Races with a Charisma bonus?

[NewJeffCT]

I was hoping to create a powerful sorcerer opponent for the PCs coming up (level 18-20 range)...

And, yes, the sorcerer would have allies, so would not be alone. But, I wanted to describe this guy as one of the great wielders of sorcery in the world and was thinking that a race that had a +2 or +4 to Charisma would be a logical place to start. Are there any out there? Especially looking for ones that are LA+0 or +1.

Or, if there are not many good choices there, what about cheap templates that would give you a CHA bonus?

Thanks

 

[Elethiomel]

The Chaos Gnome from Races of Stone has a +2 Cha bonus and a +1 LA. It even has Sorcerer as favoured class, and +1 caster level on spells with the [chaos] descriptor. Otherwise on the +1 LA / +2 CHA we have Catfolk who make excellent touch-attack blasters due to their +4 DEX, Aasimar who would make an excellent "breaking the stereotype" villain, and a few from Dragon magazines.

There's death-touched from Dragon magazine 313 who have a +4 CHA for +1 LA, which is pretty silly.

As for templates, there's always Draconic (which is one of the strongest +1 LA templates out there, as it gives +2 to all of strength, constitution and charisma, +1 natural armor, darkvision, low-light vision, some bonuses to skills and saves, and no negatives).

 

[Theroc]

Catfolk from 'RotW' (I assume Races of the Wild) have +4 dex, +2 cha according to crystalkeep. They also have +1 natural armor, bonus to listen and move silently, Lowlight vision and a 40' movement speed. +1 LA.

They also have no penalties.

Also, I don't know if your game is "WotC only" or not, but there was a Flamekin race made which can be downloaded in Enworld's download area. It has some vague parts, but it gives +2 cha, -2 int. This would likely require you to change some bits of the race to fit your campaign and balance it. I'm playtesting it in a PbP game on Enworld, but haven't had any details to see how effective or ineffective it is.

Those are the only two I can think of, besides the Drow, who are +2 LA, not within your parameters, or Pixie's, who are like +4 LA, again not within your parameters.

 

[Shin Okada]

There are several races with +1 LA and +2 Cha, such as Aasimar or Catfolk (Races of Wild). They are +1 LA but basically +0 CR as a critter I guess.

Also, if you don't hesitate to make him a true monster, you can always pick up a monster with a lot of racial HDs and better CHA who DOES NOT cast spells as a sorcerer. Then, sorcerer class level is non-associated for him.

But be careful. That non-associated rule is often broken. You should be careful estimating the final CR of the resulted critter.

 

[Ahnehnois]

Spellscales (Races of the Dragon) are tailor-made sorcerers with +2 Cha, -2 Con, and +0 LA. I believe one type of Hellbred (Fiendish Codex II) is also +2 Cha, +2 Con, although those tend to be good they have interesting flavor and certainly can be an opponent.

There are a number of fey races. Jaebrin (MMV) are +2 Cha and +1 LA with some other enchantment-related abilities. Feytouched (Fiend Folio) are also +2 Cha, +1 LA, and are immune to mind-affecting. Uldras (Frostburn) have +2 Cha and +1 LA.

There might still be some I missed, but +0 LA and mental stat bonuses is exceedingly rare.

 

[Animal]

Jaebrin (MM V) get -2 STR, +2 CHA and a few other interesting abilities overall good for a sorcerer (favoured class is beguiler though). at the price of +1 LA.

 

[NewJeffCT]

thanks - Aasimar & Cat Folk are interesting ideas. And, I have heroforge to help me with estimating CR, but I will likely stick with something vaguely human/humanoid.

 

[Avarice]

I'm not sure if Forgotten Realms material is in play, but if so, there's always the Star Elf from Unapproachable East. -2 con, +2 cha, +0 LA.

 

[Runestar]

Alternatively, you could consider a monster with innate sorc spellcasting, then build off on that. I think MM2 has the spellweaver (and racial HD improves its spellcasting as well).

Raksasha casts as a sorc, automatically qualifies for the eldritch knight prc and has impressive defenses (though this comes as a hefty boost to cr).

Kobolds have that ritual that adds +1 sorc spellcasting. That and warrior is -3cr for it, so you can go kobold warrior4/sorc17 (say), and be the equivalent of a sorc18 with caster lv22 or 21, (depending on how you decide to stack practiced spellcaster) at cr18. Or kobold warrior4/sorc19 (cr20). Spellcaster lv20, caster lv 23 or 24.

You even get 1 epic feat (epic spellcasting!!!), though improved spell capacity is a good choice as well.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

The Anthro Animals from Savage Species have some interesting stat mods- I bet at least one has a bonus to cha...and if its a small race, probably no more than +1-+2 LA.

Edited for misinformation