Using ECL for point buy, gestalt, others?

[Vargo]

I saw in a thread somewhere that people think having a 32 point buy character is worth ~+1 ECL over a 25 point buy. I also seem to remember seeing a thread about gestalt characters maybe being +2 or +3 ECL.

Has anybody done something like this in their campaign, trading ECL for extra character options beside race and templates? What trades did you offer? How has it worked out?

 

[Vargo]

Ba-bump.

 

[Creamsteak]

I once ran a game (before savage species existed) where characters could trade 1 level for 6 points on point buy. So, if you played a 32 point buy normally, you could buy 1 level and have 26 points. It worked alright, but was fairly easy to abuse I think. The worst we had was a 3rd level character. Later on I dropped this because Savage Species offered a better method for 1st level characters from level adjusted races.

I don't think that 32 point buy standard means a +1 adjustment to average party level for encounters. 32 point buy characters can handle maybe 25-40% more than a 25 point buy character group, but that's going to be dependant on encounters.

 

[the Jester]

I haven't played around with this at all, but it's an interesting idea.

I like ECL as a concept, but sometimes it isn't really a balanced solution- too harsh at some levels, too easy at some other levels.