Why

[Cirigan]

for the life of me i can't figure out why creatures start out with racial hit die also have level adjustment, well i get that its to compensate for certain powers, but why why arent the powers just add out with the HD
i know savage species gives you an alternative, but this is just to figure out logic wise

also does anyone have a half minotaurs stats?

[Nemoricus]

I'd think the reason that the writers don't increment the powers with the HD is because they don't have the time or inclination to make their monsters suited for PC use.

[The Necroswanso]

It's simply to account for powers. Monsters are unfortunately not very good PCs sometimes, so when people want to play them the MM decides it's going to make that as impossible as possible.

A HALF MINOTAUR!? Come on! I realize D&D is fantasy, but there has to be SOME morals when it comes to beastiality. That's literally getting it on with a cow!

[Glawackus]

It's simply to account for powers. Monsters are unfortunately not very good PCs sometimes, so when people want to play them the MM decides it's going to make that as impossible as possible.

A HALF MINOTAUR!? Come on! I realize D&D is fantasy, but there has to be SOME morals when it comes to beastiality. That's literally getting it on with a cow!

Wouldn't a half-minotaur only be quarter-cow, though?

[Farmer42]

It's simply to account for powers. Monsters are unfortunately not very good PCs sometimes, so when people want to play them the MM decides it's going to make that as impossible as possible.

A HALF MINOTAUR!? Come on! I realize D&D is fantasy, but there has to be SOME morals when it comes to beastiality. That's literally getting it on with a cow!

Rule 34? And the Half-minotaur was in dragon #idontremember. I believe crystalkeep has the relevant stats in their template pdf.

[Cirigan]

It's simply to account for powers. Monsters are unfortunately not very good PCs sometimes, so when people want to play them the MM decides it's going to make that as impossible as possible.

A HALF MINOTAUR!? Come on! I realize D&D is fantasy, but there has to be SOME morals when it comes to beastiality. That's literally getting it on with a cow!

i was thinking the opposite, kinda like with half orcs, so pretty much something similar to minotaur rape

[Chronicled]

A HALF MINOTAUR!? Come on! I realize D&D is fantasy, but there has to be SOME morals when it comes to beastiality. That's literally getting it on with a cow!

"Hey, you into leather?"

[Jack_Simth]

It's simply to account for powers. Monsters are unfortunately not very good PCs sometimes, so when people want to play them the MM decides it's going to make that as impossible as possible.

To a goodly extent, critter's powers are difficult to account for long-term. Regeneration 1, on a monster, doesn't mean much - over the course of a long fight, it's less than one hit... at first level ... and requires a knowledge check to locate the appropriate penetrating type of damage. Regeneration 1, on a PC, means that losing a level to Raise Dead or Resurrection is decidedly rare.

The difference, for a monster, between an ability usable four times per day and an ability usable at will is fairly minor - the monster isn't usually going to last that long. The PC Vampire with Dominate at-will, on the other hand, is going to slaughter many an encounter unless he's very significantly behind the party in other ways.

A HALF MINOTAUR!? Come on! I realize D&D is fantasy, but there has to be SOME morals when it comes to beastiality. That's literally getting it on with a cow!

Not necessarily. Consider the poor peasant woman who survives being a Minotaur's sport for the evening, and later escapes.

[Illiterate Scribe]

Also, remember how the first minotaur came about ...

[sonofzeal]

for the life of me i can't figure out why creatures start out with racial hit die also have level adjustment, well i get that its to compensate for certain powers, but why why arent the powers just add out with the HD
i know savage species gives you an alternative, but this is just to figure out logic wise

Because some creatures are FAR TOO powerful for their HD. The Marrulurk from Sandstorm, the Maug from Fiend Folio, and the Pixie from the good old Mon Man are perfect examples where those few lost class levels are by no means a proper balancing factor against the rampant awesomeness that you get. LA, in theory, brings it back within the realm of reason. Now, usually they erred on the side of caution when assigning LA, and an advanced player can get significantly more benefit out of a class level in most cases, but I still respect the logic.

[Nebo_]

When something has racial HD, its level adjustment is usually lower to account for it. The Ambush Drake has 6 Dragon HD and no level adjustment.

[Farmer42]

i was thinking the opposite, kinda like with half orcs, so pretty much something similar to minotaur rape

Am I the only one who finds this statement ironic on these boards after the recent comic?

[Glawackus]

"Hey, you into leather?"

You win the thread.

[Nonanonymous]

i was thinking the opposite, kinda like with half orcs, so pretty much something similar to minotaur rape

...That's about over 9000 times worse than the idea of a quarterling.

[RS14]

To the OP, I think naively replacing LA with more hit-dice would just hurt monster PC's more. Yes, it hurts (a lot) to be six or seven HD behind the rest of your party, but replacing LA with hit-dice must sensibly increase your ECL. Furthermore, the primary problem that many of the weaker monster PC's face is that their abilities don't scale with level at all - sure more HD will at least make them durable, but their special qualities and special attacks will be even weaker in comparison to what they should have at that level.

