Okay everyone, I could use some suggestions. We are getting ready to run the Shackled city campaign aaand, since we have just recently purchased the races of Faerun book, everyone is going to play new and bizarre races. I was happy choosing one of the "normal" races out of the ph, but, I am being pressured by the other members of the party. Their reasoning is that my character will get left behind once they've passed their level adjustments. So, I guess, here's what I'm asking, should I choose an odd race? If I do, what are your suggestions, and if I don't what are my chances of getting left behind. Any input would help.
P.S. I was seriously considering some sort of lycanthrop, and not tell them.
RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32
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Okay everyone, I could use some suggestions. We are getting ready to run the Shackled city campaign aaand, since we have just recently purchased the races of Faerun book, everyone is going to play new and bizarre races. I was happy choosing one of the "normal" races out of the ph, but, I am being pressured by the other members of the party. Their reasoning is that my character will get left behind once they've passed their level adjustments.
Once they've 'passed their level adjustments'? LA isn't something that goes away. You're basically always a few steps behind on the experience tables and, while you get a lot of power early on, it starts to taper off as you get higher level until eventually you get left behind by the 'normal' race characters who are outleveling you by 2 or 3 (or more) levels.
Unless of course you're using that alternate rule that lets you 'buy off' your LA. I don't know the details of it, but I've never used it because I like to discourage LA races in my games for the most part. :)
I'll second that. If there is no LA buy off, a no LA race will pull ahead of the other characters, usually in the 6-10th levels. What level are ya'll starting at?
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Okay everyone, I could use some suggestions. We are getting ready to run the Shackled city campaign aaand, since we have just recently purchased the races of Faerun book, everyone is going to play new and bizarre races. I was happy choosing one of the "normal" races out of the ph, but, I am being pressured by the other members of the party. Their reasoning is that my character will get left behind once they've passed their level adjustments. So, I guess, here's what I'm asking, should I choose an odd race? If I do, what are your suggestions, and if I don't what are my chances of getting left behind. Any input would help.
As a guy who's played numerous LA characters, I have to say that the player who chooses a PHB race in a group of LA races will almost always be stronger and more able to survive than his/her fellows. If balance is important to you and your DM, you may want to think about playing a LA race if the rest of the group is, but if LA races are not "bought off" as Fatespinner referenced (rules for which appear in Unearthed Arcana), a character without a level adjustment will have at least one extra level, and many times two or more, on the rest of the characters, and in most cases, the benefits gained from having more levels (bonus feats, greater level/number per day of spells, special class abilities) are better than inherent abilities and adjustments gained from powerful races. For more powerful PCs, stick to the non-level-adjusted races, but for balance amongst your party members (to not pull ahead of the pack, as it were), you may want to consider a LA race.
We are starting at first level, and I think I'd like to be a fighter. I am usually the spellcaster, everytime...always. I tried a fighter in a game that was cut short when the DM moved, I only made it to third level. I'm thinking with the bonus feats fighters get and hd, I shouldn't have a hard time. They were worried I would be the one to fall behind, cuz they're going to be so powerful and all :}
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... the player who chooses a PHB race in a group of LA races will almost always be stronger and more able to survive than his/her fellows.
This is particularly true of true casters, but if you play a fighter, taking a non-LA race might actually work pretty well at high levels. Fighters usually start to suffer above about 10th-12th level, which is where non-LA races start to gain their advantages.
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Hi there (my first ever post) Having played character of both types in mixed parties, I find that the LA characters get some cool bonuses at the lower levels, but really start to hurt at higher levels when the cool stuff doesn't impact the game as much, after all what help is having +2 to strength when the rest of the party has access to magic items that do the same thing. But to answer your inital question, if you wish to look at a fighter class with LA +1 try the draconic template (from Races of the Dragon) which gives you +2 str, con and Cha. Or for something a bit different a swashbuckler catfolk (from Races of the Wild) which gives you +4 Dex and +2 cha.
