making pixies 0 LA - a beginner dm's mission

[ddude987]

Hello everyone! Happy holidays and all that. For my dnd group I'm running a campaign in about a month. The plan is to run an e8 game for some months, starting at level 3.

So far in the party we have - a warforged fighter (he might play a cat rogue instead, yes a sentient cat), a halfling bard, and a human swordsage. I'm not so worried about the powrr level of class tiers, I remade a lot of classes, and I have one last player who wants to be a pixie barbariab. Suboptimal, and very funny. I rebalanced all the races (a lot of them) to be more powerful that standard dnd. I want to nerf down pixie to be 0 la and on par with everything else.

So far my idea is to drop the ability changes to -4 str +4 dex +2 cha, no slas, greater invisibility 1+cha mod day uses (limited duration), no bonus feats. Is this to harsh or does this seem balanced? What changes would you make to pixie as a dm to make it 0 la (no rhd either, not that it normally has any)

[bekeleven]

Still a good race, especially for bards or sorcs, but also anyone that likes a fly speed and damage reduction.

If you want a fey in general for LA +0, and you don't want to use monster classes or anything, I'd start with the Petal (LA+2) and work backwards.

[Xervous]

Main things that keep it from being LA +0

-> Fly speed from level 1

Simply put flight is a powerful thing. Look at the Raptoran which doesn't get true flight until it advances quite a few class HD. The cheapest means of obtaining always on 60ft (good maneuverability) flight is 10k gp, perhaps more if the DM isn't too hot on grafts. Not to mention that racial flight can't be dispelled, sundered, or stolen.

-> Greater invisibility as a spell like > 1/day.

Assuming CL = HD, this surprisingly enough is not a problem in the first few levels. At 1 its unusable for offense, at 2 you get a single round, but at 3 onward it will show how problematic it is for a character to have access to a 4th level spell, and a decent one at that, so early.


Seriously, this is far more powerful than either a whispergnome, a lesser aasimar, or a dragonwrought kobold (disregarding its supporting material). Perhaps give the option for the player to unlock these abilities at later levels or through feat investment.

[TuggyNE]

-> Greater invisibility as a spell like > 1/day.

Assuming CL = HD, this surprisingly enough is not a problem in the first few levels. At 1 its unusable for offense, at 2 you get a single round, but at 3 onward it will show how problematic it is for a character to have access to a 4th level spell, and a decent one at that, so early.

It's worse than that, actually, since greater invisibility as an SLA would be touch-range without modifying it, so it's technically usable for offense, if only barely, at level 1.

But yeah, even just the DR, natural armor, and ability score adjustments would probably push the race beyond +0; when you add in constant fast flight with good maneuverability, that's easily an excellent +1, and then the single SLA remaining probably shoves it all the way to +2.

To get it down to +0 is actually pretty hard; maybe cut the ability score adjustments even further (-4 Str, +2 Dex, -2 Con, +2 Cha), trim the flight speed way down (30 or even 20 feet), drop DR and natural armor, maybe add a vulnerability to cold iron (+1d6 damage on hit), and give it one use of invisibility (not greater) for every three character levels, starting at 3. Offhand, that may still be more powerful than a standard +0, even human or whisper gnome or strongheart halfling, but closer to the power level you're looking at for your campaign. (Can't say for sure without examples.)

[magotter]

As it just so happens, I was futzing around with this very concept a couple of years back. Here are my notes. Ultimately this was to make an LA+2 Pixie.

For reference, here we have the original Stat Block for the Pixie as a Character, from d20srd.org:
• Starting Ability Score Adjustments: –4 Str, +4 Dex, +2 Int,+2 Cha. Pixies are physically weak but make up for it in other areas.
• Size: Small. Standard Features for small creatures apply.
• Speed: Pixie land speed is 20 feet.
• Low-Light Vision: Pixies can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination.
• Skills: +2 racial bonus on Listen, Search, and Spot checks.
• Automatic Languages: Common and Sylvan.
• Favored Class: Pixie. The best multiclassing choices for a pixie are rogue, sorcerer, and wizard.

Likewise, This is the original 5 Level Progression for the Race, Found in the Savage Sepcies Book, Page 190-191:
http://gametable.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/72032279/pixie1.png

I then took the Progression and Merged the first two levels, so that It would reflect the +4 LA from the SRD, which is the correct one according to WotC:
http://gametable.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/72032282/pixie2.png

Finally, I took the Spell Resistance and spread it out over levels 2-4, as almost all other progression races do this. I also Added back in the DR found in the SRD version in the same manner, and made the bonus feat back to being Weapon Finesse instead of a free bonus. Note that the LA levels are cumulative. That is, if I use the LA+3 version, I take all the stuff listed in the LA+1, LA+2, and LA+3 lines:
http://gametable.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/72032276/pixie%203.png

So we end up with 4 different Pixies, all adjusted for LA+1 to LA+4, allowing your players to choose just how behind the curve they wish to be.

