Who/what can take class levels?

[RUMBLETiGER]

prompted by a question that occured to me in the Symbionts and Grafts thread:

Can anything with an intellegence 3+ take class levels?

Humanoids can, Monstrous Humanoids, Aberrarions, Dragons, Outsiders, Elementals, Living Constructs, some Plants, some Undead... probibly more I can't think of, can all take class levels. Most of them are humanoid in shape, but Dragons and aberrations such as Beholders are clear exceptions.

My understanding is that Animals, Vermin, Constructs have never been attributed any class levels. I'm taking the destinction to be Intellegence score. However, I don't know of any example of a Magical Beast taking any class levels, dispite having higher intellegence scores in many cases.

Are there any rules on who/what can or cannot take levels in a class?

 

[domino]

Unicorn :: d20srd.org

 

[Dandu]

Anyone with enough balls can take class levels - or in the case of women, "Thatchers".

 

[domino]

Anyone with enough balls can take class levels - or in the case of women, "Thatchers".

Pretty sure they're still called class levels even when women take them.

 

[frankthedm]

Are there any rules on who/what can or cannot take levels in a class?

Not really.

I could see int 1 and 2 creature taking class level but losing anything they couldn't use.

Ambush predators picking up rogue would work well.

And the efforts of an orcish animal trainer could well be represented by a barbarian level. Armor proficiency for barding, extra speed from the cruelest training imaginable this side of the afterlife with raging as a side effect of those atrocities and a rank of listen since it got very good listening for the trainer every day.

 

[xigbar]

Although I'm not sure of any specific rule for that, I would imagine that anything that has a favored class entry, or "by character class," under the advancement entry could.

 

[domino]

I hope so, if only because I want my Tarrasque Paladin to find a home in some campaign.

 

[xigbar]

Also, wouldn't that mean that any template that forces a creatures intelligence to 3 allow them to take character classes?

 

[Jackinthegreen]

By RAI we can pretty well assume any creature with an Int of 3 or more can take class levels. My personal take on the rest is as follows:


Creatures with 1 or 2 might be able to, but they can't do it of their own volition because they aren't intelligent enough to want to become better. Mindless creatures cannot take class levels, but if a mindless creature is Awakened like in Savage Species, then of course it's no longer mindless and can thus take class levels.

Of special note is any magical item granting an Int bonus with an indefinite time period, like the staple Headband. So long as a creature wears the item and has an Int of 3 or more with the bonus, it can take class levels because it is indeed intelligent enough. A creature who consumes a Potion of Fox's cunning couldn't take a class level because the bonus isn't "permanent."

I'm unsure of how to work creatures in the above situation that lose their Int bonus. There are a lot of possibilities due to how varied classes are. At absolute base though, the creature still retains its HD, base saves, and BAB because those are innate bonuses from training.

 

[Dandu]

A Fighter who gets hit by Feeblemind gets an Int of 1 but can still function.