We are starting at first level, and I think I'd like to be a fighter. I am usually the spellcaster, everytime...always. I tried a fighter in a game that was cut short when the DM moved, I only made it to third level. I'm thinking with the bonus feats fighters get and hd, I shouldn't have a hard time. They were worried I would be the one to fall behind, cuz they're going to be so powerful and all :}
I suggest human - humans make great fighters.
Another option - but this one is actually too powerful for its price, IMO. Take a Half Giant (Complete Psionics Handbook) and build an insane tripping (spiked chain) guy - for extra fun find a way to get him enlarged for most combats. Things to aim for with this build are feats that allow you to wield ever larger weapons and, if enlarging is painless and constant - consider trying for the whirlwind attack feat chain.
Make sure you have enough feats to reasonably pull this off however. Personally I have seen a whirlwind half giant and a tripping half giant but not actually both together. That might not be reasonably possible - in which case go for the tripping Half-Giant. The Whirlwind one takes to long to qualify for and your sub-par until you finally pick up the coveted feat.
Hi there (my first ever post) Having played character of both types in mixed parties, I find that the LA characters get some cool bonuses at the lower levels, but really start to hurt at higher levels when the cool stuff doesn't impact the game as much, after all what help is having +2 to strength when the rest of the party has access to magic items that do the same thing. But to answer your inital question, if you wish to look at a fighter class with LA +1 try the draconic template (from Races of the Dragon) which gives you +2 str, con and Cha. Or for something a bit different a swashbuckler catfolk (from Races of the Wild) which gives you +4 Dex and +2 cha.
Oooh, those actually sound pretty good, but if I went with the draconic template, I'd probably end up playing a sorcerer, and after being the wizard for soooo many years, sorcerer would probably feel constricted. But, that swashbuckling catfolk, hmmm, with a LA of only one, and the other pc's are choosing races with three or four LA, that might work. I'd still be something new to satisfy them, still be a fighter type class, aaaand, still be ahead of them, heh heh heh.
Oh, the races the other pc's are taking, so far we have a Fey'ri, an Urdunnir, and get this, a Tanarukk. We're going to look like the circus came to town, not to mention the role playing implications with the Tanarukk.
Hi there (my first ever post)
Welcome to the boards by the way! You'll love it here.
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And it helps that Catfolk are cool......I am currently going through the same thing (though our DM is only allowing ECL1), and have been trolling though books looking for stuff. The other race you could look at is the Sharakim (races of destiny) From a roleplaying point of veiw they are basically orcish looking, but like the civilised things in life, ECL1 with +4 str, -2 dex, +2 int and -2 cha. Though I cannot find a figure of an ultra-civilised orc. Catfolk are fairly easy to find figures for.
Well, as any good cheesehead like myself knows, humans are the best race, hands down, extra feat extra skills and any class is favored, can't beat that. As for LA races, I usually only go with them when I want a specific flavor for a character, such as a tiefling rogue who is slightly devilish, but doesn't have to take a full 4 level adjustment for half-fiend. Tieflings and Aasimar by the way are very good one level adjustment classes, and Githzerai only have a +2 LA which is very nice if you wanted to play a monk since they get a +6 to Dex and +2 to Wis. Personally, I am like you and almost always end up playing a caster of some sort or another, have for years. However, I just recently got in to a game where I am the tank and I have been having an absolute blast playing a human barbarian/fighter who specializes in grappling. Right now we are only 4th level, however I have already pinned an ogre while I was 2nd level, and a large sized skeleton of some sort at 3rd level. I came to this character concept much like you did after having played so many casters. I decided I wanted to make the ultimate anti-caster after having played them for so long. The build I have planned goes Barbarian/1, Fighter/4, Occult Slayer/5, and Bear Warrior/10. I intend on taking the anti casting feats such as Pierce Magical Concealment, and I can't remember the other one, but it makes it impossible for an caster you threaten to cast defensively. This is awesome since once you can turn into a bear through bear warrior you will have improved grab. After how awesome I have been just for the first few levels I can't wait to actually get into the PrC's. Furthermore, nothing has felt more heroic in a game that I have ever played in than the grappling that I have gotten to do with this character. If you're interested in something not played a lot, go with a grappler, there are a lot of interesting options including classes like Reaping Mauler. A lot of people seem to shy away from learning the rules for grappling because they are somewhat detailed, however once you get used to them, they are completely worth it!
