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I've got a player who is wanting to play a Lizardfolk character in a new adventure path that starts everyone at 1st level. There are two sections of applicable rules about playing this race as a pc - Monsters as PC's (pp. 313-314, Bestiary) and Humanoid (p. 308, Bestiary). There are a couple things that I'm not quite sure how to interpret, which I've detailed below.
Per Monsters as PCs - "Treat the monster's CR as its total class levels, and allow the characters [monsters] to multiclass into the core classes. Do not advance such monsters by adding hit dice. Monster PCs should only advance through classes."
Question: the word "advance" is what is stumping me. Are they meaning that the initial build should not have any racial hit die, but that instead it should have hit die equal to its CR (since its CR is considered its total class levels)? Or do they mean that the initial build should follow the standard creature entry wrt hit die and BAB, but that advancement beyond that point should only be through classes? A lizardfolk is CR 1, but 2 hit die, hence the confusion. This will affect whether the lizardfolk should start as a non-classed character with 2 hit die, thus having to wait for 2nd level before it can opt into rogue, or whether it can start play as a rogue with only 1 hit die, which are based on the rogue and not on the race (as per the Humanoid entry, humanoids with more than 1 hit die make use of the features of the humanoid type, but humanoids with only 1 hit die go with the class-based features instead, rather than in addition to).
Yes the are referring to racial hit dice as advancement, and that player characters should not increase racial hit dice.
If you check out the advanced races guide playtest they confirmed a suspicion I've had for a long time, Lizardfolk without racial hit dice are a balanced race. As a DM I would let a player take them either: with the racial hitdice, but their first and second level had to be the hitdice, or more liberally (and likely) just as a straight up player race with no hitdice.
There is a fan created version here, you could reverse engineer the stats from the bestiary, which I believe are 2 str 2 con -2 int, swim speed 15, hold breath, +natural armor, racial bonus to acrobatics, and natural attacks
1st method: GM tells players to create 4th level characters. You legitimately create a Liz Ftr3 that would have 2 racial hit dice, plus 3 class hit dice. When the elf rogue is 10th level, and has 10 class hit dice, you are say, a Ftr9 with the same original 2 racial hit dice, plus your 9 class hit dice.
In the long run, the second option is better, dropping racial hit dice, saves, and BAB, entirely.
If you're going by the rules in the bestiary, then your player wanting to play a Lizardfolk should do the following :
Analyze the Lizardfolk stats, which are
Str 13, Dex 10, Con 13, Int 9, Wis 10, Cha 10
So the lizardfolk has a modifier of +2 Str, +2 Con, -2 Int.
He has +5 Natural armor.
He has a racial swim speed of 15ft (this gives him a +8 racial bonus on swim checks).
He has +4 racial bonus to acrobatics.
He has the Hold Breath ability.
Now, he'd start out as a 1st level character, on equal terms with everyone else in the party, with whatever you want to give him for starting wealth. I'd use one of the 3d6x10 of the Barbarian, as that's closest in flavor.
Skill points equal to 2 + Int modifier (minimum 1) per Hit Die or by character class. The following are class skills for humanoids without a character class: Climb, Craft, Handle Animal, Heal, Profession, Ride, and Survival. Humanoids with a character class use their class's skill list instead. Humanoids with both a character class and racial HD add these skills to their list of class skills.
He'd be proficient with simple weapons from being a humanoid, and also with shields. Not armor.
When he get's enough experience to reach level 2, he'd take a level in a class. He'd gain all the benefits that a normal first level character would for taking their first level in that class, including maximum HP on the hit die (note that his 2 racial hit dice are rolled, not maxed for first level).
Because feats are based off hit dice, he'd gain his 3rd hit die bonus feat at 2nd level.
The max ranks he'd be able to have in a skill would rise to 3, since he's a 3 hit die creature.
He'd basically always be behind everyone else by one level (If everyone else is level 5, he'd be level 4) in class levels, but one level ahead in hit dice and feat progression. He'd get his first bonus attribute point at level 3 (four hit die).
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That's mostly what I was thinking, mdt, but just wanted to get some concurrence. I actually hadn't considered the point that the feats, max skill ranks, etc. are based off the hit dice and not the levels, so I'll make sure he takes that into consideration.
What I'll probably end up doing is offering him the option of either doing it that way (which will net him a few more hit points as a level 1 character) or doing as Glutton suggested and dropping the hit dice to let him slide right into his rogue class.
Just realize, he might NOT have more hp at level 1. He rolls for both of those d8's, and if he rolls two 1's, that's going to be a low hp total.
The average is going to be 9hp from dice, plus CON mod x 2. So average is 11 (which is the bestiary entry).
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Just realize, he might NOT have more hp at level 1. He rolls for both of those d8's, and if he rolls two 1's, that's going to be a low hp total.
The average is going to be 9hp from dice, plus CON mod x 2. So average is 11 (which is the bestiary entry).
Yeah, my house rule is max hit points at 1st level, then average or better (a roll of 1 on a d8 would default to 5) on all other levels. In his case, I would only give him max on one of the hit dice.
The other players haven't decided their classes yet, so any d10 or d12 hit die classes will be pretty close to his total at the start, but would quickly outpace him after a couple levels.