Why do you use LA in your campaign?

[notjer]

I use LA to piss off the players that try to play the half-bronze-dragon-halfling barbarian with the Celestial template and a Titan Bloodline

Such extreme situation I understand However, if I was the DM for that kind of guy, I would put him in a equal situation to piss off the player. A person with that kind of power probably lives a very riskful life and the God may ask him to do heroic tasks. If he act out of his character duty, then the God cannot trust him and need to... remove him from material plane.

If level adjustment is not an issue, then I'm playing a Titan Barbarian at First level. Gongrats on playing that little halfling rogue.

Sure, but why would a titan and a halfling know each other or even go on adventures together? I think the character would gets into a lot of problems - if the campaign isn't enterily hack n' slash.

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I know D&D should not be thinked about as a realistic game, but I still think that the diffrence in power between a titan and a human should be very clear. When I play with my group we don't metagame much and we are trying to focus on the 'roleplaying' which mean you would not get a great advantage even if you're a stonechild cleric and the other guy is a halfling rogue. I've tried to play a celestial paladin, but I didn't enjoy it as much as when I played a rogue or a wizard. Yes I was a badass fighting and healing machine which dominated the feel and any kind of undead encounters, but it wasn't fun in my opinion.

 

[Slife]

It works fine for me. Sure, it gets weird when LA is high relative to actual hit dice... so that creature is obviously not ideal for that level of play.

People kvetch a lot about losing caster levels. well, if you die before you reach levels and have to be raised, you end up a caster level behind anyway. Sure, a hit on caster level sucks... if you think you're never going to die and those abilities won't keep you alive at some point.

Not exactly. Because of how XP awards work, being a level below the rest of the party is temporary. Heck, for item crafters it's optimal.

 

[pawsplay]

Not exactly. Because of how XP awards work, being a level below the rest of the party is temporary. Heck, for item crafters it's optimal.

That simply mitigates the rate of being far behind. If you are behind, you will always be behind, barring some corner case where you end up in the same spot.

I don't think item crafters find it optimal to have a lower available caster level, although the extra XP is nice.

 

[Moon-Lancer]

in the case of LA, I'm pretty sure that if you have 5 levels in X with an LA +1 your considered to be level 6 for how much xp you get ect, so you don't get more exp then any other character with 6 levels and no LA.

 

[Moon-Lancer]

I played a anthropomorphic tiger once with the winged templet. Boy that was harsh. never again.

that was a +3 la with 2 racial hit dice.

from now on la +1 is as high as I go, and it better be worth it.

 

[Wik]

LA works just fine for us. We're level 9 or so, and we've had two LA +1 races from 1st level. The Goliath does a BUTTLOAD of damage, and he really earns the +1. The Catfolk, while not nearly as powerful, still has an edge over rogues of equivalent ECL.

Generally, if I'm doing something that's over LA +1, I start using Monster Classes. Hell, I might just even add +1 or +2 to the monster class, so I can throw in some extra hit dice or base attack to the monster class progression to make the choice more optimal.

Really, I like the idea of LA. It works. It keeps my players within the PHB, for the most part, and I'm all for that. I ran an underdark game back in 3.0, and my group consisted of a half-red dragon half-orc barbarian, a celestial drow sorceress, and a fiendish lizardfolk monk. Oh, and there was the Weretiger Monk and the Doppleganger Cleric.

...I never want to do that again. I expected some weird characters in that game (by "weird", I thought I'd see a drow or a duergar or something), but that got crazy fast.

Really, I don't want too many strange characters in my game. So, I'm perfectly fine with LA hurting a build just a little bit. If you want that +4 to your Strength, you have to suffer for it.

P.S. All that being said, I don't like how Hobgoblins are a +1 LA race. Either give them a bit more to earn that LA, or knock them down to ECL +0.

 

[Hunter In Darkness]

I myself do not us LA . to many times have i thought it was to high or wonky so i do not use it. all u have to recall is that as the dm u can indeed say NO u may not play a 1/2 dragon were rabbit findish 1/2 troll drow vampire. very simple

 

[Slife]

That simply mitigates the rate of being far behind. If you are behind, you will always be behind, barring some corner case where you end up in the same spot.

I don't think item crafters find it optimal to have a lower available caster level, although the extra XP is nice.

Being able to double your wealth/level is enough to compensate for being a level behind.

http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=695040

 

[pawsplay]

Being able to double your wealth/level is enough to compensate for being a level behind.

http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=695040

But you are still lower level and have the same wealth unless, as pointed out in that thread, you spend nearly seven years crafting items. Which is going to be difficult to do, adventuring to 19th level while a level behind.

 

[Slife]

But you are still lower level and have the same wealth unless, as pointed out in that thread, you spend nearly seven years crafting items. Which is going to be difficult to do, adventuring to 19th level while a level behind.

There are items like quills of scribing and dedicated wrights to do crafting for you. Combine that with planar time traits (the majority of your wealth will be accumulated after you can do planar travel), and it becomes much less difficult to do item crafting. I guess technically you have the same wealth, but it's invested into raw materials instead of just buying the magic items, which gives you more bang for your buck. And getting your caster level back is just an orange ioun stone away.

I don't exactly understand what you mean by "If you're behind, you're always behind". In terms of level, you are guaranteed to catch up because of how XP works. In terms of XP you have available for crafting, you're ahead.