Level adjustments

[toddex]

Just so Im getting this right, total adjustment is level + hit die = total adjustment, correct?

So if I wanted to be an ogre and my campaign is starting at level 7 I would take the 4 hit dice + 2 level adjustment and start off as a level 1 fighter?

[Quietus]

Just so Im getting this right, total adjustment is level + hit die = total adjustment, correct?

So if I wanted to be an ogre and my campaign is starting at level 7 I would take the 4 hit dice + 2 level adjustment and start off as a level 1 fighter?

This is entirely correct. It usually leads to the character being behind on the power curve, unfortunately, but that is exactly how the rules work.

[Tsotha-lanti]

Just so Im getting this right, total adjustment is level + hit die = total adjustment, correct?

So if I wanted to be an ogre and my campaign is starting at level 7 I would take the 4 hit dice + 2 level adjustment and start off as a level 1 fighter?

Correct in all but one technicality (which might be significant sometimes): racial hit die aren't "adjustment," but "levels" - basically, you have X levels in monstrous humanoid/outsider/whatever.

Remember, too, that most level-based effects only use your hit dice. ECL or effective character level, which is hit dice (including levels) + level adjustment is used for XP calculations of all sorts (including how much you get and how much you need).

[only1doug]

Correct in all but one technicality (which might be significant sometimes): racial hit die aren't "adjustment," but "levels" - basically, you have X levels in monstrous humanoid/outsider/whatever.

Remember, too, that most level-based effects only use your hit dice. ECL or effective character level, which is hit dice (including levels) + level adjustment is used for XP calculations of all sorts (including how much you get and how much you need).

Exactly right.

Your character would then be Monsterous humanoid 2 / Fighter 1
and would have 3 feats (L1, L3, Fighter bonus). (ECL 7)

At next level the character would be entitled to his L4 stat increase.

[JeenLeen]

Do racial hit die count for calculating when you get feats and ability points from leveling up (every third and fourth level, respectively)?

[Sstoopidtallkid]

Do racial hit die count for calculating when you get feats and ability points from leveling up (every third and fourth level, respectively)?Yes, but LA does not(one of the reasons it sucks).

[Keld Denar]

Yes. Head over to www.d20srd.com or consult your local Monstrous Manual for more details on monster types and BAB/Save/Skill advancement. Like, Monstrous Humanoids have 1/1 BAB, d8 HD, and a pretty decent skill set. Outsiders have all good saves, etc.

For any creature with racial HD and class levels, your skills and HD are all dependant on your HD + levels ONLY.

LA is ONLY factored in to determine XP and challenges appropriate. Outside of that, LA has absolutely 0 bearing on the game.

A centaur4/Fighter2 (+2 LA) is a 6th level character, with the 3 regular feats (1st, 3rd, 6th) and 2 bonus fighter feats. He has skill maximums based on a 6th level character (9 ranks for class skills, 4 for crossclass). He is in every mechanical way a 6th level character...

Except that he is expected to face challenges as an 8th level character, and recieves XP for overcoming those challenges as an 8th level character just the same as a human Fighter8 would. LA factors in things like extraordinary stats, changes in size/shape, and any special EX, SU, and SP abilities that are more powerful than a typical +0 LA character.

[Devils_Advocate]

Yeah, the reason that racial hit dice aren't included in Level Adjustment is that they're actually mandatory levels. They give all of the generic benefits of levels: hit points, BAB, base saves, skills (both points and max ranks), feats. You count them along with your normal class levels for all level-related purposes.

LA, on the other hand, is the number of levels you have to give up to play a more powerful race. It gives you jack, but makes you level up slower, in order to balance out the powerful race's benefits.

The exception there is that all characters still normally start with wealth appropriate to their total Effective Character Level, not their character level (i.e. total hit dice).

The general consensus is that most races are over-LAed. This is probably because the game designers wanted to err on the side of encouraging normal characters instead of weird monster characters.

Think of LA as being purely a balance guideline that tells the DM what to give you (in treasure and XP) instead of a part of your character's functioning. Of course, to make this work, you have to assume that it's the DM's job to tell you when to level up.