The feat you were trying to think of is Mage Slayer (Complete Arcane)
That's the one, thanks, I'm at work and don't have my books close :)
There are alot of people from Autralia on these boards. Wasn't there a thread about that in the off topics forum not too long ago?
I think it's going to be a toss up between a human fighter and a half giant fighter. We do use grapple alot, and the half giant might be perfect for that. I was really interested in the catfolk, but of all the books we own, that one seems to be missing from our collection *sigh* another book I'm going to HAVE to get, cause now it'll bug me until I've seen that race.
I'm really looking forward to playing the tank, and thanks for the heads up on the anti-mage feats, though it makes the wizard me shudder.
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Lena, I am DMing Shackled City at the moment, just finishing up the third adventure (don’t worry, I’ll try to avoid any spoilers!)
The warrior in our group is a human fighter, pretty much your archetypical tank, or meat shield (big weapon, heavy armour, weapon focus, specialisation etc, power attack, cleave, etc.). She had a lot of fun in the first adventure (particularly) and played a very prominent role in a significant part of the game. In fact, she was the only character that didn’t fall into negative hit points at one point or another in that game.
I’ve only allowed LA races in one game I’ve run so far, and in that everyone ended up playing LA +1 races, so it’s difficult for me to make a direct comparison. But the general sentiment I’ve heard (and reflected on this thread) is that after the first couple of levels, LA races tend to be at a disadvantage to the non-LA races. However, if some of the party was LA and some not (particularly LA’s of more than +1,+2) this may make things difficult for your DM in trying to design challenging encounters for the whole party.
I don’t know what size half giants are, but I’m guessing Large? You might want to see if your DM would see that as being an issue as far as adventuring in a mostly human dominated town, and any possible dungeon crawls you may (or may not) undertake.
Personally, I’d probably go for a human fighter, that extra feat is pretty good at level 1.
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I do have one other suggestion though it is about class not race. We have a Psi-warrior in another campaign. They can be quite interesting to play and can get really gross at the higher levels when you get access to some of the higher level powers. I do agree that is is hard to go past a human for fighter.
I have one question though, you say you are being pressured by the other players...what about the DM, any pressure there? There may be a case for going an ECL just to make the DM's life easier. If everyone is around the same ECL, then it can be easier on the DM.
From personal experience I agree with the idea of a Half-Giant (or Goliath) as a good fighting LA race as powerful build is just downright silly. Even moreso with a Goliath's Barbarian Substitution Level and a reach weapon. I have another suggestion however. A Thri-Kreen. A Psycho Mantis. The non-psionic version has an EL of only +1 and two racial hit dice, with those you get five natural attacks that just get better if you take multiattack. Mix in a few barbarian levels, improved crit (claw), improved natural attack (claw) and mess some folks up.
Plus you get to play a mantis, who wouldn't dig being a huge bug?
So wait, if you're all starting @ 1st level, how are they playing ECL characters? or did i miss that? If they are running 1st class level+1-3 ECL, a human in this group should be coming in @ N level where N= Avg ECL of party, yeah?
So wait, if you're all starting @ 1st level, how are they playing ECL characters? or did i miss that? If they are running 1st class level+1-3 ECL, a human in this group should be coming in @ N level where N= Avg ECL of party, yeah?
Huh? T y p e s l o w e r, I haven't had enough coffee yet. Okay, if I'm understanding you, which I doubt, you're saying my human should be starting out negative? Is that what the N means? I really have to start learning the technical speak. I did warn everyone in the beginning of my time on these boards that I am and always will be, a dork.
