Aasimar/Shade vs. Silver Dragon

[Ezra_The_Mad]

Despite what the title suggests, not a "fight" suggestion. I was considering one of two things for a character idea, and my question is this- Which one of these is worth the LA? I'f its the Shade Aasimar, i'm rolling up a warlock. I have some backstory already done. If it's the Young Silver Dragon...i'm not sure what i'll do. I got my DM to let me use Lesser Aasimar (The one with the +0 LA), so i'm really only worried about the Shade template- It honestly seems almost ridiculously powerful, with the caveat of literally none of it working in daylight. Almost not worth the +4. YSD, however, nets me some excellent Su abilities, natural armor, alternate form, and a breath weapon. Also, dragon.

Which would you pick? I'm generally interested in the general consensus. I'd also like to hear if there are better races for the Shade template.

[JadePhoenix]

Does it have to be a silver dragon? Steel dragon has lower LA and has a very powerful ability in alternate form.

[Lonely Tylenol]

I'd say Shade, with the caveat that you obviously need a way to produce a suitable level of darkness repeatedly (which Warlocks get out of the gate).

[tyckspoon]

Neither of them are *worth* the LA, if'n ya ask me, but if I were to pick between the two I'd go with the Aasimar. The reason is simply that the Shade template gives you a chance to actually put together the character, while a Young Silver Dragon is ECL 18 just to be a dragon; on the mechanical side of that, basically all you get is 'I'm a dragon'. Almost no room to build on that with class choice, which I find rather boring.

[Yawgmoth]

LA is essentially never worth it, barring a very scant few instances. The reason is that the guy who did most of the writing for SS is a horrible grognard who think anyone wanting to play anything other than human/elf/dwarf is Having Fun Wrong, so he intentionally made the mechanics abysmal. Which is a damn shame because the concept is obviously one a lot of people enjoy.

That said, of those choices I'd go with the Aasimar, because you actually get class levels. Steel dragon is a great pick if you're gonna go for a dragon, though.

[PlzBreakMyCmpAn]

The LA+0 one. No questions asked.

General races with ECL penalty or only worth it with my balanced ECL variant. Otherwise you have to dig very hard for