA.
He's left with 36000 XP, for a total ECL of 9.

H now earns XP again as a character one lvl lower than the other characters.
(an XP gain increase of about 35%)

After a few (3) lvls, he'll be at the same XP lvl again as the rest of the group.

Which leaves him at lvl 20 with the same amount of xp and still additional powers.

And most of the other LA races don't even have abilities that scale with a character's level.
No, ability bonusses don't scale with level. They don't have to, they are at the base of any character, and any increase in an ability makes the character more powerfull, no matter what the level.


 

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In terms of the Half-Ogre, They really aren't worth an LA+2. That's why I've been continuing to use the Savage Species writeup for them, which lists them as a +1.

I think I agree with both of you about the issues you mentioned.

The bonuses granted by LA Races become less and less valuable as the character progresses.

True, the Ability score bonuses are useful at higher levels. But they aren't useful enough to merit the penalty they receive via Raw, or via UA Bowdown, at the higher levels.

I like the Idea that Hawken mentioned as well, where after a certain amount of time, they stop being penalized completely and progress as a normal character.

I also took at look at Soldarin's ECL Calculator and punched in Drow abilities. They come up as an LA 1.7.

Normal Exp Table
1 0,000
2 1,000
3 3,000
4 6,000
5 10,000
6 15,000
7 21,000
8 28,000
9 36,000
10 45,000
11 55,000
12 66,000
13 78,000
14 91,000
15 105,000
16 120,000
17 136,000
18 153,000
19 171,000
20 190,000

Now, Racial Abilities are normally very frontloaded. I'm going to space them out a bit. This would mean more work for the DM, but makes things a bit easier.

Back to the Drow.
+2 Int, +2 Cha
Darkvision 120
SR 11+Level
+2 Will v Spells
Spell-Like-Abilities: Dancing Lights, Darkness, Faerie Fire
Light Blindness

So. I'll spread the abilities over some of the lower levels. AND - I'll take a cue from Hawken. We'll delay each of the Drow levels, as Hawken suggested, and in addition, we'll have a permanent penalty. But instead of dumping them at the beginning, we'll spread them over the course of 20 levels.

the way I'm going to get the Penalties

Let's say the xp difference between 9 and 10, for 9000 exp. That's the permanent penalty we're going to spread out over the 20 levels. So at level 20 you'd have picked up a total of 9000 extra exp. Its not alot of exp for a level 20 character, but its a lot for a low level character.

In addition, We'll have the temporary penalty of the same amount, which will disappear at level 10.

Drow Exp Table
1 0,000 +2 Int, +2 Cha, Darkvision, Light Blindness
2 1,000 + 450 + 1000 +2 Will V Spells.
3 3,000 + 900 + 2000 Spell Like Abilities
4 6,000 + 1350 + 3000
5 10,000 + 1800 + 4000
6 15,000 + 2250 + 5000
7 21,000 + 3150 + 6000
8 28,000 + 3600 + 7000
9 36,000 + 4050 + 8000
10 45,000 + 4500 + 9000
11 55,000 + 4950
12 66,000 + 5400
13 78,000 + 5850
14 91,000 + 6300
15 105,000 + 6750
16 120,000 + 7200
17 136,000 + 7650
18 153,000 + 8100
19 171,000 + 8550
20 190,000 + 9000
That's what they get.

So you go use 4500 per LA, with a permanent penalty spread over 20 levels, and a Temporary penalty of the same amount spread over 10 levels.

What do you think?
 


I've got to say (again), that I disagree with any permenent or continuous XP/Level penalty for any race. Syl, you've already agreed that racial abilities become less valuable (in relation to the levels gained) over time. That right there means that the 'cost' for those abilities should decrease and, at some point, be paid off completely.

Because of this, I cannot agree with or support your idea for a permanent penalty for any race. Temporary penalty, yes. That's what I've been pushing. But definitely not a permanent one and not a permanent one in conjunction with a temporary one.

If you don't like my idea for generating a temporary penalty for LA creatures, I'll work with you on different ways to come up with something, but I'm not going to put my efforts into something I don't support.