I don’t know what size half giants are, but I’m guessing Large? You might want to see if your DM would see that as being an issue as far as adventuring in a mostly human dominated town, and any possible dungeon crawls you may (or may not) undertake.
According to the book, half giants are considered medium, except when there is a size modifyer involved, then they are considered one step higher.
Edit- See Ender, I went and read the book :)
I have one question though, you say you are being pressured by the other players...what about the DM, any pressure there? There may be a case for going an ECL just to make the DM's life easier. If everyone is around the same ECL, then it can be easier on the DM.
No, not by the DM, by the other players. I'm afraid our poor DM has quite given up at this point as far as who's playing what. I can't really blame him, all of our players are related to each other (I'm married into the clan) and our DM is the youngest of the group. It's his uncle that plans on playing the boogie man, how do you argue with your uncle?
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If they're starting out with Ecl 2+, to be fair you should get class levels to make you equal to their total levels. If they don't do that, the dm should make them earn exp until they actually have enough exp to advance to their next class level. I personally am always amused by the irked look of my buddies when I get another class level as a human and they are still working up to the their second class level. Some people don't realize the subtle frustration they're setting themselves up for when they really don't 'advance' the first few levels cause they are LA characters.
Edit: Also at low levels, LA characters tend to be a lil more fragile than non-la characters. I don't how many times i've seen my buddies running around as drow or svirneblin and they avoid all these hits, but when they finally do get hit, they're gone. Having only 1 hit die of any type against a 3-4 cr opponent is not a healthy career choice. I usually call my buddies' drow One Hit Wonders. They get hit once and you wonder where they went.
The DM is making them earn the exp. before advancing, he has also decided that they don't get all their cool stuff at once, but will earn it level by level until.
Edit- See Ender, I went and read the book :)
:D RTFM FTW!!!
But yeah, find out what the avg ECL of your other players is gonna be, and plan your fighter accordingly. As has been pointed out, a 3 ECL Drow fighter (FTR 1) will have his 10 HP vs your avg 20, +1 BAB vs +3, and 2 fewer feats, 3 if you're human. Sure, they get drow traits, but when hes bleeding and dying at the end of your sword after a monster power attack, ask him how much good it really did him :)
EDIT- Ok, so your DM is going with the Savage species style leveling for advaced critters? It should work out ok, but still expect to see a lot of glass cannons in your group. HD, they're not just for resisting Sleep spells!!!
Subtly, and from behind the screen....
I know our DM lurks on these boards, I REALLY hope he sees that ;)
If you do decide to play a lycanthrope there are some racial progression levels on the WotC site. I'll post the class table here once I find it. Being a creature like a lycanthrope and not telling the rest of the party can be fun. In my current game I've got someone whose playing a vampire but only a couple of the other players know that. In general non-LA characters are more powerful than players with a LA. You'll be ahead level wise. If your DM is allowing creatures with a LA then you aren't actually playing a 1st level campaign. If someone chooses to play say, a gnoll then the game will actually be a level 4 game becuase 1(starting level)+1(LA)+2(racial hit dice)=4. So if you choose to play a Human fighter 4 you'll have 4d10 hit points as opposed to said gnoll's 2-3, a lot more feats, more skills and a higher BAB. In short, LA adjusted races can be fun at the lower levels but they are generally behind the power curve.
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So wait, if you're all starting @ 1st level, how are they playing ECL characters? or did i miss that? If they are running 1st class level+1-3 ECL, a human in this group should be coming in @ N level where N= Avg ECL of party, yeah?
Huh? T y p e s l o w e r, I haven't had enough coffee yet. Okay, if I'm understanding you, which I doubt, you're saying my human should be starting out negative? Is that what the N means? I really have to start learning the technical speak. I did warn everyone in the beginning of my time on these boards that I am and always will be, a dork.
There seems to be a disconnect here with what ECL and level adjustments all mean. There have been a number of other threads on this, but here are the basics...
Take Human vs. Drow --
1st level human fighter is the equivalent of a 1st level character.
