racial levels, anyone?

[BVB]

What thinkest thou about "racial levels?" Just today on Monte Cook's site, he does racial levels for all the PHB races.

I'm eager to work in three levels of just being a plain ol' human into my next character's progression. In some ways, as good as being a rogue.

 

[WayneLigon]

It looks like an interesting idea. Just today on Monte Cook's site, he does racial levels for all the PHB races.

 

[mooby]

is this resurrecting a sacred cow that was ditched with 3e?

 

[Planesdragon]

is this resurrecting a sacred cow that was ditched with 3e?

No. This cow was tossed out with AD&D 1e.

For the record, I think it's a fairly silly idea. These "racial levels" should probably be treated as Prestige Classes focused on each race. (Let 'em be taken at 1st level--it's STILL not an explicit rule that PrCs have to be 5+, 3+ or even 2+)

 

[sabinerak]

So is this like for people who can't figure out what race they are or for wizards who polymorph into a different race each year or....? How does someone just decide they're just going to be an elf for the next couple years or so until they get tired of it and decide to be a half-orc instead?

 

[buzz]

For the record, I think this is an utterly fantastic idea, and it needs to appear in an official sourcebook of some kind, e.g., Unearthed Arcana. Too freaking cool.

 

[BVB]

I'm amused by the concept behind the "levels" progression: What does it mean to be human? (or elf, or dwarf, or whatever) Spending months exploring the racial elements of your life, not really pursuing a career or class.

"So what did you do today, Bri?"
"Well, I got in touch with my humanity and worked on developing some of the many skills that define what we are as a race."
"Yeah, they say Krunk is doing the same thing with his half-orc heritage. He's really getting into the entire 'angry misplaced outsider' thing."

It's ... humorous.

 

[buzz]

I'm amused by the concept behind the "levels" progression: What does it mean to be human? (or elf, or dwarf, or whatever) Spending months exploring the racial elements of your life, not really pursuing a career or class.

You're not just developing as a fighter/wizard/whathaveyou, you're developing as a *person*. I dunno, I really like the idea.

It's ... humorous.

Now at least claims like "I'm way more man than you!" can be definitively decided by looking at a character's racial levels...

 

[tsadkiel]

I like them, because you can do the "everybody starts as a commoner" type thing without having all the first level PC's be completely identical and crippled for the rest of their adventuring careers. It's a workable way to play an ordinary person caught up in extraordinary events.

 

[buzz]

It's a workable way to play an ordinary person caught up in extraordinary events.

Can I get an "amen"?

I also really like that they wrote up racial levels for humans. It makes them less of a "default" and more of their own unique race. I like.