OK, this is something that I know TOZ is working on independently (I've intentionally held off looking at his gaele eladrin writeup until I could independently get my own thoughts straight, but I plan to review it this weekend).
Put simply, I would like for every class level to get at least a d4 hit die and at least 2 skill points.
For something like a half-farspawn template (+4 LA in 3.5 edition), I'd spread those abilities over four "levels" of the Farspawn class. Each level is treated as 1 racial HD of Aberration for hp, skill points, and saves.
Yeah, you get a lot of benefits, but a 5th level character with (+0 BAB, 1 HD and 1st level saves) dies instantly in every encounter. Providing 3/4 BAB, 4d8 HD, and slightly better Will saves would keep him viable at 5th level, without making him totally unbalanced.
For something like a half-fiend, Outsider HD are so good to begin with (d10 hp, full BAB, all good saves) that I'd maybe spread the +4 LA benefits over 6 or 8 racial HD, rather than 4.
Thoughts/comments/people that have done something like this before?
I am not sure what you mean to say, you mean to make races or templates accesible to players in a balanced manner ?
I have done this but rather than racial HD I used NPC classes to compensate, maybe I get you wrong entirely though hehe
I have done this but rather than racial HD I used NPC classes to compensate, maybe I get you wrong entirely though hehe
I could see that, too. For example, I'd be willing to trade 1 level in an NPC class, with half the benefits of the Advanced simple template, in place of one PC class level. I'd let people select this option up to twice.
To my mind, an Advanced warrior 2 makes a much better PC in a 2nd level campaign than does an Advanced fighter 1.
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Green Ronin's Aasimar and Tieflings book had the suggestion of allowing such characters at level 1 as long as they started with an NPC class. I thought it was an elegant method of treating the LA, for those worried about it. Never got to test it out however.
I have done this but rather than racial HD I used NPC classes to compensate, maybe I get you wrong entirely though heheI could see that, too. For example, I'd be willing to trade 1 level in an NPC class, with half the benefits of the Advanced simple template, in place of one PC class level. I'd let people select this option up to twice.
To my mind, an Advanced warrior 2 makes a much better PC in a 2nd level campaign than does an Advanced fighter 1.
If you give the warrior pointbuy as a PC the comparison goes wrong ofcourse, part of the warriors assumed rating compared to fighter is the non-elite ability scores. Taking that and non-maxed hp into account the fighter will still come out on top.
I mean I usually calculate CR to determine if it is a fair match, in this case the CR would be equal but elite scores would pull in the warriors favor.
Green Ronin's Aasimar and Tieflings book had the suggestion of allowing such characters at level 1 as long as they started with an NPC class. I thought it was an elegant method of treating the LA, for those worried about it. Never got to test it out however.
I used it for Aasimar, the 1 warrior level at the start seemed to compare nicely to the slightly better ability scores and fancy abilities it gained on other players (in 3.5), maybe still a slight advantage at first, but a bit later it will turn into a slight disadvantage. Still was content with it though.