A drow has a +2 level adjustment. That means that a 1st level drow fighter is the equivalent of a 3rd level character. They still only have 1 HD and all the benefits of a 1st level fighter, but they get all their other stuff which increases their character level. They get XP as a 3rd level character.
If other people are starting out with character races that have a Level Adjustment, and everyone is starting out at "1st level", then the playing field won't be terribly even.
So if the DM wanted to keep things even and your party consisted of a Svirfneblin, a Drow, a Genasi and a Wood Elf, everyone should have a starting ECL of 4 since the Svirfneblin has an ECL of +3. So the Wood Elf would be level 4, the Genasi would be level 3, the Drow would be level 2 and the Svirfneblin would be level 1 to start out.
There are a number of reasons that people here are saying to stay away from races that have a high level adjustment. In the above example, the Svirfneblin has only 1 HD but is going up against a lot tougher opponents and will probably be the first one to die in any given confrontation.
Basically saying that some people might get level adjustments, but everyone is starting at first level makes it sound as if people are actually starting out at different levels and some people are actually going to be more powerful than others.
Hope that helps.
Hey, that does help! Okay, I'm going to start out at 1st lvl if I stick with my human fighter idea, which I probably will. Everyone else is going to start out negative and earn their goodies through their progression to 1st. Which means, after reading all your posts, they are full of it, I'm not going to fall behind them, and considering they are all taking LA 3 or 4 classes, they are probably not going to catch up to me. Ha ha, ha ha ha HAHAHA! That kinda feels good!
Yup, there's a reason humans are the dominant species in DnD :)
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The other thing about LA and ECL that people usually forget (or never knew) is that the ECL is:
Character Level + Level Adjustment + Base Hit Dice
(Note that you only add the base hit dice if the race starts with more than one.)
Example:
Player wants to start as a Hill Giant Barbarian (1st Level). 1 (character level) + 4 (LA) + 12 (base hit dice) = 17
A first level hill giant barbarian is ECL 17 (nominally equivalent to a 17th level human wizard, for instance).
For more information, see Monsters as Races.
you could always go Fey-ri - they have alternate form so it looks like an elf and sounds like an elf but its got lots evil demonic spell-like abilities and can fly. works well as a swashbuckler.
One of the party has already chosen that one. He's going to be our thief, oops, rogue. Scamp? Scoundrel?
For more information, see Monsters as Races.
Thanks, I am printing it up as we speak. Or actually, as I type this to be more precise.
While I don’t have much to comment on what has already been said, I figured this was a good place to put up my question cause its at least related. In a 3.5 campaign I’m playing in the game master is pushing for really high powered stuff. For example we are only 5th to 6th level and we have already faced 1 Shadow Dragon, 1 party of Drow that was lead by a 5th spell caster (cast fireball) and 1 Kyton (Chain Demon). To top it off it looks like we are in for a very nasty combat real soon. Evidence shows a demon cable of casting fire or lighting. A Cornugon (Horned Devil) looked most likely when checked against a 3.0 Monster Manual, in a 3.5 its way to powerful, but the lesser one I was looking at loses its ability to use fire in the manner we’ve seen in the 3.0 to 3.5 conversion. In the last session GM pushed for a new player to roll up a half dragon sorcerer. GM has also stated that so long as we can show him the original source and write up, we can use any book for race, class, feats etc. Another friend of mine we’ll be giving me a disk with several books on it to help supplement our short supply of books on hand.
Anyways now to the real point. Me and another player have decided with the short life expectancy of our current characters combined with the high powered push we want to play ½ dragon (for fun the other ½ would be orcs) monks. We’ve already discussed taking one or more of the vows to help sup us up without being dependant on equipment. Main question does anyone know of a alternate race of dragon that could be used for a different breathe weapon. We want to avoid fire (boring) and ice (lame as the other guy put it). We are willing to do acid (blacks and greens) and lighting (blue) if something else can’t be found. We were thinking something along the lines of sonic or some other “element” that has very few things resistant to it. The weirder the better. Because while our parents were evil we ain’t. Did I mention we’re planning on being twins, and until it gets on everyone nerves at the beginning of combat stating “Wonder Twin Powers Activate”.