Oh, and a bovine wizard did it.

[Glyde]

It's simply to account for powers. Monsters are unfortunately not very good PCs sometimes, so when people want to play them the MM decides it's going to make that as impossible as possible.

A HALF MINOTAUR!? Come on! I realize D&D is fantasy, but there has to be SOME morals when it comes to beastiality. That's literally getting it on with a cow!

I'm playing an Ibixian / Minotaur cross-breed that's having a relationship with a star elf. The I/M is the female. With 27 charisma.

Open your mind, you play D&D.

[Ryuuk]

LA already increases ECL though, from my understading, ECL = RHD+LA+Class Levels. You point still stands though, class abilities would come too late to be useful and there's also the fact thatyou can't buy back HD, as you can LA.

Perhaps he only way converting LA to HD would benefeit a PC was if, from a mechanical perspecive, the PC was only depended on a prestige class. They could use the racial hit dies to meet the prerequisite skill points and feats and enter the class without taking any actual base class levels. Of course, his would be almost entirely limited to melee/fighter based prestige classes.

[Vortling]

I'm playing an Ibixian / Minotaur cross-breed that's having a relationship with a star elf. The I/M is the female. With 27 charisma.

Open your mind, you play D&D.

In response to this and everyone complaining about half-minotaurs

Probably NSFW

AND

Also NSFW

[Glyde]

Y'see, that's what I'm talking about.

[tyckspoon]

Perhaps he only way converting LA to HD would benefeit a PC was if, from a mechanical perspecive, the PC was only depended on a prestige class. They could use the racial hit dies to meet the prerequisite skill points and feats and enter the class without taking any actual base class levels. Of course, his would be almost entirely limited to melee/fighter based prestige classes.

Changing LA to racial Hit dice would pretty much *always* benefit the PC. You'd be changing phantom levels that do absolutely nothing for basic hit dice that would at least give you everything that is attached to hit dice (HP, BAB, saves, skill points, vulnerability to spells like Sleep and Holy Word/Blasphemy). About the only place where that isn't better than an LA is when the LA portion is relatively low (say +2 or less) and may reasonably be bought off to be replaced with proper class levels.

[SurlySeraph]

I'm playing an Ibixian / Minotaur cross-breed that's having a relationship with a star elf. The I/M is the female. With 27 charisma.

Open your mind, you play D&D.

*Closes his mind. Closes his mind WITH FIRE.*

[Solo]

Why

Because

[Chronos]

When something has racial HD, its level adjustment is usually lower to account for it. The Ambush Drake has 6 Dragon HD and no level adjustment.

Whoa, there's a dragon with no LA? Dragon HD are almost worth it by themselves, and I imagine that it gets some other goodies, too (flight? Breath weapon?).

Which also leads to part of the reason why you can't just replace LA with RHD: Some racial HD are far better than others. For instance, a humanoid gets an 8-sided HD, 3/4 BAB, one good save, and 2 skill points. By contrast, an outsider also gets an 8-sided HD, but gets full BAB, all good saves, and 8 skill points. You really can't pile on enough RHD onto an outsider to make up for the cool abilities many of them get, since outsider RHD are already better than some classes by themselves. Dragons are much the same: They get slightly fewer skill points (6 per HD), but they still get the best possible BAB and saves, as well as the largest possible HD (d12).

[Bassetking]

"Hey, you into leather?"

response spoilered for sake of sanity.
"Only about six inches."

[Chronicled]

response spoilered for sake of sanity

*Hands Bassetking the thread win received from Glawackus *

[Farmer42]

I need a really hot shower now...maybe one for my brain, too... I don't I will ever feel clean again.

[The Necroswanso]

I'm playing an Ibixian / Minotaur cross-breed that's having a relationship with a star elf. The I/M is the female. With 27 charisma.

Open your mind, you play D&D.

Last time I opened my mind with D&D I single handedly created the 1/3 gnome, 1/3 sphinx, 1/3 human......My DM has requested I stop opening my mind, or atleast when my mind opens, close my mouth.
My DM likes descriptiveness.....But not when I do it.


P.S. It's first words were, "I'm an abomination!"

[SurlySeraph]

Shamefully innuendous blaspho-treason.

...
Okay, this thread has gone too long without creative people who do not share my sense of morality catching fire. THE EMPEROR WILLS IT!

[TheOOB]

Nobody knows why 3e has such a strange and overly complex level adjustment system. Perhaps thats why they are getting rid of it in 4e.

[Tengu]

Last time I opened my mind with D&D I single handedly created the 1/3 gnome, 1/3 sphinx, 1/3 human......My DM has requested I stop opening my mind, or atleast when my mind opens, close my mouth.
My DM likes descriptiveness.....But not when I do it.


P.S. It's first words were, "I'm an abomination!"

Did it have three parents?

Nobody knows why 3e has such a strange and overly complex level adjustment system. Perhaps thats why they are getting rid of it in 4e.

I suspect its purpose is to discourage people from playing weird races and instead create characters that are original because of their personalities.