Level Adjustment, Hit Dice, and ELC

[LucaUmbriel]

According to a long time player of 3.5 who learned his rules from someone who supposedly (hearsay since I never met the person) has played D&D from the very beginning says that level adjustment accounts for everything listed on a monster and that you don't have to increase ECL beyond the listed LA
He was referring to Rakshasa, Naztharune from MM3 pg 136 at the time, namely that their +5LA gives them everything under "Naztharune Rakshasas as Characters" including the 11d8 Racial Hit dice and can thus be played as an Assassin 1 ECL 6 while still retaining the hitdice, base attack bonus, skill points, fort ref and will bonuses, and racial feats.
If my understanding, and the understanding imparted to me from someone else who's been playing since what he called AD&D (he also referred to it as D&D before it was called D&D, but its been a few years), a Naztharune would be an Assassin1/Naztharune 11 ECL 17.

[OldTrees1]

You are correct.
11 Racial Hit Dice + 1 Class Level + 5 Level Adjustment = ECL 17

However Monsters have 3 types of levels
ECL (RHD + Class Levels + LA) is there main level. This is used for xp and leveling.

Character Level (RHD + Class Levels) is the number of hit dice they have. This is important for spells like Sleep.

Racial Hit Dice (RHD) is the number of racial hit dice they have. This is used for determining the DCs of some of their racial abilities (like the detect thoughts spell-like ability). These DCs do not increase with class levels.

[LucaUmbriel]

You are correct.
11 Racial Hit Dice + 1 Class Level + 5 Level Adjustment = ECL 17

However Monsters have 3 types of levels
ECL (RHD + Class Levels + LA) is there main level. This is used for xp and leveling.

Character Level (RHD + Class Levels) is the number of hit dice they have. This is important for spells like Sleep.

Racial Hit Dice (RHD) is the number of racial hit dice they have. This is used for determining the DCs of some of their racial abilities (like the detect thoughts spell-like ability). These DCs do not increase with class levels.

Well, my goal with the question boils down to this:
If someone were to play a Nathzarune with full 11d8 RHD, would it be in a level 7 campaign with other level 7 players or in a level 17 campaign with level 17 players? (ignoring any homebrew rules or such)

[TuggyNE]

Well, my goal with the question boils down to this:
If someone were to play a Nathzarune with full 11d8 RHD, would it be in a level 7 campaign with other level 7 players or in a level 17 campaign with level 17 players? (ignoring any homebrew rules or such)

The latter.

[Pan151]

Well, my goal with the question boils down to this:
If someone were to play a Nathzarune with full 11d8 RHD, would it be in a level 7 campaign with other level 7 players or in a level 17 campaign with level 17 players? (ignoring any homebrew rules or such)

What matters in terms of level balance between players is always the ECL. That's what you use to determine exp rewards, exp to next level, wealth and whether or not a character is eligible for a campaign of specific level.
A Nathzarune is ECL 16 (17 with 1 class level) and that's the number you're gonna use. If you put it in a lv7 campaign it would be roughly 3 times more powerful than the rest of the players.

[Necroticplague]

If he was playing pathfinder, he would be spot-on, that actually is how it works there. In 3.5 however, you're right, and those RHD add to your ECL.