Post/Author/DateTime	Post
AAB 06-06-07, 01:29 PM	hey, thinking of playing a sharakim (from Races of Destiny), but it kinda bothers me that they have a +1 LA. this seems like one of those borderline cases for me, where i'm not sure whether the LA is warranted. i've got a couple reasons: *favored class is wizard, but their intelligence bonus is somewhat balanced by the dexterity penalty. they're going to be easier to hit than even other wizards. *+1 natural armor bonus, but once again the penalty to dexterity hits them hard. generally speaking, they'll have the same AC as any other race (besides elves). *they have shadow affinity and darkvision 60, but they also have light sensitivity, which may be a severe weakness at times (effectively cancelling out their strength bonus outdoors during the day). i'm not sure whether all these are even decent points, so i'd like to hear what the community has to say about them.
RobbyPants 06-06-07, 01:34 PM	I'm not sure what shadow affinity is, so I can't comment on it. Situational penalties do not count as severly as situational bonuses. All you have to do is be somewhat creative to negate or reduce your penalties, while capitalizing on your strengths. As for the Dex vs natural armor, you are right in that the Dex penalty will hit a wizard somewhat hard. The strength of natural armor comes from that you always have it. It is one of the stronger AC bonuses in the game. Plus, you can help aliviate your Dex penalty with multiple sources of dodge bonus (which does stack). Now, I'd have to look at the race on the whole, to give a comment on the final LA, but this certainly wouldn't be the first time WotC overestimated an LA. It seems they always target in between two levels, and round up. I mostly seems like a system they use to discourage players from playing non-standard races. Take a look at the poor hobgoblin...
AMGriffin 06-06-07, 02:12 PM	Just ice their Natural Armor, and they're quite balanced at LA+0.
Ogrebear 06-06-07, 02:25 PM	There has been discussion on this board about the Sharakim before and the conclusion was that the LA +1 is not right, the race is top end LA+0- up there with the Dwarves- but the final decision is up to your GM. I got my GM to agree and played a Sharakim for 3 levels- he seemed fine and fitted into a Human, Elf, Dwarf party fine. Only thing I'd want from the Sharakim is more artwork of them!
AAB 06-06-07, 02:32 PM	Only thing I'd want from the Sharakim is more artwork of them! agreed!
danzibr 06-06-07, 11:54 PM	I just started running a campaign (and by that I mean the first session is tomorrow evening) with a Sharakim wizard. He will be fighter/wizard/EK some day. Anyways, I was having everyone be LA +1... for flavor. We have a Goliath ranger, Aasimar druid and Sharakim wizard (only 3 people). Well, basically what I'm getting to is... is there a place with a balanced LA +1 Sharakim? Dan
danzibr 06-08-07, 04:05 PM	Well, I broke out my RoD and read about Sharakim, but I don't know what to give them to bring up them up to balanced LA +1. Maybe take away the dex penalty and give them a bonus feat or something? They're definitely not big enough for powerful build and don't concentrate enough on str to get a +4... Basically, any suggestions on what to give them to get them to a balanced LA +1? Dan
AMGriffin 06-08-07, 10:03 PM	Remove the dexterity penalty and bump their strength bonus up to +4 +4 Strength, +2 Intelligence, -2 Charisma. There ya go, they're brainy orcs now.