Savage Species as Base Classes?

[xigbar]

I was thinking about the Savage Species racial levels, and they all have starting score adjustments, and get the other score adjustments through their monster levels. Are you allowed to just use the starting adjustments, and forego the rest of the adjustments to just level up normally, with class levels?

 

[Severion]

I don't think it's allowed by the book, but it is an intriguing idea. The races however wouldn't be very well ballanced against one another.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Savage Species explicitly ststes that you have to take all of a racial class' levels before taking a single level of a base class.

Monte Cook's Arcana Unearhthed/Arcana Evolved, OTOH, has it's racial classes treated more like base classes than Savage Species. It will show you what you'd want to do to design racial classes to make them more balanced.

 

[Belzbet]

The problem with that idea is that the ability increases are not the only factorsmto consider when spreading out their levels. If what your mean is to forgoe ALL of their special abilities then the rules do not allow it, like what Severion said. That is becuause the rules say that once you start a monster class you must finish it. Monte Cooks Uneartherd Arcana has racial levels which does allow not finishing the monster class once you start (although I personally like the way they did it in Savage Species much more)... you might want to check that out. However, simply using their starting abilities shiuldn't be unbalanced at all, you just wouldn't get the other goodies.