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Pencil Teddy
2010-01-24, 01:33 PM
I've been wanting to make a Pixie character. I understand that it would require some level adjustment, but something confuses me.

A pixie character exchanges its 1 HD of fey for its first class level.

I don't know what this is suppose to mean. Some people I asked claimed it's just taking your first class level after adjustment, but that doesn't make sense. Every single race that needs LA besides this doesn't have this text in any form.

Flickerdart
2010-01-24, 01:34 PM
Pixies, like any other creatures with 1RHD, replace that RHD with levels when they take some. So, a Pixie Barbarian 1 would be an ECL5 character, since the Pixie HD gets replaced with a Barbarian HD.

Zaydos
2010-01-24, 01:36 PM
Okay most races have Racial Hit Dice and LA. If you have 2 Racial Hit Dice (RHD) and +3 LA without class levels you are a 5th level character. Creatures, like pixie, with 1 RHD lose it and it does not count against you. So a pixie has +4 LA and it starts as a 5th level character with 1 class level instead of as a 5th level character with 1 fey hit dice.

CockroachTeaParty
2010-01-24, 01:53 PM
Pixies have a pretty beastly LA, and they make poor melee characters. They can't really be casters either, for they lose way too many spell levels.

They can make passing scouts, sneaks, and skill monkeys. I once ran a game with a pixie PC. She was a warlock, if I'm not mistaken, and she didn't really contribute much. She was rarely ever attacked (flight, plus invisibility), but she did a paltry amount of damage. She was next to impossible to capture or imprison, which was useful when the rest of the party got thrown in prison, but other than that I don't think they're really all they're cracked up to be.

taltamir
2010-01-24, 01:57 PM
Okay most races have Racial Hit Dice and LA. If you have 2 Racial Hit Dice (RHD) and +3 LA without class levels you are a 5th level character. Creatures, like pixie, with 1 RHD lose it and it does not count against you. So a pixie has +4 LA and it starts as a 5th level character with 1 class level instead of as a 5th level character with 1 fey hit dice.

such a creature can also be played as a level 0... a class level 0 creature with 2 RHD and +3 LA is effectively a level 5 character. ECL5. You can play it with a 5th level human cleric, and a 5th level elf wizard... If the level 0 ECL 5 creature takes a level, he now has 2 RHD, 1 class HD, and +3 LA for a total ECL of 6

Creatures with 1RHD (like humans or pixies) cannot be level 0 (when played by players). They must exchange their 1 RHD with 1 class level to begin play.

Dusk Eclipse
2010-01-24, 02:07 PM
Pixies have a pretty beastly LA, and they make poor melee characters. They can't really be casters either, for they lose way too many spell levels.
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I have to disagree with the bolded part once we had a barbarian half drago pixie in a gestalt game, it was BESTIAL

CockroachTeaParty
2010-01-24, 02:13 PM
I have to disagree with the bolded part once we had a barbarian half drago pixie in a gestalt game, it was BESTIAL

Well, sure, if it's a gestalt game, and the DM lets you shove all the LA on one side of the gestalt build. Gestalt can render pretty much any race arguments moot, depending on DM preference and house rules.

I'm saying that a RAW pixie character sucks. At anything other than being kind of sneaky, at any rate.

Defiant
2010-01-24, 02:13 PM
I've been wanting to make a Pixie character. I understand that it would require some level adjustment, but something confuses me.

A pixie character exchanges its 1 HD of fey for its first class level.

I don't know what this is suppose to mean. Some people I asked claimed it's just taking your first class level after adjustment, but that doesn't make sense. Every single race that needs LA besides this doesn't have this text in any form.

To help you understand it better, the same applies to Humans, Elves, Dwarves, etc.

Elves have a +0 LA. An elf character exchanges its 1 HD of elf for its first class level.

So you have your 0 LA and then you start your classes. Elf fighter 1 = ECL1. It basically just means you have no racial hit dice to worry about.

So for a pixie you have your 4 LA and then you start your classes. Pixie fighter 1 = ECL5.

Tinydwarfman
2010-01-24, 04:29 PM
Pixies have a pretty beastly LA, and they make poor melee characters. They can't really be casters either, for they lose way too many spell levels.

They can make passing scouts, sneaks, and skill monkeys. I once ran a game with a pixie PC. She was a warlock, if I'm not mistaken, and she didn't really contribute much. She was rarely ever attacked (flight, plus invisibility), but she did a paltry amount of damage. She was next to impossible to capture or imprison, which was useful when the rest of the party got thrown in prison, but other than that I don't think they're really all they're cracked up to be.

