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TheDreadPaladin
2016-05-15, 12:11 PM
Hello, I am new to the forums, and I also am new to DMing. Anyway, I have been getting players together, and I think one of them might want to be a monster as a race. I know it has something to do with ECL, but I am having a hard time understanding Level Adjustments (I hope those are what they are called), and overall, creating a character who has a monster as a race, especially when they have monster classes? Can someone please shed some light on this?
Necroticplague
2016-05-15, 12:32 PM
Hello, I am new to the forums, and I also am new to DMing. Anyway, I have been getting players together, and I think one of them might want to be a monster as a race. I know it has something to do with ECL, but I am having a hard time understanding Level Adjustments (I hope those are what they are called), and overall, creating a character who has a monster as a race, especially when they have monster classes? Can someone please shed some light on this?
O.k, is he taking a monster class, or just taking the race? it makes a big difference. What monster are they looking to play as?

Anyway, the end result is this: the monster has LA and RHD. Both of these effectively replace class levels (so a Goliath Fighter 1 gets XP as if they were a level 2 character). LA has no benefit, while RHD at least give BaB, saves, and count towards feat and attribute advancement.
Malimar
2016-05-15, 12:44 PM
Ur-Priest's Monstrous Monster Handbook (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?207928-Urpriest-s-Monstrous-Monster-Handbook) is what you seek.
thethird
2016-05-15, 12:44 PM
Urpriest wrote a handbook that will help you shed light on most of those questions. Here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?207928-Urpriest-s-Monstrous-Monster-Handbook), I'm sure he explained it better than I could.

Damn duck ninjas
TheDreadPaladin
2016-05-15, 03:07 PM
O.k, is he taking a monster class, or just taking the race? it makes a big difference. What monster are they looking to play as?

Anyway, the end result is this: the monster has LA and RHD. Both of these effectively replace class levels (so a Goliath Fighter 1 gets XP as if they were a level 2 character). LA has no benefit, while RHD at least give BaB, saves, and count towards feat and attribute advancement.

He is thinking of playing a drow (sorry for the lack of explanation), not technically a monster, but it says level adjustment +1. What would that mean. Would it give LA or RHD?
Draconium
2016-05-15, 03:31 PM
He is thinking of playing a drow (sorry for the lack of explanation), not technically a monster, but it says level adjustment +1. What would that mean. Would it give LA or RHD?

Drow are actually a +2 level adjustment (LA), which means a Drow with one class level is an effective character level (ECL) 3, with no racial hit dice (RHD). This means they earn XP as a level 3 character, despite only having the HD, feats, saves, skills, and BAB of a level 1 character.
Draco_Lord
2016-05-15, 03:42 PM
He is thinking of playing a drow (sorry for the lack of explanation), not technically a monster, but it says level adjustment +1. What would that mean. Would it give LA or RHD?

If he wants to be a Drow why not take a look at the Pathfinder Drow? It might do the trick.
Divide by Zero
2016-05-15, 04:04 PM
He is thinking of playing a drow (sorry for the lack of explanation), not technically a monster, but it says level adjustment +1. What would that mean. Would it give LA or RHD?

Short version: he's treated as two levels higher (Drow is +2 as mentioned) for purposes of experience needed to level up, but his regular class level for all other purposes. Essentially, he should always be two levels behind the rest of the party assuming equal XP gain.

Long version: read Ur-Priest's handbook.
Necroticplague
2016-05-15, 05:01 PM
He is thinking of playing a drow (sorry for the lack of explanation), not technically a monster, but it says level adjustment +1. What would that mean. Would it give LA or RHD?

1. Discard the seperation in your mind between 'monster' and 'non-monster'. All creatures are monsters.
2. LA is Level Adjustment. So the +2 (not +1) is Level Adjustment. So a Drow [Class] 1 is considered to be the same as an [ECL 0 Race] [Class] 3 for purposes of determining XP and WBL.