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Ashtagon
2009-08-18, 01:51 PM
One common complaint about level adjustment for powerful races seems to be that it provides a permanent reduction in the character's long-term potential. At the same time, as the character levels up, the original race bonuses become less and less significant, eventually becoming all-but irrelevant compared to class abilities.

This is an attempt to fix that. (yeah, another fix)

The total XP needed to attain a given level can be described by the formula:

L x (L-1) x 500

Where L is the new level to be attained. Level 1 is a special case, in that it is always fixed at zero XP. For a LA+0 race, that means levels 2-5 follow the numerical pattern 2-3-4-5 in this formula, a LA+1 race is 3-4-5-6, a LA+2 race is 4-5-6-7, and so on.

The change for this fix is that, in the above formula, after the initial LA penalty, further levels add +½ to the value of L in that formula. Thus, a LA+1 race becomes 3-3½-4-5-6, a LA+2 race becomes 4-4½-5-5½-6, a LA+3 race becomes 5-5½-6-6½-7, and so on. Except in the case of really high LA numbers, this will eventually merge with the baseline amount of XP required for a regular LA+0 race.

For the benefit of the curious / math-impaired / lazy, the XP tables work out as follows:

Edit: Replaced the table with a LA buyback rate of 0.8 instead of 0.5.



Level XP LA+1 LA+2 LA+3 LA+4
1. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0.
2. 1,000. 3,000. 6,000. 10,000. 15,000.
3. 3,000. 5,320. 9,120. 13,920. 19,720.
4. 6,000. 8,280. 12,880. 18,480. 25,080.
5. 10,000. 11,880. 17,280. 23,680. 31,080.
6. 15,000. 16,120. 22,320. 29,520. 37,720.
7. 21,000. 21,000. 28,000. 36,000. 45,000.
8. 28,000. 28,000. 34,320. 43,120. 52,920.
9. 36,000. 36,000. 41,280. 50,880. 61,480.
10. 45,000. 45,000. 48,880. 59,280. 70,680.
11. 55,000. 55,000. 57,120. 68,320. 80,520.
12. 66,000. 66,000. 66,000. 78,000. 91,000.
13. 78,000. 78,000. 78,000. 88,320. 102,120.
14. 91,000. 91,000. 91,000. 99,280. 113,880.
15. 105,000. 105,000. 105,000. 110,880. 126,280.
16. 120,000. 120,000. 120,000. 123,120. 139,320.
17. 136,000. 136,000. 136,000. 136,000. 153,000.
18. 153,000. 153,000. 153,000. 153,000. 167,320.
19. 171,000. 171,000. 171,000. 171,000. 182,280.
20. 190,000. 190,000. 190,000. 190,000. 197,880.


How broken is this idea?

Gorgondantess
2009-08-18, 02:20 PM
...So 20th level takes the same amount of xp no matter your LA? Supremely broken. Even at 20th, LA+4 is significant.

Ashtagon
2009-08-18, 02:30 PM
The exact rate at which the LA penalty is recovered could be varied to make things balance. The numbers I calculated for assume the rate is 1/2 a level per level, so that each point of LA is recovered after two levels. Making that 3/4 instead of 1/2 would make it take 4 levels to recover a point of LA, 4/5 would make it take 5 levels to recover a point of LA. At 4/5, a LA+4 race will never quite be on the same XP track as a LA+0 race; not before L20 anyway.

Edit: 0.8 looks better, as it doesn't leave any fractional XP points in the formula.

Obviously, the initial numbers regarding rate of LA reduction needed adjusting. But how is the basic concept?

Strawman
2009-08-18, 05:28 PM
I like it. Anything more than LA+3 might not work well, but how often does a playey actually use a LA+4 race?

What I like most about this system is that it would allow for fractional LA adjustments. I've seen a dozen races in the homebrew forum that teeter on the fence between LA +0 and LA +1. With this system it would be easy to do LA +0.5.

Golden-Esque
2009-08-18, 09:32 PM
...So 20th level takes the same amount of xp no matter your LA? Supremely broken. Even at 20th, LA+4 is significant.

Maybe LA +4 is broken in and on itself though. If you take a 17th Level Human Wizard and pit him against a Level 15th Level Drow Wizard, does the Drow's racials really make up for those two levels?

The sad part is that the Racial abilities themselves do not scale well, if at all, to be constantly worth the same amount of experience.