"Monster Classes"

[Sanackranib]

monster advancement

I like the idea of monsters starting at 1st level with the book stats
representing an adverage member of the species. As was mentioned it makes ECL's a lot simpler.

 

[jmucchiello]

Re: monster advancement

I like the idea of monsters starting at 1st level with the book stats representing an adverage member of the species. As was mentioned it makes ECL's a lot simpler.

How are ECLs simpler than not having ECLs?

 

[jmucchiello]

Like, the Nymph may be like this:

RACIAL TRAITS: +2 Dex, +6 Int, +6 Wis, +8 Cha

LV1: Alertness, Dodge bonus feats
Lv2: Blinding Beauty
Lv3: Dimension Door, Unearthly Beauty, Ability Focus (Unearthly Beauty).

ECL probably about +5-7...certainly not 16, but not exactly 0, either...being able to kill everything that looks at you by 3 HD is a potent power, since most characters have to wait until 10 HD to do it, and the hefty bonus feats are also useful. Add into that their excellent stat bonuses, and you've got a heroic nymph! She can probably survive pretty well in a party of 6th-8th level characters. Certainly, she'll be frail, but she won't be useless and she will be able to solve many melee problems without breaking a sweat.

Look at the chart again. She has one bonus feat, at first level, "alertness". Dodge is her 1st level feat. Ability Focus is her 3rd level feat. But the real problem with the Nymph is her Int, Wis and Cha. They blow the doors off of any other race.

Unearthly Beauty, however, is not as potent as you think. Remember, when she turns it on, her fellow party members have to save or die too. Dimension Door is a much bigger DM hassle than Unearthly Beauty.

Conveniently for my purposes, Nymphs don't advance by character class and are therefore beyond the scope of my work.

And ECL 16 was in the Dragon issue with the ECLs, I think. I'm taking it from memory of other people's posts since I missed that Dragon.

 

[Sanackranib]

monster characters

it allows players to play a creature that would normally be higher ECL at a lower level and advance up to it. so for example if somone wants to play an Ogre at first level then they can without totally disrupting the balance of the game. for me that's simpler.

 

[jmucchiello]

Re: monster characters

it allows players to play a creature that would normally be higher ECL at a lower level and advance up to it. so for example if somone wants to play an Ogre at first level then they can without totally disrupting the balance of the game. for me that's simpler.

Do you then prevent them from taking other level until they reach the ECL?