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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 477143" data-attributes="member: 2067">In the newest WotC "teaser," they give you the back of Savage Species, the book I've probably been looking the most forward to since 3e D&D first advertised monsters with class levels....They mention "over 50 monster classes"Compare this to the various class-like races of Abberation, Construct, etc....I think I may have a small inkling of what they're doing....It works kinda like this:A mind flayer is an 8 HD abberation.Over 8 character levels (abberation class), it gained all of it's powers.So, we could (in theory) have a Mind Flayer class that looks something like:Hit Die: d8Attack Bonus: HDx3/4Saves: Will goodSkill Points: 2xInt, +2/HDSo, an 8th level abberation would have 8d8 hp, a to-hit of +6, Fort +2 Ref +2 Will +6 and 16 skill points (+2/Int point).Add to that special mind-flayer abilities......at 8 HD, gains Astral Projection and Plane Shift at will, and Mind Blast...at 6 HD, gains Charm Monster at will...at 4 HD, gains Detect Thoughts, Levitate, and Suggestion at will.So, since this guy gets pretty tough at the upper levels, give him something like a +8 ECL (Usually a character would have to have about 16 HD to get Astral Projection and Plane Shift...so let's imagine the mind flayer class as actually having about 8 bonus levels of toughness for kicks, since then at his highest level, he'd have access to the powers).So, then, a 1st level Mind Flayer, of 1 HD, would be a 9th level character....if that 1 HD was an Abberation HD, they'd be well on their way to being a mind flayer outta the MM.At 8 abberation levels, the mindflayer "comes of age" and should be about the same as the mind flayer outta the MM. This wouldbe about 16th character level, though they have only 8 HD. And they'd be a challenge for 4 8th level Characters...If the mind flayer gained 8 HD in a different class, they'd still eventually gain these powers within them...their total HD is what matters for "unlocking" these powers. ECL then, is a measure of the total power of the race...how much easier they gain powers than others.Does this method seem fairly sound?I'll admit, I probably waaay overestimated the mindflayer, an perhaps they're not the best example...(I'd probably adjust it down a level or three...this would be it's maximum)But would dividing the monsters in the MM up into "classes," where they gained their powers at certain HD's, be too weird? Or does it seem like a somewhat safe method?Like, watering down the Lillend's powers into 6 "levels" of lilend, and then basically granting PC's these as they level up, instead of an "all-or-nothing" approach?Maybe force them to take "monster levels" to gain these abilities, and not have them arrive automatically with class levels?Maybe I'm not articulating very well....but this idea has been banging around in my head for a while. It seems to work okay...I've braught it here to see if it does.I'll provide another example...say, a character of a Noble Salamander who wants to be a sorcerer...***Racial Traits: +8 natural armor, Multiattack bonus feat, 20 ft. base speed, Heat, Constriction, Fire subtype, DR 5/+11st level Sorcerer (Salamander +1 DR)2nd level...+1 DR3rd level...+1 DR4th level...+1 DR5th level...+1 DR6th level...+1 DR7th level...+1 DR8th level...+1 DR/+2 weapon required9th level...+1 DR10th level...+1 DR11th level...+1 DR12th level...+1 DR13th level...+1 DR14th level...+1 DR15th level...+1 DR16th level Sorcerer only (Salamander nothing)17th level Sorcerer only (Salamander nothing)Total ECL probably about +3? (Purely eyeballing that one)Maybe this doesn't work so well...I dunno....just a brainstorm I had. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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