Vacuum Genasi Suck!

[ForceUser]

It's nice, but not all that. HPs are important, and in a game where characters see lots of combat it becomes even better. My character does have a 21 con. I have a great concentration check and almost as many HPs as the fighter who is one level higher. But I don't think it's worth the ecl +1. Things on paper look different from actualy game play.

I know from experience that +4 Con IS all that and a bag if chips

Right now I'm playing a dwarven wizard/toad familiar with an 18 Con, and I've been able to withstand crunchy attacks that would have crumpled wizards with fewer hit points. Your best defense is usually your hit point total. After having played 3E exclusively since Aug 00, I can say with confidence that unless you're running a non-standard game with a heavy emphasis on non-combat encounters, the more hit points, the better. Regardless of your race, class, PrC, or any other factor other than dumb luck, at the end of the day, the guy with the most hit points wins. I want to be that guy.

I won't argue with you into the dirt about the +1 ECL thing, so we'll have to agree to disagree. But I feel that the +4 Con more than justifies the ECL. The only way to balance such an obvious hit point advantage without the ECL deficiency would be to severely handicap the character in other ways - such as making his racial stat modifiers +4 Con, -2 Str, -2 Int, -2 Wis. That would be balanced. The evidence for this lies in the way they handled half-orc racial modifiers.

 

[Skarnkai]

Compare the Ooze Paramental to a Dwarf

+2 Con Overall
a 1st level spell 1/day
+2 vs Acid
30 speed

vs

+2 vs poison
+2 vs spells
Stonecunning
+4 dodge bonus vs giants
+2 to crafts involving metal or stone
+1 attack vs orcs and goblinoids
+2 to appraise (rare and exotics only)

Ooze Paramental is better.. but not by a lot in my book

 

[Xarlen]

You forget native outsider.

 

[MeepoTheMighty]

Yep, native outsider is nice. No need to worry about hold person or charm person.

A buddy of mine played a smoke genasi ninja once in a one-shot. Too bad most of what we fought was undead, which were immune to his whole sneak attack deal.