If you don't want to give Drow their abilities all at once, break down the powers they get that are different from PHB elves and assign a value to it. Have the character 'pay' that value in XP before they advance a level, and they can only get one of these per level.

Like so:
Darkvision 120'. This I would give at 1st since it is balanced by their vulnerability to lights. Leaving us with:
**+2 to Will saves vs. Spells. 1,000xp
**+2 to Will saves vs. Spell Like Abilities. 500xp
**SR 11 + class level 3,000xp
**Spell Like Abilities 500xp
**+2 to Charisma 2,000xp
**+2 to Intelligence. 2,000xp

A typical drow might advance like:
1st level: +2 Will vs. SLA--pay extra 500xp to get to 2nd level.
2nd level: SLAs--pay extra 500xp to get to 3rd level.
3rd level: +2 to Will vs. Spells--pay extra 1,000xp to get to 4th level.
4th level: +2 Cha--pay extra 2,000xp to get to 5th level.
5th level: +2 Int--pay extra 2,000xp tp get to 6th level.
6th level: SR--pay extra 3,000xp to get to 7th level.

So, they have paid an extra 9,000xp to get all their racial abilities and paid it off completely by 7th level. Because of the lower cost at the lower levels, they are still roughly the same level as any companions up until about 6th or 7th level where they will be one level lower (assuming everyone earns the same amount of XP). But by then, they are sufficiently powerful enough to still pull their own weight and by the time 20th level rolls around, they will be less than halfway there from 19th.

Herzog, I gotta disagree with you on the Half Ogre thing.

His net bonuses for his race are a +4 Str and +3 natural armor and darkvision. That's it.
His Con bonus is negated by his Dex penalty, and his Int/Cha penalties offset his +6 Str by 2 points.
Giant type is a bonus in some ways, and a penalty in others. This balances out.
Large size is also not a complete bonus. Reach is nice, but that can be achieved with weapons or mitigated completely by ranged attacks. Size, like creature type, has benefits and drawbacks. So its not really an asset.
Darkvision is a bit of a plus since Giants normally only get Low Light, but in and of itself is not worthy of a LA.
Natural armor. This is a definite perk at lower levels and even nice at higher levels but at mid to high levels, its definitely not worth the loss of 2 or even one levels. And immediately, 1 point of this is mitigated by Half-Ogre's size!

This leaves a net gain of Str +4, Nat Arm +3, and Darkvision. Nice assets, but they are fixed value and because they are fixed, their value will decrease as more levels are gained. These are even less useful than the Drow abilities and worth more of a +1LA than +2.

A Half Ogre is a formidable melee-er, but far from unbeatable. Even as a fighter or barbarian, he's going to have 11 or 13 hp tops (counting an avg Con) at 1st level and he's going to be slower than average. Any ranged fighter or barbarian at 1st level is going to have even or better odds against him (he's slower, so less likely to have initiative and ranged attacks completely neutralize any advantage his strength gives). A halfling rogue or scout with rapid shot will make short work of a half-ogre barbarian while a dwarf will have a considerable advantage over the half-ogre--enjoying a net +5 bonus to AC against the half-ogre's attacks.

Your half-ogre is powerful but only in one very specific area (melee combat). Other than that, the half-ogre is a liability in far more ways than he is an asset.
 

I've got to say (again), that I disagree with any permenent or continuous XP/Level penalty for any race. Syl, you've already agreed that racial abilities become less valuable (in relation to the levels gained) over time. That right there means that the 'cost' for those abilities should decrease and, at some point, be paid off completely.
But as Herzog pointed out, ability score bonuses are useful into the upper levels. I'd agree that theyre not worth a level due to diminishing upper level value, but I could see maybe a permanent XP penalty for them.

If you don't like my idea for generating a temporary penalty for LA creatures, I'll work with you on different ways to come up with something, but I'm not going to put my efforts into something I don't support.
I like your Idea. and I agree that most abilities are worth less and less as you get to higher levels, but some abilities are not. Like spellcaster level equivalency, or maybe a Growing SR.

If you don't want to give Drow their abilities all at once, break down the powers they get that are different from PHB elves and assign a value to it. Have the character 'pay' that value in XP before they advance a level, and they can only get one of these per level.

