La,wealth,exp oh my

[finaldooms]

Hi again yall! So my question this time is related to ...the half dragon monk ( he really wants to use it)

I know he counts as ecl4 at the start...but does he start with 0exp? What about his wealth by lvl?

Also is there a way to make hia breath more than once a day?

[Andezzar]

Wealth by level is as any other level 4 character (5400 gp). It is unclear whether a character can even be ECL 4 without having at least as many XP as a character with 4 class levels. I wouldn't penalize him further and give him 6000 XP, just as everyone else.

The feat dragon breath from RotD allows you to use the breath weapon every d4 rounds

[tyckspoon]

Yes, he would have a minimum ECL of 4. He would have whatever XP value you tell him he has; if you are otherwise starting at 0, this would be 0. For other purposes that care about level - mostly out-of-character concerns like how much XP he earns from various encounters, how much XP he needs until he can level up, and how much WBL he is expected to have - he is level 4. For things that care about how many HD he has (spells that have effects based on HD like Sleep or Color Spray, for example) he has only 1 HD until he manages to level up.

Note that while he is technically considered level 4 and would have level 4 wealth, if the rest of the party is starting from scratch as level 1 new characters he should have the same wealth and receive the same opportunities to earn the same treasure as the rest of the party. Half-Dragon will make him disproportionately powerful for that level (at cost of taking *forever* to level up compared to his colleagues, and becoming less powerful eventually as the Half-Dragon bonuses become less relevant.) You don't want to amplify that by also giving him the wealth of a character 3 levels higher than everybody else as well.

For the breath, yeah, there are a couple ways. The feat Dragon Breath (Races of the Dragon) converts the Half-Dragon's breath to the standard 1d4 cooldown for dragons, but requires 6 HD to take - he wouldn't qualify until ECL 9. The same book also has Extra Exhalation, which he qualifies for now, and grants 1 more breath per time the feat is taken. It's completely inferior to Dragon Breath; if you're feeling nice, you could let him take Extra Exhalation and then retrain it or just 'upgrade' to Dragon Breath when he qualifies.

[finaldooms]

We are trying our luck at our first pbp game ( yay) and everyone is starting at lvl3 so he wont be to far ahead lvl wise .. And thanks lot for the help!

[Inevitability]

If everyone else is starting at level 3, consider lowering half-dragon's LA to +2. It's overrated enough already.

Hell, on a monk +1 may not even be too unbalanced, especially in a somewhat optimized game.

[finaldooms]

If everyone else is starting at level 3, consider lowering half-dragon's LA to +2. It's overrated enough already.

Hell, on a monk +1 may not even be too unbalanced, especially in a somewhat optimized game.

Not even slightly optimized lol. ..closest i got is a barbzerker

[finaldooms]

I dont understand what the desire to play,monsters is!! Another player wants to be a yuanti pureblood -

[Red Fel]

I dont understand what the desire to play,monsters is!! Another player wants to be a yuanti pureblood -

If this is a problem for you - all these players wanting to play monster races with LA - then just say no. Tell them you'd rather they use standard races from core books. Give them a list. Alternatively, limit them to anything without an LA.

As DM, that's your prerogative. When the players want to use something and you feel overwhelmed by it, you have a right and an obligation to say, "Sorry, guys, but I can't handle this. And if I can't handle it, I can't run a game with it. So I'm going to have to say no."

[Dagroth]

If this is a problem for you - all these players wanting to play monster races with LA - then just say no. Tell them you'd rather they use standard races from core books. Give them a list. Alternatively, limit them to anything without an LA.

As DM, that's your prerogative. When the players want to use something and you feel overwhelmed by it, you have a right and an obligation to say, "Sorry, guys, but I can't handle this. And if I can't handle it, I can't run a game with it. So I'm going to have to say no."

I find that reminding them they won't be able to buy supplies, sell magic items & treasure, buy magic items, etc. to be a go deterrent. Sure, they can have someone in the party do it for them, but I only allow them to tell the other player one time what they want. If the player doesn't remember, then that's just the way it is.