Making a New PC Race - Assigning the LA

[mmu1]

Ok, so let's say you have a race with the following abilities:

Str +4, Dex -2, Con +4, Int -2, Wis -2, Speed 40, Powerful Build, Fast Healer (regain HP and lost ability points at twice the normal rate), +2 on saves vs. poison, and immunity to non-magical disease.

Trying to peg them off of Goliaths (and assuming that Goliaths are correctly statted for their LA) I'd be inclined to say LA+1. Thoughts?

 

[starwed]

Nah, this is just a bit more powerful than a goliath, and they're probably right at the top of an LA +1. Why? Because of the speed and the extra +2 con. The extra penalties are only to things that the standard goliath build (some sort of melee fighter) won't care about.

I'd say drop the strength bonus down to +2, and it would be alright; no longer more optimal for a fighter/barbarian than the goliath. Heck, you could increase one of the mental stats at the same time, and it would still probably be ok.

 

[Owen K.C. Stephens]

Alternatively, you could soup it up a bit to be a true LA +2 race. Of course any LA +2 race suffers when compared to a 3rd level character, but if your LA +2 as a 5th level barbarian seems to match a 7th level human barbarian, you're on the right track.

I would recommend +1 or +2 natural armor, no Wisdom penalty (or no Int penalty) and darkvision to bring you up to a good +2 LA.

Owen K.C. Stephens
d20 Triggerman

Need better cheap magic options?
Get Loot 4 Less II: Rods, Staves and Wands

 

[Pyrex]

I would agree. Too strong for LA+1, but a bit weak for +2.

Str+4/Con+4 all by itself is almost too good for LA+1 regardless of the penalties.

Another way to balance it would be to add 1hd of Monsterous Humanoid. (which would still be enough to allow adding Darkvision).

 

[Vuron]

Far too potent for +1 LA unless it's also saddled with a handful of humanoid hitdice.

For instance many of it's not that much inferior to a bugbear in ability adjustment (a plus +4 is generally more powerful than 2 +2 ability adjustments) further the speed increase and the powerful build more than make up for the ability decreases and the bugbear is also saddled with a good number of racial hitdice.

In contrast your theoretical race allows the following assuming elite distribution.

1st <insert name here> barbarian

str-19 Dex-10 Con-19 Int-11 Wis-8 Cha-8

Speed-50 when wearing light armor and the ability to wield a large greataxe and heal more rapidly.

Based on that it seems that a 1st level <blank> barbarian would outclass a 2nd level human barbarian or fighter.

However a +2 LA would give the barbarian far less hitpoints than needed to work well in the party so the best solution would be to give your race 2-3 Humanoid HD to boost the Hit Point totals without being totally optimal.

 

[Diomeneus]

adding in 2 HD is going to effect it pretty heavily.. then you have a 1st level barbarian with an ECL of 4. Actually that doesn't seem too bad... i would only add in one HD though myself, all in all making it LA+2 and adding in darkvision and the things mentioned in the above posts and its pretty decent.

Goliath is my personal favorite race, i don't think it really needs to be powered up more to be honest. but hey, its your character

 

[mmu1]

Well, here's the thing:

The idea is not to "power up" goliaths further, or just create a new race - I'm trying to adapt a fictional race to D&D. (the Teblor / Toblakai from Steven Erikson's Malazan books, for anyone interested)

So certain things are kind of non-negotiable if I want to maintain a particular flavor, and others - like darkvision, for example - don't make sense given the background of this race (or my campaign world - I don't like the ubiquitous darkvision and have stripped it or replaced it with low light for many humanoid and monstrous humanoid races)

So the speed, immunity to disease, faster healing and powerful build are actually the most important. The +4 Str and +4 Con, while somewhat negotiable, are IMO pretty necessary.

Given that, what would you do with it to make it LA+1 - or should it be LA+2, and if so, does it need more power to be a solid LA+2?

 

[Abisashi]

It's been a while since I read the books, and I haven't read Bonehunters yet, so sorry if I am remembering incorrectly. I don' have the books with me right now, either, so my sources are copied from https://starvalddemelain.pbwiki.com/.

For the dex penalty, Karsa Orlong is described as 'Impossibly lithe for one of such bulk...' (DG, UK MMPB, p.205). He's obviously above average, so it's hard to say, but it seems like there should be no dex penalty.


I think I'd make them LA +2:
- remove the dex penalty
- remove the int penalty
- remove the wis penalty
- add a -2 cha penalty


So:
Str +4, Con +4, Cha -2
Speed 40
Powerful Build
Fast Healer (regain HP and lost ability points at twice the normal rate)
+2 on saves vs. poison, and immunity to non-magical disease.
Favored Class: Barbarian

Edit: Isn't Karsa actually Thelomen Toblakai? Leoman tells him he is (HoC, UK MMPB, p.262-3), and I seem to remember that. But if that is so, do we meet any normal Teblor?

I need to re-read tMBotF, I think I'll do that over break.

 

[2nd Ed Paladin]

Abisashi's post above sems fair and in line with what i remember from the books.

 

[Abisashi]

If you want to make it just LA +1, you could assume their fast movement is due to them having a level of barbarian, and use goliath stats but replace the mountain movement abilities with immunity to non-magical diseases. If there are more abilities that need to be swapped out, you could also give them endurance.