Like so:
Darkvision 120'. This I would give at 1st since it is balanced by their vulnerability to lights. Leaving us with:
**+2 to Will saves vs. Spells. 1,000xp
**+2 to Will saves vs. Spell Like Abilities. 500xp
**SR 11 + class level 3,000xp
**Spell Like Abilities 500xp
**+2 to Charisma 2,000xp
**+2 to Intelligence. 2,000xp

A typical drow might advance like:
1st level: +2 Will vs. SLA--pay extra 500xp to get to 2nd level.
2nd level: SLAs--pay extra 500xp to get to 3rd level.
3rd level: +2 to Will vs. Spells--pay extra 1,000xp to get to 4th level.
4th level: +2 Cha--pay extra 2,000xp to get to 5th level.
5th level: +2 Int--pay extra 2,000xp tp get to 6th level.
6th level: SR--pay extra 3,000xp to get to 7th level.

So, they have paid an extra 9,000xp to get all their racial abilities and paid it off completely by 7th level. Because of the lower cost at the lower levels, they are still roughly the same level as any companions up until about 6th or 7th level where they will be one level lower (assuming everyone earns the same amount of XP). But by then, they are sufficiently powerful enough to still pull their own weight and by the time 20th level rolls around, they will be less than halfway there from 19th.
Now this idea is awesome. But I disagree with the 1 per level thing.

Herzog, I gotta disagree with you on the Half Ogre thing.

His net bonuses for his race are a +4 Str and +3 natural armor and darkvision. That's it.
His Con bonus is negated by his Dex penalty, and his Int/Cha penalties offset his +6 Str by 2 points.
Giant type is a bonus in some ways, and a penalty in others. This balances out.
Large size is also not a complete bonus. Reach is nice, but that can be achieved with weapons or mitigated completely by ranged attacks. Size, like creature type, has benefits and drawbacks. So its not really an asset.
Darkvision is a bit of a plus since Giants normally only get Low Light, but in and of itself is not worthy of a LA.
Natural armor. This is a definite perk at lower levels and even nice at higher levels but at mid to high levels, its definitely not worth the loss of 2 or even one levels. And immediately, 1 point of this is mitigated by Half-Ogre's size!

This leaves a net gain of Str +4, Nat Arm +3, and Darkvision. Nice assets, but they are fixed value and because they are fixed, their value will decrease as more levels are gained. These are even less useful than the Drow abilities and worth more of a +1LA than +2.

A Half Ogre is a formidable melee-er, but far from unbeatable. Even as a fighter or barbarian, he's going to have 11 or 13 hp tops (counting an avg Con) at 1st level and he's going to be slower than average. Any ranged fighter or barbarian at 1st level is going to have even or better odds against him (he's slower, so less likely to have initiative and ranged attacks completely neutralize any advantage his strength gives). A halfling rogue or scout with rapid shot will make short work of a half-ogre barbarian while a dwarf will have a considerable advantage over the half-ogre--enjoying a net +5 bonus to AC against the half-ogre's attacks.

Your half-ogre is powerful but only in one very specific area (melee combat). Other than that, the half-ogre is a liability in far more ways than he is an asset.
Savage species listed it as a +1, but the RoD people thought the 10 foot reach was worth more. It's not.
 

LA is supposed to be an offset for perceived racial advantages (one race having more or more powerful advantages than another race), but racial advantages generally do not scale in power, they are static and for the most part, passive; not something the player can actively use. Power gained for leveling is not static but increases as levels increase (access to more powerful feats, more powerful spells, abilities, etc.), so it does not make sense that LA should persist and indirectly become more penalizing as power increases. It should phase out as a character's relative power increases where the increase in power compensates for or exceeds any racial advantages.

Arkhandus, you're missing the point. Experience points scale, the amount needed increase as the levels increase--your static debt hurts characters most when they need the hurt least, at their lowest levels. Over 20 levels, you're wanting to penalize someone a total of 19,000XP. That's neither fair nor balanced (not that you should emulate Fox) and only ensures that LA races will ALWAYS be behind. And since this is a game and not a credit card company, if you're going to impose an XP debt, it has to get paid off at some point. There is a point where the power increase in leveling surpasses any racial advantages and that is the point where the LA penalty should be eliminated.
No, I'm not. There has to be a trade-off for the extra power of a stronger race. Being 1 level behind for a few encounters (maybe even just 1 or 2 encounters) does not constitute a fair price for dropping a +2 of +3 LA from a powerful race, and being behind for 1 or 2 encounters certainly isn't enough to pay for the advantages of a half-ogre or the like. Even if it's for 2 or 3 encounters at each new level.