Hope all this helps!

[Urpriest]

Here's the thing: Pixies are Small. A Pixie Barbarian isn't really any funnier than a Gnome Barbarian, unless you find insect wings especially silly on a barbarian for some reason.

In general, if someone wants to play a Pixie for non-mechanical reasons, I usually suggest Forest Gnome. No wings, but same size, and also reclusive, forest-y, and magical. If you really want wings, Unseelie Fey is a bit broken at LA +0 but it's not the end of the world.

[Zweisteine]

You might be able to use the Savage Species level 0 pixie. Give them all that, but don't make them (or don't let them) take levels in the class.

[Spore]

Half-Nymph (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Half-Nymph_%283.5e_Race%29) and refluff.

[Eldest]

Half-Nymph (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Half-Nymph_%283.5e_Race%29) and refluff.

That race isn't balanced, I think.

[Zweisteine]

That half-nymph is not at all balanced, unless cold iron is the standard material of the setting.

Found this over on Brilliangameologists, as the starting point for the pixie racial class.
Racial Traits
• Starting Ability Score Adjustments: –4 Str, +4 Dex, +2 Int, +2 Cha. Pixies are physically weak but make up for it in other areas.
• Small: As Small creatures, pixies gain a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but they must use smaller weapons than Medium-size creatures do, and their lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of Medium size characters.
• Speed: Pixie land speed is 20 feet.
• Low-Light Vision: Pixies can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. They retain the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
• Bonus Feats: a Pixie gains Weapon Finnesse and Alertness as bonus feats.
• Skills: +2 racial bonus on Listen, Search, and Spot checks.
• Automatic Languages: Common and Sylvan.
• Favored Class: Pixie. The best multiclassing choices for a pixie are rogue, sorcerer, and wizard.

[Kamai]

What I think I'd give the LA + 0 Pixie:
Ability score adjustments: -4 Str, +2 Dex, +2 Int, +2 Cha. Pixies are physically quick but weak, and are unusually creative and influential.
Small: As Small creatures, pixies gain a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but they must use smaller weapons than Medium-size creatures do, and their lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of Medium size characters.
Base land speed is 20 feet.
Hover (Ex): Pixies generally float 1 foot off the ground. Pixies can generally ignore ground-based hazards, but will still fall if the ground is more than 1 foot under them. While hovering, they have a 20ft movement speed.
Fey skin: A pixie has a +1 natural armor bonus. This bonus never applies against a cold iron weapon.
Spellguard: A pixie has a +1 racial bonus to all saving throws vs spells and spell-like abilities.
Low-light Vision: Pixies can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. They retain the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
Minor Invisibility (Sp): As a standard action, the Pixie can make itself invisible as per Invisibility for 1 round. The Pixie may maintain the invisibility by using another round of this ability and a swift action. The Pixie can do this for 3+Charisma bonus rounds per day, split up as he wishes.

Add a couple of feats to get full flight, DR, and SR, and you'd have something fun.

[Xerlith]

What I think I'd give the LA + 0 Pixie:
Ability score adjustments: -4 Str, +2 Dex, +2 Int, +2 Cha. Pixies are physically quick but weak, and are unusually creative and influential.
Small: As Small creatures, pixies gain a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but they must use smaller weapons than Medium-size creatures do, and their lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of Medium size characters.
Base land speed is 20 feet.
Hover (Ex): Pixies generally float 1 foot off the ground. Pixies can generally ignore ground-based hazards, but will still fall if the ground is more than 1 foot under them. While hovering, they have a 20ft movement speed.
Fey skin: A pixie has a +1 natural armor bonus. This bonus never applies against a cold iron weapon.
Spellguard: A pixie has a +1 racial bonus to all saving throws vs spells and spell-like abilities.
Low-light Vision: Pixies can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. They retain the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
Minor Invisibility (Sp): As a standard action, the Pixie can make itself invisible as per Invisibility for 1 round. The Pixie may maintain the invisibility by using another round of this ability and a swift action. The Pixie can do this for 3+Charisma bonus rounds per day, split up as he wishes.

Add a couple of feats to get full flight, DR, and SR, and you'd have something fun.


This is more like LA +1 by the WotC rules though.

There is always Oslecamo. (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=2215.0)