Need help on choosing a race

[Black Mage]

My friends and I are starting a new campaign, and I've been wanting to try out the Binder class. Now, I don't care what everyone's thoughts about the Binder may be, I just want some suggestions on what race would benefit me the most. Anything from any of the published books is open to me. Level adjustment isn't much of a problem, but I'd prefer not to go over a LA +4.

[Ponce]

Binders can go a multitude of different directions... particularly if you start homebrewing. It really depends on what you want to accomplish. Human? Can't go wrong with us.

[CASTLEMIKE]

Instead of a +4LA race would you be amenable to a +3 LA or lower race and a level of Marshal for Motivate Aura Charisma?

[Skjaldbakka]

Binder isn't really much info on what you are doing. A binder can do just about anything. To that end, playing Human for the extra feat and skills is a good choice, but human is almost always the best choice, because more feats are good.

That being said, I recommend half-elf or halfling, due to personal favoritism, and for no mechanical advantage reasons at all.

[Black Mage]

Possibly. As long as the race is LA +4 or lower. Pretty much anything is open for race selections...the Races books, all the Monster Manuals, campaign settings (forgotten realms, eberron, dragonlance, rokugan). Probably more if I can get my hands on it, so don't be afraid to toss anything else at me. It just has to be from an actual book. No homebrew, but 3rd party books (Green ronin for example) are avaliable.

Edit: I'm pretty much shooting for the filler. We have a rogue, sorcerer, cleric, and warblade. And I know that charisma will help, just to ensure that I make those damned binding checks.

[Nohwl]

whatever one boosts its primary stats would be a good choice.

[Skjaldbakka]

Mineral Warrior is really strong for its LA.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

I think Binders are Cha-based, in which case Catfolk are, as always, awesome. +4 Dex, +2 Cha, and a handful of minor bonuses are always useful.

[Black Mage]

whatever one boosts its primary stats would be a good choice.

That's the thing about Binder's, they pretty much use every single stat, because they are able to do pretty much anything, albeit not as well as specialized characters.

[CASTLEMIKE]

In point buy a +2 LA Half Phrenic Human Binder with the Blood of Power feat from PGtF and a level dip into Marshal for the Minor Aura Motivate Charisma (Charisma) could be nice if your game utilizes psionics.

Without Marshal a Half Phrenic Karsite could be interesting.

[Darrin]

I'm pretty much shooting for the filler. We have a rogue, sorcerer, cleric, and warblade. And I know that charisma will help, just to ensure that I make those damned binding checks.

I always prefer LA +0. Especially if you're giving up caster levels in favor of LA... never a good thing to do.

See if Lesser Aasimar is available (+2 Wis, +2 Cha).

Otherwise, Star Elf or Spellscale (-2 Con, +2 Cha).

Now add the Magic-Blooded template (Dragon #306, check the 3.0 templates on CrystalKeep for details) for -2 Wis and +2 Cha. +4 Cha, still LA +0.

If you need the extra feat, a Magic-Blooded Human or Strongheart Halfling would also work.

[Nebo_]

Human, Gold Dwarf, Dragonborn... anything that doesn't have a Cha or Con penalty is pretty good.

Also Black Mage, read this: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/announcement.php?a=39
Specifically the part about animated avatars.

[Person_Man]

Big list of LA 0 Races.

Master Template List.

Why isn't LA a problem? Is your DM giving it to you for free? Otherwise, you should generally avoid LA like the plague.