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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Infiniti2000" data-source="post: 2715261" data-attributes="member: 31734">I really don't like the existing ECL/LA system.  Are there any alternatives for D&D?  I'm not interesting in alternative systems, so please don't tell me to just switch out of D&D because it won't happen. <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=":)" />Here's my thoughts.  Keep the LA.  But, change ECL from being HD+LA+CL to LA+CL+(CR for the HD as if improved).  The table for this last part is taken from the table in the <a href="http://www.d20srd.org/srd/improvingMonsters.htm#addingHitDice" target="_blank">Improving Monsters</a> section of the SRD. Any other modifiers to CR not account for in the original LA (such as size increase for advancement) would be directly added in.  Templates have their own LA, so those would be added in and any HD increase for the template would be added in as per the above.Pros<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Monster ECL is not overinflated due to the poor monster HD in relation to class levels.  Note that none of the monster types have +1 CR per HD so their clearly not 1-to-1.  This is the biggest flaw I'm trying to correct.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Because the ECL is not inflated, this makes it easier to play these creatures.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Previously very high ECL monsters have a better survivability.  Another significant drawback to taking ECL hits are the fewer HD and worse survivability.  With this system, the base monster HD no longer has as much of an impact, allowing you to gain more class levels and thus HP, saves, etc.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Allows advanced monsters to be more easily played.  Previously, it would be a very poor choice to play an advanced monster due to the huge HD penalty.  Now, it's possible and probably reasonable due to the addition of the CR for improving monsters.</li> </ol>Cons<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Not playtested.  There's a reasonable possibility that there are some broken combos using this system -- in other words just the right creature with high HD and low LA, where the LA took into account the HD somewhat.  In such cases, the DM may need to adjust the LA.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">There's still not a 1-to-1 ratio for CR to ECL.  I don't see a way to resolve that, though.  Maybe the CR system is just not a very good one.  The problem this causes is that though a high ECL/low CR monster is playable and possibly balanced overall, when it comes down to survivability, he still might have a serious disadvantage.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">If the HD is not evenly divisible by the divisor in the table, you will either have an ECL too high or too low.</li> </ol>Edit: Add Con #3.</blockquote>

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