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View Full Version : Questions of LA, Character Level, and Hit Dice



Stormthorn
2009-06-03, 06:52 PM
A Mind Flayer as a PC has an LA of +7 and 8 abberration HD. Does that mean that at lvl 1 its character level is 16 (8+7+1)?

Mephits have an LA of +3 but have a note of (Cohort) after that. Are they a lvl 3 cohort or a level 6 cohort (LA 3 + 3HD)?

Doc Roc
2009-06-03, 06:59 PM
LA + HD + Class levels = ECL

As a general rule of thumb, whatever would screw you the most is the correct reading ;)

Yuki Akuma
2009-06-03, 07:00 PM
A Mind Flayer with one level in a class has a character level of 9 (1 plus its 8 racial HD), but an effective character level of 16 (so he has the experience points and wealth of a 16th level character). The distinction may seem stupid but it is actually important.

A mephit counts as a level 6 cohort, yes, even though its actual level is only 3.

Stormthorn
2009-06-03, 07:31 PM
Ok...but if you where playing a Mind Flayer you would be in a group of about level 15s. Seems odd since they arnt that scary except for their instant death thing.

Im thinking of having a Mephit guide the PCs but i would like her to be a Cohort to avoid unbalancing things.