Just chiming in, perhaps a bit belatedly, to say that I would really avoid the LA race route. I have a friend who began looking through the MM for races almost as soon as he started playing. Once he found out that LA's existed, he was scouring everything for powergaming races to give insane bonuses. This culminated in the infamous gnoll werebear samauri. The thing had unbelievable Strength; really tremendous damage, and it even outweighed the lower BAB by quite a bit.
However, his HD were so low (and the accompanying Base Saves) that he died in the first fight, when the party faced off agaisnt 8 advanced ghasts. Their paralysis easily overcame his low Fort save. He was paralyzed and summarily devoured.
Afterwards, the guy reeled in his powergaming to the "normal" races (although I still saw him nearly 1-shot a marilith with a trident as a 12th or so level fighter).
It reminds me of another issue that's loosely related. Some people seem to think that anything can be balanced; for example, a +10 Strength can be balanced by a -10 Intelligence. So long as the Pro is matched by the Con, it's legitimate.
No, no it's not. While "balanced" in a zero-sum sense, the character is so horrendously awkward (deific in some areas and infantile in others) that it's just unplayable. Sorry, wandering off on a tangent.
Anyway, LA's are actually weaker. If you can withstand the pressure, don't go down this route! You will actually be the strongest one in the party if you choose a PHB race. Or you could even be "unusual" by picking an orc or some such, but still be comparable to a PHB race (but ask the DM to ditch the light sensitivity, that's so stupid).
However, if you are already convinced this is the way to go, something like an ogre or minotaur, or even a troll, would be really good to mix with a fighter or barbarian.
SNIP
I'd find a new GM. Unless you really like this guy, he'd drive me nuts.
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RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32
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As kind of a general rule, if I do allow LA races in my games, I tend to restrict it to LA +1 or +2 races only (I will, on rare occassion, allow a +3). The reason for this is so that the powerlevels don't get too drastically skewed within the game. I will admit that I have a fondness for genasi (I don't even know why) and they tend to pop up in my games periodically (usually Fire or Air genasi). They don't have anything that really makes them extraordinary, but they do have a slight 'edge' on normal character races and it does give the character some unique abilities that don't threaten to unbalance the game as a whole.
I still stand by my original statement, though: If everyone is playing LA races, your best bet is to do something basic and stay ahead of the game.
SNIPI'd find a new GM. Unless you really like this guy, he'd drive me nuts.
This is the first time I've played under him. The problem is I'm the only other competent GM in the group and I don't want to run. To give the guy some credit while is encounters are high so are all the rewards (Fame Glory and Riches). Provided you can survive its the adventures perfect dream. Example being in the fight with the Shadow Dragon my character actually died. But since I died in trying to recover some lame magical religious item of the Elves they resurrected me at no charge. I'm currently playing a Dwarven Barbarian/Fighter. The rest of the party consists of another Dwarven Fighter(who is rather neutered at the moment due to choice in fighting style, dual wielding shield bash), An Elven Cleric of a God I can't remember at the moment, 1 Elven Sorcerer (“sister of the cleric), and 1 ½ Copper Dragon Sorcerer (some kind of cousin to the other 2 Elves). With all the “pansies” my character is dealing with he is about to say “Screw you guys I’m going home.”
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Kuthax,
if your DM is encouraging power-gaming to the extreme you describe, I might suggest the Dragonborn 'race' from Races of the Dragon. Your character begins as a normal base race, and then you build an egg shell, sleep in it awhile and come out with draconic features instead of your old racial bonuses. The new abilities grow as you increase in level, making it one of the most powerful alternate races for 0 or +1 level adjustment. I believe the alignments are restricted but it would still allow for monk levels.
I'd like to think I have an eye for catching munchkinism in the act, but a friend had to demonstrate to me why feral war-hulks should be NPCs only.