There's no reason the cost should be phased out once a character reaches a certain level. Frex, a Half-Ogre's Strength bonus alone is worth a 32,000 GP magic item, and is freaking awesome at low levels, and certainly not weak even at upper levels.

Seriously, what do you think he's giving up by playing a Half-Ogre? With his LA, depending on what source you're using either a +1 or +2 LA, he's giving up 1 or 2 HD, +1 or +2 to hit, +1 Fortitude, Mighty Rage, 1 Rage per day, and maybe 1 point of DR. In exchange? +6 Strength ALL THE TIME, which far exceeds the extra +2 Mighty Rage would have occasionally given, a Constitution bonus that yields 18 or 19 HP at that point and thus fairly well matches or perhaps even exceeds what a Human Barbarian would have gotten for 20th and maybe 19th level, Darkvision, the Giant type (no Charm Person or Dominate Person or Daze or similar vulnerabilities, which is at least useful at low to middle levels), Large size (extremely useful for a melee type, +4 to grapple and trip and bull rush and such along with an extra damage die with some weapons or at least a moderate damage increase with every weapon, plus greater carrying capacities), possibly 5 extra feet of reach, and some inconsequential drawbacks for the Barbarian. How is the +1 or +2 Level Adjustment not a fair cost?

There's no reason the half-ogre should ever be exactly the same level as a human warrior-type who started play at the same time in the same campaign. The half-ogre is outright stronger even if he starts at 3rd-level with just over half or one-third as many HP as the human barbarian (but makes up for it by killing enemies twice as quickly and at the same total attack bonus). Sure, he doesn't get the human's bonus feat, big whoop, he's wielding a massive weapon and could kill his human rival in one blow if he really felt like it. Sure the difference in power diminishes as they go up in level, but that just means the half-ogre becomes more equal to his human counterpart over time, rather than being much more fragile and unskilled yet much stronger as is the case at low levels.

There most definitely has to be a price at 1st-level, and not a trivial one, for playing a strong race. It's the lower levels where a powerful race makes everyone else look like chumps, so that's when they should be paying a price for their initial uberness. Those advantages, although comparatively less significant at upper levels, remain in place no matter how high the character goes, and he or she should still be paying some price for them. I could see some creatures getting a reduced LA at upper levels, but not an eliminated LA. And I'm talking from actual play experience, too, not just theoretical arguments; I've played alongside and DMed for several PCs with Level Adjustments, most commonly half-dragons and half-ogres, plus a few drow, lizardfolk, one satyr, and a few others (and one attempt at a half-dragon half-ogre, but the background was so absurd and the lethality of that brute was so high that I denied them that PC, and they made a different one).

Hawken said:
And, your point about a 2nd level Drow wizard being the equivalent of a 3rd level character (or 4th if you go RAW), just doesn't hold up. He has a few good racial abilities, but he just can't go the distance a 3rd or 4th level character can. He doesn't have the resources (skills, feats, class abilities or wealth) to do the same things or the skill (BAB, Saves, HD) to endure the same things. His racial abilities are helpful, but they do not in anyway make him the equal of a higher level character.
I actually agree with that point to an extent. I would prefer to see a drow, for example, start with a +1 LA and some minor drawback, that would change to a +2 LA after a few levels, when their Spell Resistance is more likely to become important. Though their SR is fairly high for a low-level PC, so maybe my minor drawback would be to cut it down to SR 5 + level until they gain their LA+2. Maybe at high levels they would deserve to have the LA stepped back to +1 again as the likelihood of most spellcasting enemies having Greater Spell Penetration increases by that point.

