Kantolin
2014-06-24, 12:25 PM
I thought I understood this, but after a reread I'm suddenly wondering if I've been using the rules wrong.
Okay! So you have our LA+2 unit. How I was playing it was, once said LA+2 unit reaches ECL 6, he can become a LA+1 unit (spending some XP), then again when he hits ECL9.
However, upon a reread, it says 'Number of Class Levels Necessary for Level Adjustment Reduction', emphasis mine. And this fits the drow cleric example that I guess I never read very clearly - she is ECL 8 before she can remove her first LA, which is 'LA+2 and 6 class levels'.
The weirdness, however, comes from their LA+6 example. They specifically don't have LA+7 or higher because, to again quote the SRD:
Creatures with a level adjustment of +7 or more retain their full normal level adjustment until reaching epic levels (21st level or higher), and thus aren't included on the table.
And then their LA+6 example says that you'd need 18 class levels. But uh.. if your LA is 6, and you have 18 class levels, won't that happen at level 24 and thus also be epic?
Now, I'm also the DM (in most cases), so I'll generally go with ECL over 'class levels' to be more nice, and things are mostly case-by-case anyway - I have a good handle on balance. This is mostly me wondering - so is the LA+6 example in error (and shouldn't be on the table itself due to requiring epic)? Is my understanding of it wrong?
(I also didn't realize that your hit dice did not count for this purpose, which seems additionally mean. Poor hound archons can't ever get a single reduction to their level adjustments, it seems, in addition to starting at level 11 about on par with a level 11 commoner :P)
Okay! So you have our LA+2 unit. How I was playing it was, once said LA+2 unit reaches ECL 6, he can become a LA+1 unit (spending some XP), then again when he hits ECL9.
However, upon a reread, it says 'Number of Class Levels Necessary for Level Adjustment Reduction', emphasis mine. And this fits the drow cleric example that I guess I never read very clearly - she is ECL 8 before she can remove her first LA, which is 'LA+2 and 6 class levels'.
The weirdness, however, comes from their LA+6 example. They specifically don't have LA+7 or higher because, to again quote the SRD:
Creatures with a level adjustment of +7 or more retain their full normal level adjustment until reaching epic levels (21st level or higher), and thus aren't included on the table.
And then their LA+6 example says that you'd need 18 class levels. But uh.. if your LA is 6, and you have 18 class levels, won't that happen at level 24 and thus also be epic?
Now, I'm also the DM (in most cases), so I'll generally go with ECL over 'class levels' to be more nice, and things are mostly case-by-case anyway - I have a good handle on balance. This is mostly me wondering - so is the LA+6 example in error (and shouldn't be on the table itself due to requiring epic)? Is my understanding of it wrong?
(I also didn't realize that your hit dice did not count for this purpose, which seems additionally mean. Poor hound archons can't ever get a single reduction to their level adjustments, it seems, in addition to starting at level 11 about on par with a level 11 commoner :P)