LA Buy-Off - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

LA Buy-Off

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
matuty74
Mar 30, 2008 10:00:56 I'm just curious how other players handle this. Does anyone have a good alternative system to the normal one? I mean LA Buy-Off is okay at +1 to possibly +3 in some cases, but it gets really annoying at higher ones.
#2
southerntiger
Apr 01, 2008 12:31:06 I tried to make sense of it once.. and got lost.

so I just made the Level adjustment cheaper in my campaign.

minor - lose 2 feats on or before 9th level.
intermediate - +1 level
major - +2 level

I have a non-psionic half-giant that gets a minor giant bloodline as part of his level adjustment that replaces the psionic stuff and the +2 save vs fire spells and effects was replaced by a fixed feat based on what type of giant you took.

I've made other changes but then I'd be digressing more than I should.
#3
thane26425
Apr 01, 2008 14:05:21 I simply removed the level requirements. If a character has an LA, they can buy it off as they like, but only once per level. So, if they were level 5 but had a +2 LA, they could buy a +1 off at level 5 but would have to wait to level 6 to buy off the remaining +1. At the higher levels it works the same way. A lich could buy down the +4 LA at level 12, 12, 14 and 15.

The cost is still the same. However, I allow characters to set aside Xp for the reduction rather than apply a penalty. But, the LA buy off is considered training, so ALL Xp must be dedicated to once the decision is made to do the buy off. They can still make magic items and whatever as they like, it just sets back their LA account as it would their normal Xp.
#4
katahn
Apr 03, 2008 7:46:19 I calculate how much experience would be required to achieve the desired LA plus one (otherwise LA1 races would be "free") and then record that as an experience debt. All earned experience goes first to paying off the debt, the rest goes towards standard class level progression. So if we start a game at 1st level and someone wants to play a drow elf (LA2) they start the game as a level 1 drow elf of whatever class with an xp debt of 3,000 (amount required to reach level 3, or LA2+1).

If we started a game off with level 4 PCs standard characters (LA0) start off with 10,000xp equivilent and the drow would start off with only 7,000xp. This preserves the desired effect in low levels: namely that being a more powerful race gives you a slower start compared to everyone else. However it avoids the effect of increasingly irrelevant LAs impacting progression at higher levels. It's also incredibly simple to implement.
#5
thane26425
Apr 03, 2008 17:06:27
I calculate how much experience would be required to achieve the desired LA plus one (otherwise LA1 races would be "free") and then record that as an experience debt. All earned experience goes first to paying off the debt, the rest goes towards standard class level progression. So if we start a game at 1st level and someone wants to play a drow elf (LA2) they start the game as a level 1 drow elf of whatever class with an xp debt of 3,000 (amount required to reach level 3, or LA2+1).

If we started a game off with level 4 PCs standard characters (LA0) start off with 10,000xp equivilent and the drow would start off with only 7,000xp. This preserves the desired effect in low levels: namely that being a more powerful race gives you a slower start compared to everyone else. However it avoids the effect of increasingly irrelevant LAs impacting progression at higher levels. It's also incredibly simple to implement.

That's a pretty sweet method, if I'm reading you right. It sounds like it could also be applied to making magic items and spells with Xp components rather than losing Xps.
#6
katahn
Apr 04, 2008 8:03:35 Yes it could readily be implemented as an alternative to actually losing experience points for whatever reason. My actual house rule is the player only has to devote half of earned experience towards the debt but can devote up to the full 100% if desired. Mathematically it works out to be the same either way, but sometimes people prefer to see some experience moving them forward even if it isn't as much as it could be otherwise.

