Races that have too much LA...

[WarlockLord]

When the people over at WoTC were designing the game mechanics, it seemd like they didn't put much thought into monster LA. It seems like most of the La humanoids have way too much for instance...
Tiefling! Wow, darkness! Gee! Not worth an LA, esp. when outsiders can't be resurrected, etc.

Aasimar! Wow, daylight! Same as tiefling!

Drow! Ok, they have nice spell resistance, and the darkvision is nice. Good abilites, too But...

...the SLA's are useless. Faerie FIre doesn't work with darkness, and a LA +0 gnome has dancing lights ,which is kind of useless. Also, the light blindness means that, if you are fighting a drow BBEG, your party arcanist can use the flare cantrip every round, blinding him, and making him a sitting duck for the fighter, cleric, and rogue. Kinda sad. To get around this, you waste a feat. YAY! Also, your HP sucks with -2 con and a the loss of 2 HD.

Whereas the duergar get invisibilty, enlarge person, 3 power points and a Con bonus for the price of a -4 Cha penalty (least vital ability, unless playing a sorc or diplomat) and +1 LA.

Am I missing something here?

 

[Votan]

When the people over at WoTC were designing the game mechanics, it seemd like they didn't put much thought into monster LA. It seems like most of the La humanoids have way too much for instance...
Tiefling! Wow, darkness! Gee! Not worth an LA, esp. when outsiders can't be resurrected, etc.

Aasimar! Wow, daylight! Same as tiefling!

Drow! Ok, they have nice spell resistance, and the darkvision is nice. Good abilites, too But...

...the SLA's are useless. Faerie FIre doesn't work with darkness, and a LA +0 gnome has dancing lights ,which is kind of useless. Also, the light blindness means that, if you are fighting a drow BBEG, your party arcanist can use the flare cantrip every round, blinding him, and making him a sitting duck for the fighter, cleric, and rogue. Kinda sad. To get around this, you waste a feat. YAY! Also, your HP sucks with -2 con and a the loss of 2 HD.

Whereas the duergar get invisibilty, enlarge person, 3 power points and a Con bonus for the price of a -4 Cha penalty (least vital ability, unless playing a sorc or diplomat) and +1 LA.

Am I missing something here?

LA is often strange because it scales badly with level. The worst case that I caqn think of is Vampire (LA +8). There is no sense in which a Vampire Monk 1 is equal to a Human Wizard 9 in terms of contribution to a party despite both being well picked.

I think that the main issue with the Asimar and tiefling is that both would make deadly spellcasters with LA+0 due to the ability boosts. Just consider an Asimar cleric of the same level as a Human. Or a Tiefling wizard who abuses polymorph . . .

 

[AbeTheGnome]

When the people over at WoTC were designing the game mechanics, it seemd like they didn't put much thought into monster LA. It seems like most of the La humanoids have way too much for instance...

meh. the more i look at it, i think elves and dwarves should get LAs.

Tiefling! Wow, darkness! Gee! Not worth an LA, esp. when outsiders can't be resurrected, etc.

native outsiders can be resurrected like anyone else.

 

[Votan]

the more i look at it, i think elves and dwarves should get LAs.QUOTE]


Elves get an LA? For what? The -2 CON penalty? The bonus weapon proficiencies that give no bonuses at all if you are a martial class? The ability to make a few spot and listen checks better?

For this they are trading a feat and 1 skill point per level??

Dwarves I can at least understand . . . But I find that playing an elf is a choice of flavor over mechanics every single time.

 

[AbeTheGnome]

Elves get an LA? For what?

from Savage Species:

A base creature with three or more racial bonuses on skill checks gets a +1 level adjustment.

that's elves.

 

[AbeTheGnome]

Am I missing something here?

you may be missing the unbalanced ability bonuses for planetouched races, as well as the energy resistances.

 

[Votan]

from Savage Species:that's elves.

Remarkable. Still, that is a 3.0 supplement and elves have a number of built in balance features (CON) that reduce this issue substantially.

 

[starwed]

Well, you've successfully argued that Savage Species doesn't know what it's talking about. ^_^

Although dwarves are definitely quite strong for an LA 0, at the same time they'd be pitifully weak for an LA +1. I'm not sure people who suggest that they get an LA have actually tried playing an LA race before...

Now, the biggest problem I find w/ many LA monsters is how racial HD are handled.

 

[AbeTheGnome]

Remarkable. Still, that is a 3.0 supplement and elves have a number of built in balance features (CON) that reduce this issue substantially.

there hasn't been a definitive 3.5 resource that gives guidelines for LA's. thus, Savage Species is the most current resource. and, as far as i know, elves got the same stat bonuses in 3.0. also, if you'll check out the "Ability Score Equivalencies" on p.173 of the DMG, a penalty to CON is balanced by a bonus to DEX, so it doesn't really "reduce the issue substantially."

 

[Darklone]

Vampires have this huge LA since they are not meant to be PCs, compare it to their puny CR... vampire abilities are too complex to be allowed for PCs.