They seem awfully strong, but from my reading of the Bestiary, if someone were to play them there would be no level adjustment.

They seem awfully strong, but from my reading of the Bestiary, if someone were to play them there would be no level adjustment.

Actually, that is because the PathfinderRPG does not officially support the concept of Level Adjustments. Check out page 313 of the Bestiary.

That said, actually there is a CR adjustment of +1.

The example Drow Noble is a Lvl 3 Cleric. By the rules on page 398 of the PathfinderRPG that would be a CR2, but the Drow Noble is CR3.

Or just look here.

(that thread is only 12 days old and it's in the same Rules Questions section as this thread - search is your friend...)

They seem awfully strong, but from my reading of the Bestiary, if someone were to play them there would be no level adjustment.

It has a CR+1, if you read the text it isn't as clear as it could be but it is there.

I can't wait for the FAQ, this one gets asked about once every week.

Ok I'm dangerously close to understanding something. In "that other game" a regular race's CR is equal to its class levels. But in pathfinder, their CR is one LESS than their class levels.

EX: a 2nd lvl elf wizard is actually a CR1,

So the drow noble in the beastiary has 3 levels of cleric. it is a CR3, if it was any of the "normal" races with 3 levels of cleric it would be a CR2.

therefore a drow noble is a sorta level adjustment +1 race. It's sorta, becuse pathfinder doesnt technically have EL's or LA's in thier rules.

...is this true?

Drow nobles are not a player race. They were never a player race. They never will be.

Unless your DM fudges them in and adjusts appropriately for the game. The CR is a rule of thumb, but even then the drow noble abilities may be highly inappropriate for a player character.

There 'is' because it has a CR +1. The problem with all CR 1 creatures, is that they're a bit overpowered compared to the normal races, but feel close enough to be cool and tempting.

Unfortunately, the 'playing creatures with CR' guidelines fail here (they're just casual guidelines anyway, no fault on Paizo for that), because it's a plus 1 LA that either completely and totally disappears during level 3, or that lasts forever, making the Drow Noble underpowered compared to CR+2 creatures.

The easiest solution I've found? Instead of giving them an LA, give them a tax. It costs a Drow both of his traits to be a Drow Noble. (This compromise is also good for CR +3 races, charge them +2 traits and 2 levels, then take away one level during level 3 as normal.)

Who wouldn't pay two traits to get that enormous load of power that is a drow noble?

Basically, you play them at no level adjustment, but you may, at your option, adjust average party level slightly to reflect increased strength.

In my campaign, I calculate encounter budget as a sum of 1/4th of personal xp budgets of every player (quite a few characters are non-standard).

The formula is as follows:

Encounter budget = EBPC1 + EBPC2 + ... + EBPCi + ... + EBPCN

where
N - the number of PCs
EBPCi - share of XP calculated for a given PC

EBPCi = (Encounter Budget for a party of four, calculated using given PC's level)/4

To calculate EBPCi:
- go to Table: Experience Point Awards
- find row with PC's CR (adjust CR with encounter difficulty modifier and character power level modifier)
- get the XP value from XP Total column

For example:
- Drow Noble PC (character power level CR+1), Fighter 6, Hard Encounter (APL+2) = 1 + 6 + 2 = 9
- Drow Noble NPC (character power level CR+1), NPC gear (CR-1), Fighter 6, Hard Encounter (APL+2) = 1 - 1 + 6 + 2 = 8

Xp values:
- 6400 / 4 = 1600
- 4800 / 4 = 1200

If you feel, that the opponents calculated using this method are too difficult, split stronger creatures into several weaker ones and reduce number of casters/ranged opponents.

Regards,
Ruemere

Who wouldn't pay two traits to get that enormous load of power that is a drow noble?

People who want their two traits.

Edit: I should probably expound that in my game the two traits can also be traded for a feat if desired.