Paper Tiger Syndrome (tm)

[Scion]

I know that most creatures out there have a LA. It if of my own personal opinion that most ECL's already cost you double anyway, once to buy your hd and another to buy your abilities. At least to some extent.

This thought is mainly for templates however that only grant LA, although it could be used elsewhere I suppose.

In order to not fall too far behind and suffer the Paper Tiger Syndrome this is my current idea.

For each LA of the template you also gain a placeholder hd, or whatever other name is appropriate. These hd are nothing special, but they still help in small ways.

d4, bad bab, bad saves.

Now I know that it wont help a lot, but it definately moves some/most templates out of the PTS range. What do people think of this idea?

 

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

I've actually implemented something similar in some of my games. Creatures with an ECL (or LA, as you put it) get d8 hit points per ECL level. I haven't handed out BAB or saves yet, though I might if the ECLs seem to be hurting more than just providing balance. Skills and feats though I feel are the providence of full monster Hit Dice.

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

I separate ECL from HD, with HD contributing to the level adjustment based on creature type. This means that most creatures with a couple hit dice and no special abilities are cheaper to play than they normally would be. (I think the loss of class abilities is far more painful than the loss of hit dice.)

I really don't see a problem with high LA creatures having fewer hit dice than normal characters. It's only really a problem when you're playing a creature with a higher level adjustment than they have hit dice-- which to me suggests that the creature is inappropriate for the level of play.

edit: d4 HD, Poor BAB and Poor Saves are the features of the Hero class in Four Color to Fantasy, which provides Hero Points to spend on special abilities-- and most creature special abilities could be represented in this system. You might want to check that out as a replacement for standard ECL.

 

[ciaran00]

What the heck is paper tiger? Use U_K's CR system. LA = CR.

ciaran

 

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

Except that doesn't work. A monster may only get to use at will or other types of abilities once before it's killed. That's ok for a low CR. But putting them to use as a PC means they'll get to use those abilities all the time. That's why the LA is always higher than the CR.

 

[CRGreathouse]

What the heck is paper tiger? Use U_K's CR system. LA = CR.

Babau: U_K ECL 16, U_K CR 14.

 

[Alchemist]

What the heck is paper tiger? Use U_K's CR system. LA = CR.

ciaran

A "paper tiger" is something that appears dangerous or powerful but is actually weak. Check your favourite flavour of dictionary for more info.