Your pixie was obviously not a glaivelock. I shudder to think of how absurdly powerful those things can be.

ericgrau
2010-01-24, 04:36 PM
You have unlimited greater invis. Pixies make insane rogues. Free. Sneak attack. And you can fly. Grab a bow, rapid shot and you're good to go. Get boots of speed for yet another haste attack. Pump your con and later grab improved evasion to make up for the lost HP; area damage is your greatest enemy.

I can imagine a caster or other tricky character could work too thanks to the greater invis. There are a bunch of tricky low level spells you could use, instead of going for raw power. Or even become an irresistible dance pixie. Thing is this is one of the few situations where I'm in favor of LA buyoff - at least for the extra irresistible dance LA - because that SLA really doesn't scale well against any of the higher level enemies with SR.

bansidhe
2010-01-24, 05:23 PM
I love Pixies too [my threads just page or so away,very useful]

But I also found this,its good for ideas at least :)

http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19871070/The_Pixie_Handbook

Devils_Advocate
2010-01-25, 06:14 AM
I've been wanting to make a Pixie character. I understand that it would require some level adjustment, but something confuses me.

A pixie character exchanges its 1 HD of fey for its first class level.

I don't know what this is suppose to mean.
It means that a pixie character exchanges its 1 HD of fey for its first class level. :smallwink:

OK, you know how the pixie in the Monster Manual has one Fey hit die? Well, a pixie with class levels doesn't have that. Like, you know how when you build a dwarf character, you don't start him out as a level 1 Warrior, even though the dwarf in the Monster Manual is a level 1 Warrior? Just like that.


Some people I asked claimed it's just taking your first class level after adjustment, but that doesn't make sense.
Well... A pixie character (without irresistible dance) has 4 class levels less than its ECL (and no racial hit dice). Does that make sense?


Every single race that needs LA besides this doesn't have this text in any form.
It's a special rule for creatures with 1 or less HD. This is explained in the Monsters As Races (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monstersAsRaces.htm) section, which I recommend taking the time to read if you want to play a monster character.

But the basic gist in this case is that playing a pixie means that you get 4 levels less than a LA +0 character. You gain XP and level up as a LA +0 character with 4 levels more than you does, and you get to have as much treasure, but for all other purposes -- feats, max skill ranks, ability score increases, which spells effect you, whatever -- your level is your actual number of hit dice, which in this case (because your character has no racial hit dice) is just your number of class levels.

So, for example, if you wanted you make an ECL 5 pixie, you would build it following exactly the same rules for creating a level 1 character of a PHB race, but equip it as a level 5 character.

Incidentally, make sure to use the SRD version of the pixie (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/sprite.htm#pixie) rather than the un-errataed Monster Manual version. They took out its polymorph spell-like abilities but gave it Weapon Finesse as a bonus feat. Much more balanced.

You should also strongly consider making your pixie a Rogue, as this is a race/class combination that cries out to be played.

Runestar
2010-01-25, 06:55 AM
Pixies are one of those races I would never be caught dead playing in a lower lv campaign, but won't mind rolling up in a higher-lv game.

The LA starts paying off only when they have some class lvs under their belt, since their abilities don't really do much by themselves, but complement other class features (such as sneak attack) quite well.

For example, say I am a Pixie rogue2 in a 6th lv game. I can be fairly hard to kill (between sr, dr, perm-invis, decent AC, evasion and flight), but it would be difficult for me to contribute effectively, since I deal so little damage, so opponents can afford to just ignore me and focus on other players. I am like a tortoise with a toothpick. Plus, one lucky hit is all it takes to turn me into ground pixie dust.

But say I am now a Pixie rogue12 in a 16th lv game. I have enough hp to withstand a few good hits, so I can now breathe more easily. I am starting to deal decent damage (TWFing+SA+consistently able to deal SA), my high dex more than makes up for my lack of bab (thanks to free weapon finesse).

In fact, if you were to play a pixie in a low-lv game, I think the only real feasible choice is swordsage.

Duke of URL
2010-01-25, 07:17 AM
Atcually, my favorite class for a Pixie is Warlock -- you give up 4 invoker levels (roughly 2d6 EB damage and 2 invocations) for insane stat bonuses and racial abilities that amount to the best two Lesser invocations, greatly souped up, plus a slew of SLAs that can come in handy.

The biggest problem is overcoming the slower gain of higher grade invocations, but your primary job should be debuffing and/or battlefield control, not damage dealing.