Alleran
2011-02-15, 11:53 AM
Some brief background: I've been running a campaign for a few months now, starting from 1st level, and the party is currently at around level 3. Recently, a new player joined this particular group from another that I game in (d20 Modern and Star Wars RCR, mostly). He's usually an extremely good roleplayer, and most of the rest of the group already knows him, so I'm not too worried about him engaging in dastardly feats of munchkinry.
However, he would like to play as an Avariel Elf (from Races of Faerun), and while I initially had little problem with it, I was surprised to learn that they actually have a level adjustment of +3.
One of the things I'm wondering is if that LA is a reasonable adjustment for the Avariel? Yes, they do gain wings and some rather good stat adjustments (among other things), but comparing it to some of the stuff in the same book (fey'ri, or aasimar who spend a feat on wings) they don't actually seem to be quite worth the +3, being closer to a +2 (albeit the very high end of +2, or an extremely low +3). However, I don't want to just allow an ECL 4 character into a group of level 3s if it might be unbalancing, and I am somewhat worried about the effects that the fly speed, for one, may have on low level opponents (especially since even most wizards don't, AFAIK, get flight until 5th level without Alter Self abuse, and this group are hardly optimisers). I'd rather not deliberately throw dungeons and enclosed spaces at them all for the sake of balancing out one member.
Second, given that he would be playing a character with only a single class level (in a low-level campaign, as this one currently is) there's the fact that with just a single level (which brings him to ECL 4, ahead of the others in the party), he will have exceptionally poor HP, BAB, saves and the like compared to the others (who are all playing LA +0 races). Is the LA +3 actually enough to reasonably offset that benefit?
Lastly, if I were looking to modify the Avariel race in some fashion to reduce it to a LA +2, what would the most balanced way to do it? Take out some of the stat adjustments, reduce their flight speed, add in something about claustrophobia? They're supposed to all be quite claustrophobic in enclosed spaces, which might warrant adding something to their stats instead of just RPing it (because, to be honest, even the very best RPers may often conveniently overcome their weaknesses with willpower, faith or the like just in time to run into a dungeon at the prospect of looting the hoard of a dragon - at least in my experience).
However, he would like to play as an Avariel Elf (from Races of Faerun), and while I initially had little problem with it, I was surprised to learn that they actually have a level adjustment of +3.
One of the things I'm wondering is if that LA is a reasonable adjustment for the Avariel? Yes, they do gain wings and some rather good stat adjustments (among other things), but comparing it to some of the stuff in the same book (fey'ri, or aasimar who spend a feat on wings) they don't actually seem to be quite worth the +3, being closer to a +2 (albeit the very high end of +2, or an extremely low +3). However, I don't want to just allow an ECL 4 character into a group of level 3s if it might be unbalancing, and I am somewhat worried about the effects that the fly speed, for one, may have on low level opponents (especially since even most wizards don't, AFAIK, get flight until 5th level without Alter Self abuse, and this group are hardly optimisers). I'd rather not deliberately throw dungeons and enclosed spaces at them all for the sake of balancing out one member.
Second, given that he would be playing a character with only a single class level (in a low-level campaign, as this one currently is) there's the fact that with just a single level (which brings him to ECL 4, ahead of the others in the party), he will have exceptionally poor HP, BAB, saves and the like compared to the others (who are all playing LA +0 races). Is the LA +3 actually enough to reasonably offset that benefit?
Lastly, if I were looking to modify the Avariel race in some fashion to reduce it to a LA +2, what would the most balanced way to do it? Take out some of the stat adjustments, reduce their flight speed, add in something about claustrophobia? They're supposed to all be quite claustrophobic in enclosed spaces, which might warrant adding something to their stats instead of just RPing it (because, to be honest, even the very best RPers may often conveniently overcome their weaknesses with willpower, faith or the like just in time to run into a dungeon at the prospect of looting the hoard of a dragon - at least in my experience).