The Evolver - An Alternative to Level Adjustment

[Tarvon000]

The Evolver

In a world with gigantic floating heads that shoot lasers from their eyes, venomous worms that can swallow an elephant whole, and of course the obligatory magical immortal flying firebreathing dinosaurs, the humans, demihumans, and other humanoids that through sheer numbers manage to survive despite their competition understandably want to have some of this power for their own. This is the goal which an evolver attempts to meet by magically mutating itself into a more powerful creature.
Adventures, Characteristics, etc.: Not applicable. The whole purpose of becoming an evolver is to mutate yourself until you get the monster race you want and then go off to pursue a real class.

GAME RULE INFORMATION
Evolvers have the following game statistics.
Abilities: The abilities important to an evolver depend on its current race.
Alignment: Any.
Hit Die: d8.
Starting Gold: 2d4 × 10 gp.

{table=head]

Level | Base Attack Bonus | Fort Save | Ref Save | Will Save | Special
1st | +0 | +2 | +2 | +2 | Evolution
2nd | +1 | +3 | +3 | +3 | Evolution
3rd | +2 | +3 | +3 | +3 | Evolution
4th | +3 | +4 | +4 | +4 | Evolution
5th | +3 | +4 | +4 | +4 | Evolution
6th | +4 | +5 | +5 | +5 | Evolution
7th | +5 | +5 | +5 | +5 | Evolution
8th | +6/+1 | +6 | +6 | +6 | Evolution
9th | +6/+1 | +6 | +6 | +6 | Evolution
10th | +7/+2 | +7 | +7 | +7 | Evolution
11th | +8/+3 | +7 | +7 | +7 | Evolution
12th | +9/+4 | +8 | +8 | +8 | Evolution
13th | +9/+4 | +8 | +8 | +8 | Evolution
14th | +10/+5 | +9 | +9 | +9 | Evolution
15th | +11/+6/+1 | +9 | +9 | +9 | Evolution
16th | +12/+7/+2 | +10 | +10 | +10 | Evolution
17th | +12/+7/+2 | +10 | +10 | +10 | Evolution
18th | +13/+8/+3 | +11 | +11 | +11 | Evolution
19th | +14/+9/+4 | +11 | +11 | +11 | Evolution
20th | +15/+10/+5 | +12 | +12 | +12 | Evolution

[/table]

Class Skills
The evolver’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (dungeoneering) (Int), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Knowledge (the planes) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), and Swim (Str).
Skill Points at 1st Level: (4 + Int modifier) × 4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the evolver.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Evolvers are proficient with all simple weapons. They are not proficient with any type of armor or shield.
Racial Hit Dice: Levels in the evolver class or any of the evolver's other classes are treated as racial Hit Dice, and the caster level for each of its racial abilities with a caster level is equal to its combined levels in all classes or the normal caster level of the ability, whichever is higher. In addition, the evolver class always counts as a favored class.
Evolution: At 1st level, and every level thereafter, an evolver chooses one monster race with an evolution rating no greater than its evolver level. The evolution rating of a monster race is equal to its level adjustment plus 3/4 of its Hit Dice (if an aberration, construct, elemental, fey, giant, humanoid, monstrous humanoid, ooze, plant, or undead creature), 2/3 of its Hit Dice (if a magical beast) or 1/2 of its Hit Dice (if a dragon or outsider). The evolver becomes a member of that race, losing all of its former racial traits in return for the racial traits of the new race. It does not gain any racial Hit Dice, level adjustment, or weapon and armor proficiencies granted by the new race.

[DeAnno]

Urgh. Monster ECL (and thus, LA) is just a poor measure of... just about everything. I'm not sure how the current formulation will do on the whole, but I do see that you need to be level 8 to be a CR 5 Young Black Dragon, and one with 5 monk HD instead of 10 dragon HD at that.

CR is probably the best measure of monster strength, but since it takes HD into account, monsters with more HD will bizarrely be worse for their CR with respect to this class. So really I dunno. Similar thoughts of making playing monster-like characters more manageable led to me creating the Beast class, but I went in an entirely different direction with it.

[Tarvon000]

The evolution rating is intended as a guideline. I considered actually listing the rating for each monster but I don't know if I'll ever find time for it.

By the way, the young black dragon would actually have 8 HD. A real monster's racial Hit Dice only count toward the evolution rating of its evolver version.