LA & Hit Dices

[Loki Eremes]

hi there folks

my friend & I where debating about LAs

supposedly, LA is an adjustment to a character level.

that means, LA+2 in a 8th lvl character, has only 6 levels in clases (basic or PrC)

BUT....

some races have " 4HD racial " in their descriptions. That plus 4 hit dice of the indicated race.

Does that extra Hit Dice stack with LA?

for example, a BOZAK
its a LA +3 with 4HD dragon

on a 8th lvl character....will only have 1 class level?

[Narazil]

Yes, that's right. LA+Racial HD+CL = ECL.

[Duke of URL]

Yup. That's exactly correct. All creatures have an ECL (effective character level) equal to the level adjustment (LA) plus their racial hit dice (RHD) plus any class levels.

Character level (CL) is just RHD plus class levels.

The one exception to this is that creatures with 1 racial HD or less may trade in their lone (or partial) RHD for their first class level. Hence, the "standard" races have LA +0, no racial hit dice, and only their class levels, so their ECL = CL = class levels.

The main difference between LA and RHD, mechanically, is that you actually get something for RHD. Hit dice, feats, skills, BAB and base saves, specifically.

A Bozak's 4 dragon HD give it 4d12 HD, 6+Int skill points per level (x4 at 1st), +4 to all base saves, and two feats (CL 1st and 3rd). Its LA +3 gives it nothing at all.

[Loki Eremes]

Perfect.
Thank you all ^^