With experience debt though, I do not allow players to take experience debt voluntarily if they already have some. So the drow elf PC can't take experience debt to create a magic item until they've completely paid off the 3,000xp for their race. Similarly if a PC incurred 10,000xp of experience debt due to a level-drain effect they couldn't create a magic item until it was paid off, but if they got hit with another level drain effect before they'd paid off the first they'd just end up with more debt.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 matuty74 Mar 30, 2008 10:00:56	I'm just curious how other players handle this. Does anyone have a good alternative system to the normal one? I mean LA Buy-Off is okay at +1 to possibly +3 in some cases, but it gets really annoying at higher ones.
#2 southerntiger Apr 01, 2008 12:31:06	I tried to make sense of it once.. and got lost. so I just made the Level adjustment cheaper in my campaign. minor - lose 2 feats on or before 9th level. intermediate - +1 level major - +2 level I have a non-psionic half-giant that gets a minor giant bloodline as part of his level adjustment that replaces the psionic stuff and the +2 save vs fire spells and effects was replaced by a fixed feat based on what type of giant you took. I've made other changes but then I'd be digressing more than I should.
#3 thane26425 Apr 01, 2008 14:05:21	I simply removed the level requirements. If a character has an LA, they can buy it off as they like, but only once per level. So, if they were level 5 but had a +2 LA, they could buy a +1 off at level 5 but would have to wait to level 6 to buy off the remaining +1. At the higher levels it works the same way. A lich could buy down the +4 LA at level 12, 12, 14 and 15. The cost is still the same. However, I allow characters to set aside Xp for the reduction rather than apply a penalty. But, the LA buy off is considered training, so ALL Xp must be dedicated to once the decision is made to do the buy off. They can still make magic items and whatever as they like, it just sets back their LA account as it would their normal Xp.
#4 katahn Apr 03, 2008 7:46:19	I calculate how much experience would be required to achieve the desired LA plus one (otherwise LA1 races would be "free") and then record that as an experience debt. All earned experience goes first to paying off the debt, the rest goes towards standard class level progression. So if we start a game at 1st level and someone wants to play a drow elf (LA2) they start the game as a level 1 drow elf of whatever class with an xp debt of 3,000 (amount required to reach level 3, or LA2+1). If we started a game off with level 4 PCs standard characters (LA0) start off with 10,000xp equivilent and the drow would start off with only 7,000xp. This preserves the desired effect in low levels: namely that being a more powerful race gives you a slower start compared to everyone else. However it avoids the effect of increasingly irrelevant LAs impacting progression at higher levels. It's also incredibly simple to implement.
#5 thane26425 Apr 03, 2008 17:06:27	I calculate how much experience would be required to achieve the desired LA plus one (otherwise LA1 races would be "free") and then record that as an experience debt. All earned experience goes first to paying off the debt, the rest goes towards standard class level progression. So if we start a game at 1st level and someone wants to play a drow elf (LA2) they start the game as a level 1 drow elf of whatever class with an xp debt of 3,000 (amount required to reach level 3, or LA2+1). If we started a game off with level 4 PCs standard characters (LA0) start off with 10,000xp equivilent and the drow would start off with only 7,000xp. This preserves the desired effect in low levels: namely that being a more powerful race gives you a slower start compared to everyone else. However it avoids the effect of increasingly irrelevant LAs impacting progression at higher levels. It's also incredibly simple to implement. That's a pretty sweet method, if I'm reading you right. It sounds like it could also be applied to making magic items and spells with Xp components rather than losing Xps.
#6 katahn Apr 04, 2008 8:03:35	Yes it could readily be implemented as an alternative to actually losing experience points for whatever reason. My actual house rule is the player only has to devote half of earned experience towards the debt but can devote up to the full 100% if desired. Mathematically it works out to be the same either way, but sometimes people prefer to see some experience moving them forward even if it isn't as much as it could be otherwise. With experience debt though, I do not allow players to take experience debt voluntarily if they already have some. So the drow elf PC can't take experience debt to create a magic item until they've completely paid off the 3,000xp for their race. Similarly if a PC incurred 10,000xp of experience debt due to a level-drain effect they couldn't create a magic item until it was paid off, but if they got hit with another level drain effect before they'd paid off the first they'd just end up with more debt.