I've been going without my library of Completes, Races, etc. for a few months now, so I was doing some tinkering on my own to come up with new balanced races and classes. This has really opened up my mind with regard to the way I run my gaming table. A huge library of books isn't needed to come up with a unique adventurer. Here's what I decided:
Rule 0 is awesome, and I have only been applying it to a few limited parts of the game until now. The next time I play, I'm going to allow much more customization for my players. If a character concept doesn't quite fit with a printed class, the class can be changed. Not the character concept. For example, want a thug-like rogue with full attack progression? Can-do. Just a few tweaks to the barbarian to replace his abilities with a slow sneak attack track. Or, a divine evoker specializing in fire? Sounds good to me. Mix a sorcerer/warmage with some hand-picked divine spells.
The same with races. (I've mentioned before that I find kobold PCs with a couple freebie points more balanced than kobold PCs without 'em).
I guess my parting comment is don't overlook the value of rule 0. The points of the game are to have fun and contribute to the group. Some people can get hung up and frustrated when the RAW doesn't jive with the picture in their head, so remember that the rules, even class/racial abilities, are just suggestions.
I was really interested in the catfolk, but of all the books we own, Races of the wild seems to be missing from our collection *sigh* another book I'm going to HAVE to get, cause now it'll bug me until I've seen that race.
Guess what my hubby got me for our anniversary. Isn't he a good boy!
Okay, I've been doing some reading, and listening to the other players talk to the DM, and from what I can gather, they ARE going to pretty much start out as hd 3 or 4 characters. So, how does a human fighter with a lycanthrop template strike you guys?
How does a human fighter with a lycanthrop template strike you guys?
It strikes me as a LOT of bookwork, and statistical recordkeeping. It takes me an hour just to add a class level to the Lycanthropes in the MM, let alone having to figure and refigure stats for each of your forms every time you level!
Not to put a downer on your plan or anything - Think of it more as a friendly heads-up!
--
Cordially
D!
That's it then, I'm just going to be a human fighter. All I care about is having fun with my character. I guess I shouldn't be too concerned with what my husband has dubbed "the arms race". I enjoy the roleplaying most of all anyway, and being the only normal race, looks like that ball is going to be in my court alot :)
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That's it then, I'm just going to be a human fighter. All I care about is having fun with my character. I guess I shouldn't be too concerned with what my husband has dubbed "the arms race". I enjoy the roleplaying most of all anyway, and being the only normal race, looks like that ball is going to be in my court alot :)
Yes indeed. Much of the Shackled City campaign takes place in or around - you guessed it - a city. And unless your DM is planning to change things substantially, a fairly human dominated city. Sometimes, playing a "normal" might come in handy.
Yes indeed. Much of the Shackled City campaign takes place in or around - you guessed it - a city. And unless your DM is planning to change things substantially, a fairly human dominated city. Sometimes, playing a "normal" might come in handy.
*Sigh of relief* Thank you Mothman, I feel much better about my choice. I feel so sorry for our poor DM. Hopefully my being just a plain ole human will help him out a little.
Hmmm, while we're on the topic of odd races, which is what I SHOULD have named this thread, my husband was wondering if there is anymore information on the Urdunnir dwarf, other than the Races of Faerun?
I've found that most races/templates with a LA of +2 or more (or +3 for some exceptions) hurt the character more than they help. The special abilities just can't counter the lower HD/class levels in the long run (or even the short run, if you are a "1st level" character at ECL 3 or 4).
One thing that may or may not fit with your human is the bloodline rules. For example, you could have a lycanthrope bloodline instead of a template, gain a few extra abilities every fourth level, and effectively pick up a +1 LA at 12th level. A human (Lycanthrope Bloodline) barbarian (Wolf Totem)/fighter with the High Sword Low Axe (bastard sword and handaxe) weapon style feat from Complete Warrior may be the type of melee combatant you want to play.
Or you could try a human (Doppleganger Bloodline) swashbuckler and invest heavily in social skills. Considering the rest of the party, you'll probably need to.