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Message: <blockquote data-quote="FireLance" data-source="post: 5031125" data-attributes="member: 3424">Let's talk principles, instead of continously harping on the usual examples.The PC/monster divide is more an issue for the "game" part of D&D. While the specifics may vary from campaign to campaign, some abilities which are okay for monsters are considered to be not okay for PCs. This is not something new to 4E. Even in 3E, some monsters were not given an official level adjustment, and those which had a positive level adjustment could not be played from 1st level without mechanical changes that effectively made them weaker versions of the base race (at least, until the PC gained enough levels to "catch up"). In even earlier editions of D&D, it was suggested that players who wished to play monsters would have to make do with lesser versions: for example, players who wanted a giant or ogre character would have to play one who was smaller and weaker than typical for its kind.Because of this, "monster" PCs tend to turn the "PCs are exceptional" dial up to 11. If racial ability X is too good for a PC (or a PC of level below Y) to have, than a PC will almost by definition have a weaker version of racial ability X (or, where this is level-dependent, until he reaches level Y). Now, how the DM and players choose to flavor this to make it reasonable and plausible in-game is another matter entirely. Making the PC a typical member of an alternate race/sub-race/crossbred race is one way of doing this, but it adds yet another shade of color to the already fairly crowded racial palette of D&D. Hence, many DMs and players simply make the PC a member of his race, but with special characteristics (those which make him suitable as a PC) which are different from a typical member of his race.Actually, now that I've typed this all out, I wonder what the fuss is about.</blockquote>

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