What if races leveled up?

[Celebrim]

See Savage Species and also Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed/Arcana Evolved alternative versions of 3Ed and 3.5Ed.

It works just fine.

For certain values of 'works' and 'fine'.

I don't think those approaches address the OP's concerns at all. It's possible that they are the best of some bad options, but I don't think the OP is really interested in character building options. Unfortunately, even though in one sense it is interesting, I think 3.X is in a situation where its already complex enough that if you want to add something in you need to figure out what you are willing to give up.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Fair enough. But I'll say that Monte Cook's version is my preferred take on race leveling in 3.X.

 

[airwalkrr]

Let your creative wings unfurl and go flying [MENTION=19675]Dannyalcatraz[/MENTION]. This thread isn't so much a discussion of what is out there already and your opinion on it, but your own ideas on what might be.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Let's put it this way then: if Monte Cook hadn't done what he did, I probably would have.

I have a post-apocalyptic D&D campaign in which one of the races- the Nephilim- are humans whose ancestors had interbred with other planar beings. My canoaign's equivalent of Planetouched. But instead of Level Adjustments, the player can take as many of his subrace's racial class levels as he wishes for his PC over time. As per Monte's take, the racial levels are full levels, advancing BAB, saves, HD, etc., as appropriate to the ancestry of the PC. There is also no penalty to taking a racial class level- while it counts in all other ways, it does not interfere with multiclassing in other classes; it does not cap advancement in classes like Paladin or Monk.

Beyond that?

Well, I'll just say my favorite RPG system of all time is HERO. But even so, I wouldn't want D&D to follow in HERO's footsteps- while HERO is my favorite system overall, 3.5Ed Is my favorite version of D&D AND my favorite class-system RPG.

 

[airwalkrr]

Let's put it this way then: if Monte Cook hadn't done what he did, I probably would have.

I have a post-apocalyptic D&D campaign in which one of the races- the Nephilim- are humans whose ancestors had interbred with other planar beings. My canoaign's equivalent of Planetouched. But instead of Level Adjustments, the player can take as many of his subrace's racial class levels as he wishes for his PC over time. As per Monte's take, the racial levels are full levels, advancing BAB, saves, HD, etc., as appropriate to the ancestry of the PC. There is also no penalty to taking a racial class level- while it counts in all other ways, it does not interfere with multiclassing in other classes; it does not cap advancement in classes like Paladin or Monk.

Beyond that?

Well, I'll just say my favorite RPG system of all time is HERO. But even so, I wouldn't want D&D to follow in HERO's footsteps- while HERO is my favorite system overall, 3.5Ed Is my favorite version of D&D AND my favorite class-system RPG.

Fair enough.

 

[Dwimmerlied]

This is an idea I've also played around with before. It's always seemed that the racial traits become insignificant very quickly in terms of level progression, and mechanically, there isn't much to distinguish the races before too long. One good way to adress power creep might be to design racial flaws along with benefits that come in at certain levels.

In the spirit of observation I wonder if reinforcing archetypes is perhaps not a problem any more than choosing a particular race already is. Or if it is, careful planning of benefits and flaws might still reflect these archetypes in a flavourful way without restricting individual character concept too much.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

I understand that you don't want this to be a discussion of what is out there already but in the Dawnforge setting (3.x, d20) your character gets to pick a racial trait every level or every other level, that is in addition to your starting racial traits. It's similar to the racial subsitution levels that DannyAlcatraz was talking about but it's separate from advancing in your class.

 

[D'karr]

The setting Dawnforge used a scaling mechanic for all PCs. As you advanced you became more of a "paragon" of your race. It was quite an interesting setting and we had a long running campaign in it. I liked the race scaling mechanic.

EDIT: Ninja'd by [MENTION=53678]Wednesday Boy[/MENTION]

 

[Wednesday Boy]

EDIT: Ninja'd by @Wednesday Boy

This is the first time I've ever ninja'd someone!! What a wonderful day!!

 

[D'karr]

This is the first time I've ever ninja'd someone!! What a wonderful day!!

LOL, glad to be of service.