But even so, with SR 26 at 15th-level, for example, an enemy caster of 17th-level with Greater Spell Penetration will fail to affect them an extra 20% of the time compared to a human or high elf of 17th-level. That's worth something at least, as is the +2 Int and Cha, the great Darkvision (despite Light Blindness, which they can typically eliminate with a feat or cheap magic item anyway, such as that found in the FRCS), the +2 on Will saves versus spells and spell-like effects (another +10% chance of avoiding many magical effects!), and the minor spell-like abilities. They're easily worth a +1 Level Adjustment even at high levels.

Hawken said:
LA, as written, is a pathetic way to equalize races, but I can only guess that it is all the authors could come up with while having to keep a single XP table. Level limits is wrong--and has died a well deserved death from 2nd edition, but LA is just as bad, if not worse. Somewhere around 10th level, racial abilities (LA +X) do not equal the power gained by leveling, even for high LA characters. So, whatever 'trade-off' you mean, cannot last the entire career of the character, but only up to a certain point, after that, the racial abilities aren't even worth one level worth of power.
LA is most certainly not as bad as AD&D level limits. At worst it just delays your access to the highest spell levels and such. Although WotC has admitted to giving many creatures a higher LA than they deserve simply to preserve the playability of the core races, that doesn't mean LA is terrible. Just reduce some critters' LA by 1 point and it should be more fair (though some races are fully worth their listed LA and should be left alone).

And again, look at my half-ogre example. Even an 8th-level half-ogre barbarian isn't giving up much compared to a 10th-level human barbarian. They got plenty of offensive advantage to make up for the lag in acquiring those minor class features from 9th or 10th level. An 8th-level drow wizard has no 5th-level spells, sure, but those aren't that awesome for a 10th-level human wizard anyway. The drow's higher Intelligence leaves them only marginally behind the human in skills and spell slots. Although his caster level is a bit lower and he has no Cone of Cold (boo-hoo, a cold equivalent to Fireball), he has a higher save DC and is fairly resistant to enemy spellcasters (SR 19, still a 20% chance of avoiding enemy spells from enemies of equal ECL assuming they have Greater Spell Penetration, which is less likely at that level than at the upper levels).

Really, the main problem with Level Adjustment is that it hurts casters more than others. The drow wizard is obviously at a minor disadvantage with a +2 LA, but not a huge disadvantage. It's something that deserves to be addressed in some manner, but it's hardly a reason to throw LA out altogether. As mentioned, drow may deserve to have their LA reduced to just +1 after reaching a certain level.

Hawken said:
The difference between this and other XP debt ideas is that this 'debt' gets paid off. Its not like a payday loan, lingering around and taking a wish or a miracle to get it resolved. But, its not really a debt either, more of a delay, which is all LA should be.
Not really. A delay doesn't really compensate for the advantages. Being equal in level much or half of the time leaves the character better than a core race that much of the time, and at worst just makes them roughly equal the other half of the time (which means that they're simply more awesome than the other PCs in half the encounters, and on-par the rest of the time........which is still obviously broken).

I'll look over your XP-delay idea or whatever later, I'm taking a break.
 

Guys, I've tried to respond to this thread twice and weird crap keeps happening to erase my posts. I'll try to get back to you guys sometime tomorrow.
 

before clicking the post button, copy paste your text to notepad. I used to ave my messages get erased and now its not a problem.
 

Personally, these days I'm just inclined to go with Upper_Krust's CR system to figure out what the actual racial advantages are, and then follow this advice from the author of Grim Tales (this is excerpted from Grim Tales). He's the same guy responsible for the upcoming Trailblazer game:

Grim Tales Creature Creation said:
You can use the creature creation rules to create new races or to give PCs unusual abilities or enhancements, from magical abilities to mutations.

The creature creation rules work in concert with the EL experience point system (see Chapter Thirteen). When calculating party EL, add all of the PC’s character levels and any additional CR granted to any of the characters by unusual abilities.

This will have the effect of increasing the total party CR and thus, the total party EL; experience points earned for a given encounter will be correspondingly reduced.

When calculating XP, find the XP multiplier for the party’s relative EL. When awarding experience points, the XP is multiplied by each PC’s character level— additional CR for unusual abilities does not result in additional XP.

