Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Corpus 09-10-07, 07:12 PM	One of my players wants to play a troll when he gets to the right level. He really loves trolls, and I actually don't have anything against it as long as he's willing to put up with horrified and/or hateful townspeople wherever he goes. But the thing is, I'm not sure what the starting ECL would be. The troll has 6 racial hit dice (giant) and a level adjustment of +5. Does this mean I should wait until the group is 6th level to let him play one, or 11th?
Kouk 09-10-07, 08:03 PM	One of my players wants to play a troll when he gets to the right level. He really loves trolls, and I actually don't have anything against it as long as he's willing to put up with horrified and/or hateful townspeople wherever he goes. But the thing is, I'm not sure what the starting ECL would be. The troll has 6 racial hit dice (giant) and a level adjustment of +5. Does this mean I should wait until the group is 6th level to let him play one, or 11th? Effective Character Level (ECL) is equal to Racial HD plus Level Adjustment plus class levels. A Troll just starting out would be an ECL 11, so suited for level 11 groups. That is the theory, but in practice any monstrous race with racial HD and/or LA above 1 is extremely weak in comparison to a "normal" player race that has all class levels. EDIT: There is also the option of "lower level" monstrous races, whereby the monster starts as a weaker version and as it gains levels it "grows" into its normal adult form. This was introduced in Savage Species I believe, and has also appeared in a few other books such as Libris Mortis. You can see an example of the progression here with the Minotaur: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20030202 This allows for things like "level 3" Trolls so that the player can start as what he wants to be, and "grow" into a full adult troll. The end result is the same though, the character will be vastly underpowered by comparison. Instead of using "real" trolls, perhaps you can create a troll-like race that has less racial HD and less +LA? Half-Trolls are another option, from the Fiend Folio, but they still have a LA of 4 (no racial HD though).