Dalebert
2014-07-28, 08:17 AM
So I like the idea of being able to buy off LAs over time based on the notion that the racial advantages become less meaningful as everyone advances in levels. The thing is, the advantages never go away completely. For instance, drow get spell resistance that scales with level. That remains useful well into higher levels since it scales. Stat bonuses remain nice to have with any new adds to stats stacking.
I had a thought of treating it kind of like ACFs in Pathfinder. I started off thinking of individual cases. Like, isn't there a spell that grants SR? Also, it's a monk class feature. What would be somewhat comparable in benefit that a character could give up in order to "pay off" one or more of the level penalties? I've seen two different LAs for drow. In one book, it's +1 and in another it's +2. The things that stand out as setting them apart from other elves with no LA are double-distance darkvision, extra +2 to stats, and the SR. The idea is that once they have enough class features to sacrifice for their benefits, the LA could be considered paid for. Examples:
DD darkvision: Already partly offset by light blindness but it's double-distance. Maybe sacrifice a 2nd level spell slot since there's a 2nd level darkvision spell.
Extra +2 stats: Give up the stat bonus at 4th level (or at 8th, 12th, etc. whenever you want). It's only +1 but it's +1 to anything (probably your primary) which I think is a reasonable payoff for +2 to specific stats, one of which is almost certainly not as valuable to your chosen class as your primary stat.
SR: This is a tougher one. There is a spell, but I don't think it can potentially last all day like darkvision at higher levels. Maybe a higher lvl slot or even a couple of spell slots of a certain level. There's also a monk class feature but that's murkier. Certainly class features are not all equivalent.
Anyway, that's just some brainstorming to get an idea. The idea is that eventually a drow character would get benefits from class advancement that could potentially be sacrificed to level the playing field and stop getting an x.p. hit. Once you have an idea, that could potentially be translated to something fairly consistent that could be sacrificed, again like ACF in Pathfinder. Maybe a class bonus feat is worth half a level. Maybe a general feat is worth a level. Maybe a 2nd level spell slot is worth half a level. Maybe a 3rd or 4th level spell slot is worth a level. You could work up a chart of things people can potentially sacrifice to pay off their LAs.
Thoughts?
I had a thought of treating it kind of like ACFs in Pathfinder. I started off thinking of individual cases. Like, isn't there a spell that grants SR? Also, it's a monk class feature. What would be somewhat comparable in benefit that a character could give up in order to "pay off" one or more of the level penalties? I've seen two different LAs for drow. In one book, it's +1 and in another it's +2. The things that stand out as setting them apart from other elves with no LA are double-distance darkvision, extra +2 to stats, and the SR. The idea is that once they have enough class features to sacrifice for their benefits, the LA could be considered paid for. Examples:
DD darkvision: Already partly offset by light blindness but it's double-distance. Maybe sacrifice a 2nd level spell slot since there's a 2nd level darkvision spell.
Extra +2 stats: Give up the stat bonus at 4th level (or at 8th, 12th, etc. whenever you want). It's only +1 but it's +1 to anything (probably your primary) which I think is a reasonable payoff for +2 to specific stats, one of which is almost certainly not as valuable to your chosen class as your primary stat.
SR: This is a tougher one. There is a spell, but I don't think it can potentially last all day like darkvision at higher levels. Maybe a higher lvl slot or even a couple of spell slots of a certain level. There's also a monk class feature but that's murkier. Certainly class features are not all equivalent.
Anyway, that's just some brainstorming to get an idea. The idea is that eventually a drow character would get benefits from class advancement that could potentially be sacrificed to level the playing field and stop getting an x.p. hit. Once you have an idea, that could potentially be translated to something fairly consistent that could be sacrificed, again like ACF in Pathfinder. Maybe a class bonus feat is worth half a level. Maybe a general feat is worth a level. Maybe a 2nd level spell slot is worth half a level. Maybe a 3rd or 4th level spell slot is worth a level. You could work up a chart of things people can potentially sacrifice to pay off their LAs.
Thoughts?