Using this method, there is no need for the GM to determine “Level Adjustment” for players who wish to roleplay as monsters; in fact, the GM may add “monstrous” abilities piecemeal, allowing a character to develop more slowly without outpacing the rest of the PCs or the power level the GM prefers.

Example:
After a horrifying encounter in a dark alley, the GM decides that one of the PCs (currently a 3rd level character) is being slowly turned into a vampire. First the GM adds to the PCs ability scores (+2 to Strength and +4 to Charisma) and gives the PC a bit of natural armor (+2). Using the design factors so far, the PC has a CR increase of +0.8. The GM bumps this to an even +1.0 by adding an Alternate Form (wolf, +0.2) to the character.

This character’s total CR is now 4.0: +3.0 for character levels and +1.0 for her budding vampirism. Using Table 14-1 the GM determines that the character is EL9.

Acting alone, the character adventures on. Her next encounter (against a group of the original vampire’s human thugs, as it turns out) is EL5. Now that she is enjoying the benefits of early vampirism, this encounter is of moderate difficulty (EL5 - EL9 = EL -4). The XP multiplier for a moderate encounter is 75; as always, the character earns XP based on her character level (3rd) for a total XP gain of 225.

Without the increased CR, this character would have been CR3, and thus only EL7. The encounter would have been difficult, with an XP multiplier of 150. If she’d survived, the character would have earned 450 XP.


This method, rather than artificially inflating the character’s level (so that she has to gain more experience to gain a level), instead gives an accurate assessment of the character’s CR and decreases the amount of XP earned, while keeping the character on the same target path for level advancement.

The results are not as dramatic in a party of PCs, but all players should be aware that when the enhanced abilities of one character begin to make every encounter easier for the group, the group as a whole earns fewer XP.

Characters and the Golden Rule

You should strive never to add more CR factors to a character than double his levels or hit dice.

If you do so, you should apply the Golden Rule to all additional CR factors, otherwise there is a risk that the character will not be able to overcome challenges designed for his increased CR. Each time the character gains a level or HD, adjust his CR accordingly.

Designing New Races

When using the creature creation rules to design new races for the campaign, the GM may opt to allow a certain increase (for example, up to +0.4 or less) without actually changing or tracking this additional CR.

Note: I didn't bother including the detailed breakdown, especially since you can get it on page 5 yourself from Upper_Krust's document.

You don't really have to have Grim Tales to make sense of the above, although it is a pretty groovy game in its own right. Upper_Krust is the original designer of the CR system used in Grimt Tales and gave his permission to include the system in Grim Tales. He also was _very_ kind and released the system here at ENWorld for free. You can download it here:
http://www.enworld.org/forum/2289968-post42.html

At the end of the day, if folks are going to be all twitchy and insist that the character has to pay a price for their abilities blah blah blah... it's the most fair way to go. Sure, it's some extra work on the part of the GM, but that generally isn't a factor in these kinds of arguments.
 

This method, rather than artificially inflating the character’s level (so that she has to gain more experience to gain a level), instead gives an accurate assessment of the character’s CR and decreases the amount of XP earned, while keeping the character on the same target path for level advancement.
This is doing what I've suggested, just from the opposite direction (decreasing XP to delay level up where I increased XP required to level up).

There has to be a trade-off for the extra power of a stronger race.
Why? Says who? What 'extra power'. We've already covered your half-ogre example and I'd take a 3rd level fighter over your 1hd half-ogre anytime--or a 3rd level rogue, or wizard, or ranger, or cleric, or monk.... You're inflating the 'advantages' of your half-ogre. And, at 10th, 15th and especially, 20th, those racial 'advantages' don't mean too much, if anything at all!

There's no reason the cost should be phased out once a character reaches a certain level. Frex, a Half-Ogre's Strength bonus alone is worth a 32,000 GP magic item, and is freaking awesome at low levels, and certainly not weak even at upper levels.
No its not. His +6 to Str is mitigated by his -2 to Int and Cha, making it a net +4 bonus (since the DMG seems to think 2 pts of Str is worth 4 points from two other abilities). And the overall bonus to hit (+2 extra) is further mitigated by his -1 to hit because of his size, giving him a net bonus to attack equal to +1. That's not worth a level. And the extra 2 pts to damage from Str is easily the difference between a good damage die roll and a bad one. Hardly worth a level.

