Ways to deal with the one player who has no level adjustment?

[MonkeySage]

Most of my players have a level adjustment, and I'd decided that I wanted everyone to be at the same experience level... i don't want to put the odd player at a higher level, are there ways i could reasonably give him a level adjustment? He's a vanara

[Firebug]

He's technically not at a higher level... that is what level adjustment means.
He has just as much experience as everyone else, he just spent it all on his class rather then spending it on racial features.

Perhaps it'll help if you stopped using level to mean class level and started using ECL (effective character level).

[HunterOfJello]

What races and classes are the other players using? That will give us better info to guide you on this sort of thing.

[Hand_of_Vecna]

If the no LA guy isn't a full caster, he probably won't be blowing away the rest of the party. If one higher Character Level person just plain drives you crazy, give him something that won't hurt his character concept.

Can you tell us something other than his race,so we can recommend something appropriate?

[Honest Tiefling]

Maybe racial levels, instead of level adjustment to even things out?

[MonkeySage]

His character is a rogue, specifically having been raised by a group of human thieves.
Actually what I was getting at was that for the sake of simplicity, i wanted everyone to gain class levels at the same rate, and to have the same number of class levels. What I wanted to do was find some way to boost his LA so that I can simply refer to the Phb to determine what their class levels would be, rather than having to search through the dmg.
This is actually a technique that another dm showed me once, and i'm just taking it a step further by actively leveling the playing field.

[Rebel7284]

Well you're in luck. The way LA works, they will level at the same rate anyway. Sure the number of class levels will be higher, but that doesn't matter for XP...

[Slipperychicken]

Yeah, he's the same Effective Character Level (ECL), so it should work out just fine the way it is.

Also, how much LA do you want for him? You could just offer him his choice of non-intrusive templates. Both of the following let him hide extremely well, allowing him to get sneak attacks much more easily.


If it's +2, you can just hand him the Shadow Creature template (from a forgotten realms or faerun book?) and let him choose whether he wants to look creepy or normal. Either way, disappearing while under observation is awesome.

If it's +1, the Dark template (tome of magic, pg 161) does basically the same thing for less LA.

[Firebug]

Again, ECL is each and every characters actual 'level'. They gain XP as if they were that level. Ie Rogue 3 with a +1 LA started level 3 (of rogue) as if they were a level 4 character, ie at 6,000 xp. They require another 4,000 xp to advance to Rogue 4 (for a total of 10,000 xp). A Rogue with a +0 LA would start Rogue 4 at 6,000 xp and level advance to Rogue 5 at 10,000 xp. The important thing is they gain xp and wealth by level as they increase their ECL. Assuming you keep everyone's XP the same, ie 'party xp' and no one does much crafting* everyone levels at the same time.

Perhaps thinking of it more like the level adjustment is another 'class' and they are multi-classing, they just don't get the benefits of more HD/skills/etc. They get the benefits of their race instead.

Now if you are using LA buyoff... you actually have to track XP per character because everyone will level at different times.

*perhaps allowing an xp budget per level to be spent on crafting/xp cost spells. That way the crafter feels like they are getting some use out of their feats without blowing wealth by level completely apart.

[Lightlawbliss]

Again, ECL is each and every characters actual 'level'. They gain XP as if they were that level. Ie Rogue 3 with a +1 LA started level 3 (of rogue) as if they were a level 4 character, ie at 6,000 xp. They require another 4,000 xp to advance to Rogue 4 (for a total of 10,000 xp). A Rogue with a +0 LA would start Rogue 4 at 6,000 xp and level advance to Rogue 5 at 10,000 xp. The important thing is they gain xp and wealth by level as they increase their ECL. Assuming you keep everyone's XP the same, ie 'party xp' and no one does much crafting* everyone levels at the same time.

Perhaps thinking of it more like the level adjustment is another 'class' and they are multi-classing, they just don't get the benefits of more HD/skills/etc.

Now if you are using LA buyoff... you actually have to track XP per character because everyone will level at different times.

*perhaps allowing an xp budget per level to be spent on crafting/xp cost spells. That way the crafter feels like they are getting some use out of their feats without blowing wealth by level completely apart.

your players must love playing artificers...

and a rogue might also enjoy being a ghost.

[MonkeySage]

I went with the Dark Template suggested by SlipperyChicken, worked great, and the player loves it. I did tweak it a bit so that it wasn't as powerful, but that's about it.

[Firebug]

your players must love playing artificers...

I'm a player in a game with that system actually. Something like level squared times 2 or 3 in 'craft xp' per level. Enough that you can make scrolls/minor items, but less then half a full level at 20.

The only game I am currently DMing (GMing?) is 3e Shadowrun. I luckily talked one player out of a 17 body, 15 strength troll... into a Unicorn Shaman. Yeah. Not sure if I got the better end of that deal. At least he's Fierce and Free[tm].

Other games I am a player in are a Swordmage 4e Paragon, and a Bard 4e Epic.