Level adjustments and intelligent items

[PrinceZane]

Well... not a new session, but a list of question from my temporary internetless DM to the board...

1.> How does a level adjustment work? Someone told me you could work it off by paying a percentage of XP or something? I'm not quite sure about it. I know "how it works" as far as if you had a template w/ LA of 8 making a lvl 10 char it would be 8 lvls (template) and 2 levels of (class) or w/e. But I'm not sure on the whole xp thing or what not. Can anyone clear things up?

2.> How does one identify intelligent items? Does the identify spell show that it's intelligent or does the party have to wait on it to start talking/singing/whatever? Also, does anyone have any ideas, tips, stories on how to play the int. item as a NPC?

 

[Rkhet]

Paying off LA with experience is a variant rule from Unearthed Arcana.

 

[werk]

1.> How does a level adjustment work?

Level adjustment is how many levels you add to the base HD of a creature in order to figure out it's Effective Character Level or ECL. Take a Gnoll for example. the GNoll, at starting level advancement, is a 2nd level humanoid with associated advancements to HD, BAB, saves, etc. Gnolls also gain some special properties, like stat modifiers and natural armor. Those special properties are above and beyond what a 2nd level humanoid would have, so the level is adjusted by two, LA+2. So a 1st level gnoll ranger is ECL 1+2+2=5

Someone told me you could work it off by paying a percentage of XP or something? I'm not quite sure about it. I know "how it works" as far as if you had a template w/ LA of 8 making a lvl 10 char it would be 8 lvls (template) and 2 levels of (class) or w/e. But I'm not sure on the whole xp thing or what not. Can anyone clear things up?

That's in UA and is a variant rule. I don't use it.

2.> How does one identify intelligent items? Does the identify spell show that it's intelligent or does the party have to wait on it to start talking/singing/whatever? Also, does anyone have any ideas, tips, stories on how to play the int. item as a NPC?

Just use the regular rules for identifying items and treat the intelligence as any other ability. So a spellcraft check of 75+caster level would do the trick, or Identify.