Level Adjustment -1?

[Mark Causey]

How would you handle a race so weak that Level adjustment +0 doesn't do it justice? IMO, kobolds, for instance.

Any ideas?

AtR

 

[Vlos]

Well, Wizards gives Kobolds a LA +0 and in reviewing them I think they are about right, but definitly not a full -1 LA.

But If you feel that Kobolds are low, you may feel free to give them maybe a few more racial bonuses on skills or adjust their Stats slightly to even out, For example giving a +4 on Dex. You may even compensate with a Racial Feat.

For other racial adjustments you may want to look at Unearthed Arcana. They have traits and flaws which characters get other things for negatives to balance them out.

 

[Fieari]

I was looking for a previous thread I had read that discussed this subject a little, in which they were assigning LA to lots of different creatures (basically, anything with an INT over 3) and that included a bunch of Awakened animals, like house cats and rats and such. Some of those seemed too weak without a negative LA, but the discussion more or less agreed that while kobolds are at the very low end of LA+0 (Dwarves being at the high end, IIRC) they still are LA+0. Some in that thread objected to the very concept of a negative LA, even for the REALLY weak races (like the Awakened Toad).

I really wish I could find that thread. It was very good reading...

 

[Aaron2]

How would you handle a race so weak that Level adjustment +0 doesn't do it justice? IMO, kobolds, for instance.

Kobolds were fine in 3.0 but 3.5 gives them a -2 penalty to Con which really blows. Anyway, I probably wouldn't give them a -1 LA since that causes too many problems. Instead I might give them an extra 10% or so bonus XP. When the rest of the party gets 100 xp, the weaker dudes get 110 to kinda offset the fact that they faced a higher challenge. Eventually, the bonus will push them over to the next level.


Aaron

 

[aurance]

Kobolds were fine in 3.0 but 3.5 gives them a -2 penalty to Con which really blows. Anyway, I probably wouldn't give them a -1 LA since that causes too many problems. Instead I might give them an extra 10% or so bonus XP. When the rest of the party gets 100 xp, the weaker dudes get 110 to kinda offset the fact that they faced a higher challenge. Eventually, the bonus will push them over to the next level.

I think Aaron gives a good option. Another way to go, if you feel kobolds are too weak at low levels, is to just to have them start with extra XP, 500 to 1000 without bothering with all the +LA business.

 

[Nifft]

I'll post my kobold revision on request -- don't want to spam them too much!

Aside from revising them, you could just let them stink, and tell people that they shouldn't play something stinky if they don't want to stink. For example, someone blind would make a worse PC than someone who could see. Similarly, a Halfling makes a better PC than a Kobold.

-- N

 

[Aust Diamondew]

In my games I eliminate the kobolds penalty to constitution and reduce their penalty to strength to only -2. Which I think balances them out. Currently I have one kobold in my game, but he recently died due to a poison that reduced him to 0 constitution. Odds are he'll be back though (raising the dead is much more difficult in my campaigns.)

 

[Mark Causey]

So, the general consensus is:

If one considers a creature to be less than Level Adjustment +0, either add things to the race to make it LA +0 (e.g. feats, remove penalties, give extra XP, etc.) or simply allow someone to play it as is and have them deal with the race's deficiencies as a matter of flavor/choice.

Am I correct?

AtR

 

[Nifft]

Pretty much. IME, LA +X is usually weaker than just +X class levels. Thus, LA -X would be more powerful than other PCs of equal ECL.

IMHO, the core races are "better" than other races for a reason: they're supposed to be the good guys, and they're supposed to win.

-- N

 

[Mark Causey]

So, if I wanted to increase the weak creature's HD, without a class or a paragon, how do you do it? I've never understood that section of the Monster Manual.

Also, can you do that to humans, elves, etc.?

AtR