How is this race for LA+2

[Tyger]

My group is playing a relatively optimized game, and one of our players is looking to try out a giantish character, not sure the class as of yet. We're playing in a D&D / Palladium conversion, D&D rules in the Palladium world. One of the races is the Rahu-man, and we're looking at a toned down version of it with these stats:

• Strength +4, Constitution +2, Intelligence +2, Charisma -2.
• Giant: Rahu-men have the Giant subtype
• Large size. As large creatures, Rahu-men take -1 to AC and attack rolls. They have 10`reach
• base land speed is 30 feet.
• Darkvision out to 60 feet.
• +1 natural armor bonus.
• Multiple Limbs: Rahu-men have 4 arms and can take the Multiweapon Fighting and Multiattack feats
• Automatic Languages: Giant Speak, Common. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Elven, Goblin, Orc.
• Favored Class: Wizard.
• Rahu-men are scholarly and have a racial bonus of +2 Knowledge: History, and all knowledge skills are treated as class skills for them.
• Level adjustment +2


Something about this is setting off my spidey senses, but I'll be damned if I know what it is. The group is currently 12-14th level, heavy on casters (high op cleric with a slew of PrC dips, vanilla druid (like he needs any help!), duskblade and a bard/mindbender/sublime chord staying in SC for the rest of the ride, vanilla wizard).

I think it is the large size that is getting to me - but the half-ogre is also large and has comparable abilities. Granted, that is on the high end of LA+2, but still.

Anything we are missing here?

[SimonMoon6]

• Multiple Limbs: Rahu-men have 4 arms and can take the Multiweapon Fighting and Multiattack feats

Something about this is setting off my spidey senses, but I'll be damned if I know what it is.

This is what triggers mine. Multiple arms are usually pretty hard to get, especially arms that a PC can use effectively.

[mangosta71]

Frankly, if you're heavy on highly-optimized casters, multiple limbs don't matter. Either the character isn't melee, in which case he still can't cast any more spells per round due to action economy, or he is melee, in which case he has two more thumbs to twiddle while the casters do his shtick better than he can.

[Arael666]

The LA is fine, but I would definitly trow in some racial HD to even out the huge melee capacity this race has. 6 HD seems fair enough.

[Amnestic]

I'd probably put that on the very border of +2/+3. Between decent stat boosts (net +6, penalty to one of the weakest stats), large size and multi-armed I'd say it's definitely very close to a +3.

I wouldn't go above +3 with it though.

[ArcturusV]

Yeah. Seems weird since everything really is built up for being a physical combatant, that their favored class is listed as Wizard. Even the Knowledge thing is a physical combatant edge, rather than Wizards. I mean Wizards are always going to have Knowledge skills already after all, it only benefits classes that don't have it, like Fighters.

Might want to go LA 2, RHD 3 or something to really even it out, power curve wise. Lots of free power in there between Size, Reach, Multiattack, and favorable stat adjustments.

[Metahuman1]

It's fine at LA +2. No Hit dice required.


Seriously. He's probably competing against Natural Spell Druids and DMM: Persist Clerics. If not he's almost certainly competing against Optimized Frenzied Berserkers and Tome of Battle Classes at what ever his nich is.


This isn't gonna break the game in and of itself.

[Tyger]

Now you see why it was tricking out my spider sense.

The multiple limbs with large size is a concern, but as noted in the OP, the other party members are largely full casting classes, so if she does go with a melee character, she'll be just picking up our loot faster with those extra arms, and carrying more stuff for the casters. :)

And yes, the physical stats do lend themselves to more of a physical class as favored, but Palladium's flavor on Rahu-men is that they are largely a race of scholarly giants, spending much of their adult lives researching ancient magics and the like - odd, I know, but there you have it.

[ericgrau]

For a relatively optimized group LA 2 seems fine.

Btw the reach and multiple limbs will go well with tripping and maybe disarming (weapons, yes, but also objects). More attempts are nice. Also quad spell storing weapons, especially in a caster heavy party. Maybe even quick draw 4 more weapons since 4 spells per round, even 3rd level spells, is pretty swanky. And other per hit tricks. Point is there's a lot you can do besides moar damage.

Unless the optimization level is obscene I don't buy that caster > infinite melee stats, but I do think that LA 2 is perfectly reasonable under these circumstances.