Level buyoff in retrospect for existing group?

[Gargravarr]

There's a group with ECL 5 I'm playing with, DM has allowed me to create a new character (Monk was boring to play, go figure...) and I'm trying to figure out a way to calculate the level buyoff XP of a +1 LA template so it's a fair result.

Current XP of each player is 12000 (rounded off).

Assuming I've build a char with an inherited template of +1 at Lvl 1.
Legitimate buyoff at Lvl 2, so -1000 XP, ECL 1 and +0 LA.

Since the group is ECL 5 now I would probably have catched up and be ECL 5 myself now too? How can I calculate this?

Or in other words, what's a fair way to offer the DM/the group in terms of XP penalty that I would still be behind the group without having to recalculate each encounter throughout the adventure?

This is assuming I would still be behind in terms of XP, of course...

I know this is fairly vague, given that it depends on the CR of the monsters etc but I'm just asking for pointers on what would be the best solution.

Cheers!

[Emperor Tippy]

You have 11,000 XP.

Level 5 is gained at 10,000 XP.

Therefore you are level five.

Honestly though, over 4 levels you should have made up the XP anyways from slightly faster XP gains.

[Gargravarr]

Honestly though, over 4 levels you should have made up the XP anyways from slightly faster XP gains.

Wow that was a quick answer.
Well yes, that's what I'm thinking too but since it's just a guess I wanted to see if I can reasonable recalculate with some average XP numbers or something...

Instead of going "Hey DM, I've made a new character but with +1 LA but am also Level 5 and have the same XP as everybody, so no penalty...", sounds a bit audacious, no? :D

[Yora]

No. If you start with a +1 LA, you can buyoff when you have reached 3 class levels.

That would have been at the point when you had reached 6,000 XP. At that point, you would not have taken your third class level, but instead pay 3,000 XP to reduce your LA to +0.
You know have 3,000 XP left and LA +0. That means you now have 3 class levels.

Later, you get the remaining 6,000 XP (for a total of 12,000 XP that everyone has), which puts your current XP at 9,000. That gets you 4 class levels.

(In theory, you would have gained more than 6,000 XP, because you were lower level than the other party members, but figuring that out exactly would be a huge amount of work.)

I think this must be correct, but probably someone else should confirm this.

[Gargravarr]

No. If you start with a +1 LA, you can buyoff when you have reached 3 class levels.

Ah! Indeed, my bad.


(In theory, you would have gained more than 6,000 XP, because you were lower level than the other party members, but figuring that out exactly would be a huge amount of work.)

Yes, this is why I'm asking for some reasonable guess/approximation in XP penalty. Is it more realistic to put me at 9000 XP and thus Level 4 or put me at say Level 5 (due to faster XP gains) but at 11000 XP, so I'm still 1000 XP behind everybody else.

[Emperor Tippy]

Ah! Indeed, my bad.



Yes, this is why I'm asking for some reasonable guess/approximation in XP penalty. Is it more realistic to put me at 9000 XP and thus Level 4 or put me at say Level 5 (due to faster XP gains) but at 11000 XP, so I'm still 1000 XP behind everybody else.

Ask your DM.

All of them are reasonable.

Some LA +1 templates are quite powerful, others are quite weak. Some have great synergy with specific classes and races, others don't.

So just ask your DM.

[Yora]

If you want to be reasonably exact, I would do it like this.

Everyone is at exactly 6,000 XP and ECL 4th (except you, who is at exactly 3,000 XP and ECL 3rd).
The party than goes through 14 encounters with an EL of 4, followed by a number of encounters with an EL of 5, until the other characters are at about 12,000 XP.

You then have to calculate what your character would have gained for everyone of these encounters.

That is, assuming it's a party of 4. If it's a larger party, it would be different. And of course, it would also be different if the party size changed at some point. Or if the encounters were not exactly EL 4 and EL 5.

[Emmerask]

Ask your DM.

All of them are reasonable.

Some LA +1 templates are quite powerful, others are quite weak. Some have great synergy with specific classes and races, others don't.

So just ask your DM.

I have to agree, LA buyoff is an optional rule so asking the dm would be the way to go.

[Yora]

Just because I have fun with such math problems, I did try to calculate it.

And what I got, for a party of 4 characters in which you are the only one with LA and that always gets encounter with the same EL as the average party level, is this:
You: 9,537 XP
Everyone else: 12,057 XP

[Gargravarr]

Just because I have fun with such math problems, I did try to calculate it.

And what I got, for a party of 4 characters in which you are the only one with LA and that always gets encounter with the same EL as the average party level, is this:
You: 9,537 XP
Everyone else: 12,057 XP

Cool, thanks!


and that always gets encounter with the same EL as the average party level

Hmm, by EL you mean the CR of the creatures that are encountered?
DM has always put the CR 2-3 levels above our ECL, on average...

ETA: Nevermind. I mistook EL for ECL, just saw it means the encounter level.

But yes, understood that I'll (hopefully) just end up with an arbitrary XP penalty but still can be barely Level 5. *fingers crossed*

[Raendyn]

You shouldnt ask for extra xp because IF you had done this while u actually lvled up you would have gotten a few extra xp.
Because you didnt do it, and if u had done it then you would have been left a lvl lower for some time which never happened. The point of the extra xp is that you struggled a bit, something you never did.

[Gargravarr]

You shouldnt ask for extra xp because IF you had done this while u actually lvled up you would have gotten a few extra xp.
Because you didnt do it, and if u had done it then you would have been left a lvl lower for some time which never happened. The point of the extra xp is that you struggled a bit, something you never did.

Yeah sure, but if I get less XP and everybody is ECL 5 it will take me longer to reach ECL 6 so it's still a struggle since everybody except me will get there sooner. That being said don't think it matters much if I'm "at the end" of level 4 or ar the beginning of level 5, the disadvantage would just be shifted a bit.

But I get your point ;)