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<blockquote data-quote="howandwhy99" data-source="post: 3257052" data-attributes="member: 3192">In 3rd edition racial level limits are unnecessary and simply a choice up to those playing.To my understanding, in OD&amp;D racial level limits are a balancing factor for non-humans.&nbsp; XP charts vary because power varies level to level among the classes.&nbsp; Wizards are the toughest and Rogues the weakest and their corresponding XP charts reflect this.&nbsp; Races are balanced without using XP charts.&nbsp; As some races are more powerful than others in certain areas the balancing is arrived at by limiting the classes PC demihumans can take and the highest level they can reach in others.This method contains two benefits lost as further editions were published: (1) the ability to play a high LA race from first level without balance issues, and (2) Flavor elements to accurately portray the race as something with different potentials than humans (should Frodo really be able to become the greatest fighter in the land?).&nbsp; Racial powers and class limits were built into the published system, but are a matter of flavor and can be changed by the DM by homebrewing the races.The big difference between humans and demihumans comes in with Multiclassing and Dual-classing.&nbsp; Humans are the baseline and have no restriction on classes they can take and the level they can reach.&nbsp; However, they can only switch classes once and afterwards can never go back.&nbsp; Demihumans can multiclass as often as they wish.Multiclassing = &quot;Gestalt&quot; character classes in 3e for a quick and dirty explanation.&nbsp; A 6/6 halfling fighter/rogue in OD&amp;D is a 6th level gestalt halfling fighter/rogue in D&amp;D.&nbsp; The real difference comes in for split levels: 3/6, the halfling is 3 levels of gestalt fighter/rogue and an additional three of a straight rogue.&nbsp; OTOH, Dual-classing, as I understand it, is like standard multiclassing in 3e.&nbsp; As Demihumans multiclass level limits have less and less to do with character level power and more with flavor of race potentials.&nbsp; Other races are definitely not humans in disguise here. Level limits can also more easily be put in perspective when you realize the highest level reached in OD&amp;D is 10, maybe 11.&nbsp; Having a halfling stop at 6th level as a Fighting-man is equivalent to saying &quot;this race's max BAB is 6 and only adds powers after that&quot;.&nbsp; It's important to note that this doesn't remove them from the game after 6th level as character's capacity to hang with higher levels is far broader in OD&amp;D.&nbsp; By comparison, in 3e two levels means the higher level character is 100% better than the lower.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="howandwhy99, post: 3257052, member: 3192"] In 3rd edition racial level limits are unnecessary and simply a choice up to those playing. To my understanding, in OD&D racial level limits are a balancing factor for non-humans. XP charts vary because power varies level to level among the classes. Wizards are the toughest and Rogues the weakest and their corresponding XP charts reflect this. Races are balanced without using XP charts. As some races are more powerful than others in certain areas the balancing is arrived at by limiting the classes PC demihumans can take and the highest level they can reach in others. This method contains two benefits lost as further editions were published: (1) the ability to play a high LA race from first level without balance issues, and (2) Flavor elements to accurately portray the race as something with different potentials than humans (should Frodo really be able to become the greatest fighter in the land?). Racial powers and class limits were built into the published system, but are a matter of flavor and can be changed by the DM by homebrewing the races. The big difference between humans and demihumans comes in with Multiclassing and Dual-classing. Humans are the baseline and have no restriction on classes they can take and the level they can reach. However, they can only switch classes once and afterwards can never go back. Demihumans can multiclass as often as they wish. Multiclassing = "Gestalt" character classes in 3e for a quick and dirty explanation. A 6/6 halfling fighter/rogue in OD&D is a 6th level gestalt halfling fighter/rogue in D&D. The real difference comes in for split levels: 3/6, the halfling is 3 levels of gestalt fighter/rogue and an additional three of a straight rogue. OTOH, Dual-classing, as I understand it, is like standard multiclassing in 3e. As Demihumans multiclass level limits have less and less to do with character level power and more with flavor of race potentials. Other races are definitely not humans in disguise here. Level limits can also more easily be put in perspective when you realize the highest level reached in OD&D is 10, maybe 11. Having a halfling stop at 6th level as a Fighting-man is equivalent to saying "this race's max BAB is 6 and only adds powers after that". It's important to note that this doesn't remove them from the game after 6th level as character's capacity to hang with higher levels is far broader in OD&D. By comparison, in 3e two levels means the higher level character is 100% better than the lower. [/QUOTE]

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