How does one assign Level Adjustment?

[JaminDM]

How does one assign Level Adjustment for new races? (In 3.5)

[qwertyu63]

Joke answer: Just do what WotC clearly did; roll 2d4-1 and use that number.

Actual answer: compare the power of your race to other races; look for something of roughly the same strength and use the same LA.

[Just to Browse]

The non-chassis benefits provided by a race with X LA should greater than those provided by another race and X levels in a class.

Each ability has a minimum ECL at which it is allowed to be played. That minimum can be 1 (i.e. power attack, burning hands) or it can be higher (i.e. flight, planar travel). Your LA. cannot be lower than the minimum ECL for a given ability.

After LA+2, characters start to seriously suffer in terms of their level-dependent abilities (spells, maneuvers, HP, saves, HD, etc) so going above LA+2 is usually bad form. At this point, using RHD is better. RHD are sort of like class levels, meaning a benefit from 1 RHD must be worse than 1 LA, and they're tied to creature types.

My suggestion for making a race with high ECL is: build an approximation using a class and give the race as many RHD as class levels. Then match abilities so the race has similar benefits as the class. If you want to squeeze in a stronger ability, switch an RHD to LA.

Do not use WotC races as a metric for your LA. You will end up with useless creations.