Living Constructs and Level Adjustment

[RickSummon]

I believe that Eberron's warforged, who are living constructs, have LA +0. Also, the modron outcast from Dragon #354 is a living construct with LA +1. The question is, is that LA enough?

Suppose you started out with one of the base Pathfinder races and changed it to a living construct. Would that make it LA +1, +2, or more? Living constructs have a lot of immunities. They don't need to breathe, which means they can grapple a living target underwater and drown them. Plus, they're constructs, so they aren't affected by charm person spells. (Unlike most constructs, they are affected by other mind-affecting spells.)

So, I ask you: how powerful should living constructs be considered?

[Iziak]

If I recall correctly (I don't have the Eberron Campaign Setting in front of me right now), living constructs also have a fair number of penalties that non-construct living creatures don't... like how cure spells don't work real well on them. In total, I don't recall thinking that being a living construct should even be worth +1 LA, although I could be mistaken.

EDIT: I've also had one or two players who've run a warforged in my group, and they didn't seem too much more powerful than the other characters based on their racial traits (although they did massive damage thanks to the rest of their builds).

[RickSummon]

Some of the living construct immunities work better for certain classes than others. Their lack of sleep and immunities to fatigue and exhaustion work great for fighters, who can stand watch all night while the party sleeps. For spellcasters, this isn't much of an advantage, since they still need to rest for 8 hours even if it isn't technically "sleep."

On the other hand, LCs are immune to poison and nausea. This means that a spellcaster could cast stinking cloud or cloudkill and center it on himself without a problem. And, for any class, smearing yourself with contact poison is always useful in a fight.

While it's true that LCs take only half normal healing from positive energy, they also take half normal damage from negative energy. In Pathfinder, that might be more useful than in 3.5 since evil clerics can channel negative energy against the living. LCs can't heal damage naturally, but an arcane spellcaster LC could carry a wand of repair light damage to make up for it, allowing the cleric to concentrate on healing the other party members.

Oh, and one more thing. A fighter LC wielding a life-drinker weapon is a formidable foe indeed. It bestows two negative levels on an opponent per hit — but LCs don't suffer the one negative level backlash. If you've ever played a warforged fighter, didn't you go for the life-drinker as soon as possible?

[BlaineTog]

Warforged are good, but not specially great, certainly not worth a LA. You're also not going to play one unless you really like the aesthetic. I think they're fine as-is.

[RickSummon]

So, do you think that a core Pathfinder race with the living construct type added to it would be a +1 LA?