Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Jake Fritters 02-09-05, 11:53 PM	I'm new to DND and I'm guessing this is a fairly easy question to answer. I want to make a Tiefling Rouge or a Drow Ranger for my second character. Its the first time both I and the DM have seen level adjustment, can someone point out which book to find specific information about it or give a breif explanation to have a fair game but able to choose the race you want? (I.E. My drow lvl 1 isn't more powerful than a human lvl 1)
Cymraegmorgan 02-10-05, 12:45 AM	Check out the section in your DMG again, then look at the LA Buyoff in Unearthed Arcana. And a first level Drow starts with an advantage over a Human or High Elf.
preacher of nothing 02-10-05, 05:30 AM	To make things easier: Level Adjustment and Effective Character Level: To determine the effective character level (ECL) of a monster character, add its level adjustment to its racial Hit Dice and character class levels. Use ECL instead of character level to determine how many experience points a monster character needs to reach its next level. Also use ECL to determine starting wealth for a monster character. Monster characters treat skills mentioned in their monster entry as class skills. If a monster has 1 Hit Die or less, or if it is a template creature, it must start the game with one or more class levels, like a regular character. If a monster has 2 or more Hit Dice, it can start with no class levels (though it can gain them later). Even if the creature is of a kind that normally advances by Hit Dice rather than class levels a PC can gain class levels rather than Hit Dice. Also, yes, check out Unearthed Arcana (the handbook) to learn about LA buyoff. Hope this helped :) ~preacher~
DM Zoc 02-10-05, 05:46 AM	I'm fairly certain you're starting at level 1, because that's what good and new people do. If you want to play a Drow or Tiefling in a level 1 game (such that you don't start with an advantage over anyone else), follow this link: Savage Progressions: Level Adjusted Races (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sp/20040213a) This lets you start out at level 1 with a class as normal, but later on you can take a level or two in the racial class associated with the race. If you treat them just like normal levels (except without gaining any hit points or skills), you'll be 90% of the way there.
Nom 02-10-05, 07:36 AM	Leaving aside the variety of optional rules presented above...Its the first time both I and the DM have seen level adjustment, can someone point out which book to find specific information about it or give a breif explanation to have a fair game but able to choose the race you want? (I.E. My drow lvl 1 isn't more powerful than a human lvl 1)Short answer - you can't play a drow in a level 1 game. The best way to think of a "level adjustment" is a handicap. For example, consider a tiefling with 1 level of Rogue. Since he has 1 class level, he has 1 character level. However, his variety of special abilities make him significantly more powerful than a default 1st level character. So we add his +1 level adjustment to his character level and say he is "effective character level" (ECL) 2. In game, we treat him as level 1, but whenever we talk about XP, we treat him as level 2. So, for example, a character with 7500 XP is a 4th level character (table 3-2, PH pg 22). A 4th level elf might have 3 levels of Rogue and 1 of wizard (or 4 rogue, or 4 wizard, or 1 ftr, 1 rog and 2 wiz, or anything else that adds up to 4). However, when the tiefling compares himself to the table, he first subtracts 1 level for his level adjustment, and then the remaining 3 levels are character level (Rog 2, Bard 1 for example). Note that ECL is only used for XP and a couple of miscellaneous effects. Feats, ability score increases, and the like are still based on character level. Although the tiefling above is ECL 4, he is still only character level 3, and will not gain +1 to an ability score until he reaches ECL 5 / character level 4 at 10,000 XP. The simple rule of thumb is: if you're talking XP, use ECL (character level + LA), otherwise use character level. So, how do you handle this in an ECL 1 game? As stated earlier, the simple answer is "you can't". A tiefling needs 1000 XP (ECL 2) to be a level 1 character. Below 1000 XP, he is an ECL 1 / CL 0 character, which means he has no Hit Dice, which means he is dead. Without adding extra complexity, the easiest solution is to simply allow your tiefling to start at ECL 2, either with 1000 XP, or with 0 XP and simply ignore that this is a problem. He starts slightly more powerful than everyone else, but earns less XP and doesn't reach second level until he gains 3000 XP (ECL 3 / CL 2). Or you could look into various optional rules; but I'd recommend not looking into ways to mitigate LA until you've understand and experienced what it is and how it affects play (it's a bit like trying to tweak the feel of your suspension before you've ever driven a car). For reference, the main LA/ECL rules are in DMG pg 172-173, chapter 6, "Monsters as races".
Jake Fritters 02-10-05, 08:23 AM	Thanks, Sorry for asking such a obvious question... I looked in the DMG and found it. Thanks agian.