And his net +3 natural armor. (+4 bonus, mitigated by his -1 to AC for size). Yeah, sure, its ok at lower levels but its basically the same difference as having a +1 shield, which half-ogres generally don't do so they can use two handed weapons and take advantage of their 'great' strength. At mid to high levels, this advantage can easily be duplicated by magic items and spells and even feats, plus it is a defense that is basically ignored by quite a few spells and powers (Ray of Enfeeblement, Eldritch Blast, etc.). Again, neat 'trick' but hardly worth a level or two.

Darkvision? Who gives a flip? Spells can easily duplicate, magic items too, and it can be made permanent! Definitely not even worth half a level!
There's no reason the cost should be phased out once a character reaches a certain level.
Absolutely there is! For one thing, racial advantages do not scale with level while the power gained from level increases at an increasing rate (a level 10 wizard is better than a level 5 wizard/level 5 anything else). By 10th level or so, racial advantages are a convenience and nothing more. By 15th and on, they are very nearly irrelevant and for anyone with an LA greater than 0, they are a liability! Even the highest LA creature (lets say +5) at 15th level is not going to be able to stand with or against ANY level 20 character.

An 18th level drow wizard (CR 20) is going to get his ass handed to him by a 20th level human wizard. The Drow's SR might give him a 50/50 defense from a Power Word Kill, but not whatever comes out of a Gate or Summon Monster IX spell (that he can do 2 more times than the Drow!).

Your Half-Ogre 18th level fighter would get the same treatment from a human or dwarf 20th level fighter because they would have the extra feat(s), extra HD, and extra BAB (further reducing the effectiveness of the natural armor bonus of the Half-Ogre) which could be traded for damage via power attack (making them on par with the H-Os extra damage from Str), or AC (close to the same as the H-Os AC bonus).

There's just no way you can say that LA is worth it. Not at low levels, not at mid and DEFINITELY not at high levels.

What you say about Drow isn't right either. They do start off with a drawback, their light sensitivity. But their SR never becomes more important. It scales, meaning at 1st level, its the same benefit against 1st level casters that it is at 20th against 20th level casters. It never becomes more important, in fact, it becomes less important in the face of increasingly powerful spellcasters who have a greater variety of spells that can bypass or neutralize SR. Their SR only protects them against a very specific incident (spells cast at them in combat), it doesn't protect them from a rogue's sneak attack or a fighter's full round of attacks. +2 Int/Cha, so what? 1 extra skill point per level, maybe 1 extra spell or so, +1 DC to spell saves. That's not worth a level. And Cha is useless to a wizard and except for Clerics Turning/Rebuking and maybe one or two other things, Cha is useless to them too; +1 to their social skills that they don't have points to put ranks into. So what? Darkvision--see above. +2 to Will saves. Big deal. That's mitigated by Spell Focus and other spells/magic items. Minor spells? If a high level Drow has to use his innate spells, he's already got one foot in the grave!

But even so, with SR 26 at 15th-level, for example, an enemy caster of 17th-level with Greater Spell Penetration will fail to affect them an extra 20% of the time compared to a human or high elf of 17th-level.
Actually, a 17th caster with GSP, needs only a 7 or higher on that check for their spell to get through--that's a 70% chance of success. Any Drow wizard that counts on 30% SR is going to die a fast death. Especially when a spell that can strip SR reduces that 30% to 10% or less! SR isn't even an asset in that situation--you definitely can't count on it and if you do, you're done (70% of the time).

The 2 level difference you're poo-pooing, is a BIG difference. At low levels, its the difference between surviving a True Strike-Melf's Acid Arrow combination (no SR, no save, misses the Drow mage with 3hp on a 1) or snaring him in a Web (no SR) and then igniting the web for 2d4 damage by dropping your torch on it. At the upper end for casters, its difference is having 1 less 7th and 8th level, and two 9th level spells. BIG difference there!

And for the non-casters, its a difference of a slew of skills, hp, bab, special abilities, etc. Major, major differences for convenient (at best, insignificant at worst) racial abilities.
 

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