Calculating LA for homebrews

[Barbarian MD]

Has anyone ever set about coming up with a comprehensive system for setting the level adjustment on homebrew races? If not, we should try, rather than having to eyeball it each time.

So, i suppose we'll need to figure out how much each of the following is worth:

+2 to ability score
-2 to ability score
a decrease in size increment
an increase in size increment
DR/?
Natural weapons
increased speed
decreased speed
flight
one feat
one SLA (specifying level and times per day. Pixies' Irresistible Dance 1/day is +2 LA, while half celestials get 10 SLAs on top of everything else for only 4 LA)

and i'll edit the list as people make suggestions. An important decision we need to make is this: does the price increase linearly for stacking improvements, i.e. If we decide +2 strength is .25 LA, is +4 strength .50 LA?

[Volthawk]

Something like this has already been done. Look at this (http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/shadows/Handbook/ECLcalc.html).

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

Honestly, I don't think this can be done.

Let's take -2 Strength, for example. Let's say it's worth -.2 LA by itself. But is it worth -.4 LA if I'm size Large? -.1 LA if I'm already size small, and I get a +2 Dex bonus?

What if I heal at twice the natural rate, but only under the open night sky? If I gain Fast Healing in the presence of active mold spores? If, like an elf, I trance instead of sleeping? How much better is a Dodge bonus against Giants than a Dodge bonus against Aberrations?

In short, the best we can do is to guess. Educated guesses, certainly, and sometimes aided by things like that the previous poster linked to, but it's really to delicate a process to develop a comprehensive system for.

[Barbarian MD]

Wow! Thanks for the link. I've already bookmarked it.

[Melayl]

There was a system posted on the WoTC boards by YabbatheWhat called the Feature Point system that, while complicated, gives a very good estimate of LA. I've saved the thread and relevant .pdf that explains how to use it. If you're interested, PM me your email and I'll send them to you.