Albions_Angel
2017-12-13, 04:03 PM
Hi all,
Ive tried looking this up and, to be honest, its rather confusing to me. Maybe my head just isnt in it today.
I have a group interested in me running a Pathfinder game for them. No 3.5e, but its as close as I can get for now. Sigh. Anyway. They would quite like to play some unusual races, and i have ended up with a few questions regarding Pathfinder's CR system.
As far as I understand it, each race in PF is given an RP score. This is effectively how powerful it is. I assume even things like racial hit dice go into the calculation. Thats all fine, I get that bit.
I also understand that lower level players get more XP, and that the amount of XP needed to get from level to level is different. But for questions regarding progression, it will just muddy the water, so lets assume I am using milestone leveling. I know this sort of breaks the point of CR, but bare with me.
And lets set up a little scenario for me to form questions around.
I have 2 players, both starting at level 1. One of them wants to play a CR 1 race (3.5e equivalent of LA +1).
Therefore, at the start of the game, one person is ECL 2, while the other is ECL 1. I get that bit.
Every level up, they both advance one ECL by way of their class. Got that too. All fine and dandy.
So at their second level up, one of them has 3 class levels, and the other has 3 class levels and a CR level.
At the next level up (or is it the one after?), the CR guy adds another class level, and then removes his CR. He is now the same ECL as the other guy. Right? This tries to maintain balance, as your racial abilities are rapidly outclassed by your class abilities. Am I on the right track?
Now lets go back and assume the CR guy wanted a CR 6 race (and lets assume for now that I am an awful DM and allow such power disparity).
As before, every 4 levels, the CR guy gets to reduce his CR by 1, and thus his ECL by one. But there is a clause about reducing it down to half? Does that mean his CR can never go below 3, and thus his ECL is always +3, or does it mean that at half, he has "suffered" enough and all of the rest is erased in one go?
Now, dont get me wrong, I wouldnt start a game at level 1 with LAs on their first run through. I would start them all with equivalent ECL probably, though then you run into problems with CR people being a level behind when they subtract their CR...
All that said though...
Does CR go away fast enough in your experience? If I wanted to let them play with some up to CR 3 races, what level should I be looking to start the party off at where I could just say "you all already paid it off and are even on XP and class level"? I get the feeling that just working out when it would all have gone away, and when the Playground thinks it SHOULD go away are 2 different numbers.
Ive tried looking this up and, to be honest, its rather confusing to me. Maybe my head just isnt in it today.
I have a group interested in me running a Pathfinder game for them. No 3.5e, but its as close as I can get for now. Sigh. Anyway. They would quite like to play some unusual races, and i have ended up with a few questions regarding Pathfinder's CR system.
As far as I understand it, each race in PF is given an RP score. This is effectively how powerful it is. I assume even things like racial hit dice go into the calculation. Thats all fine, I get that bit.
I also understand that lower level players get more XP, and that the amount of XP needed to get from level to level is different. But for questions regarding progression, it will just muddy the water, so lets assume I am using milestone leveling. I know this sort of breaks the point of CR, but bare with me.
And lets set up a little scenario for me to form questions around.
I have 2 players, both starting at level 1. One of them wants to play a CR 1 race (3.5e equivalent of LA +1).
Therefore, at the start of the game, one person is ECL 2, while the other is ECL 1. I get that bit.
Every level up, they both advance one ECL by way of their class. Got that too. All fine and dandy.
So at their second level up, one of them has 3 class levels, and the other has 3 class levels and a CR level.
At the next level up (or is it the one after?), the CR guy adds another class level, and then removes his CR. He is now the same ECL as the other guy. Right? This tries to maintain balance, as your racial abilities are rapidly outclassed by your class abilities. Am I on the right track?
Now lets go back and assume the CR guy wanted a CR 6 race (and lets assume for now that I am an awful DM and allow such power disparity).
As before, every 4 levels, the CR guy gets to reduce his CR by 1, and thus his ECL by one. But there is a clause about reducing it down to half? Does that mean his CR can never go below 3, and thus his ECL is always +3, or does it mean that at half, he has "suffered" enough and all of the rest is erased in one go?
Now, dont get me wrong, I wouldnt start a game at level 1 with LAs on their first run through. I would start them all with equivalent ECL probably, though then you run into problems with CR people being a level behind when they subtract their CR...
All that said though...
Does CR go away fast enough in your experience? If I wanted to let them play with some up to CR 3 races, what level should I be looking to start the party off at where I could just say "you all already paid it off and are even on XP and class level"? I get the feeling that just working out when it would all have gone away, and when the Playground thinks it SHOULD go away are 2 different numbers.