Because anything we post on the boards is considered to be copyrighted by Paizo, I'm going to give you a link to my work:
The object is, at max, a +2 LA race. But I'd like help to reduce it to an LA +1 race. Frightful Gaze is the most wicked offender, and I need suggestions on how to nerf it 3 points so it's equal to hypnotic gaze.
Thanks! :)
Well, here's a crazy thought. Why don't you just reflavor Hypnotic Gaze so it is fear-based and replace Frightful Gaze with it?
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Ergh, LA. That's a pretty severe turn-off.
Why not just use race builder to restructure it as a <15 PB race? Have the extra features as feat options.
*edit*
Frightful gaze has to go completely. The free trip tail ability should probably be made a feat. I would remove the reference to mating rituals (no need to have that in the rules text).
Remember, less is more with races. Don't try to shove everything and the kitchen sink into it.
Ergh, LA. That's a pretty severe turn-off.
Why not just use race builder to restructure it as a <15 PB race? Have the extra features as feat options.
*edit*
Frightful gaze has to go completely. The free trip tail ability should probably be made a feat. I would remove the reference to mating rituals (no need to have that in the rules text).
Remember, less is more with races. Don't try to shove everything and the kitchen sink into it.
I didn't want to overshadow the nagaji. :D (I had to chuckle when you said that). I could make is as powerful or less than the dragonborn write up I did.
Well, here's a crazy thought. Why don't you just reflavor Hypnotic Gaze so it is fear-based and replace Frightful Gaze with it?
I didn't think of that "crazy thought" in time. Thank you.
Level Adjustment (LA)? Wow, there's a term I haven't heard in a looong time …
I always think of it when playing powerful races. Drow are a more powerful race in Pathfinder, so they gave it a +1 adjustment, I think. In 5e, they are more or less equal to humans.
You're welcome.
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Suggested alterations:
1. Drop the level adjustment. In Pathfinder having a "powerful" race impacts a party's APL, and so the CR of their encounters are adjusted accordingly. Get it out of your head that Pathfinder has level adjustment.
2. Give the playable naga a 'normal' set of stat modifiers. I'd suggest +2 dexterity, +2 intelligence, and -2 constitution. (-2 RP)
3. Axe the poisonous bite. (-3 RP)
4. Axe Frightful Gaze (-6 RP)
Your Naga playable race is now 15 RP. A touch more powerful than core races, but no more so than a lot of featured races from the ARG.
There is no 'level adjustment' in Pathfinder
Yes and no. It's mentioned in a few places in the Bestiaries that if players are interested in playing monster characters to treat their Challenge Rating as their starting level. For example, an Ogre is CR 3, so it would be considered a 3rd-level character with just the base Ogre stats, and would need to gather enough experience to reach 4th level before it could take class levels.
It doesn't use the words "level adjustment" but it works in approximately the same way.
There is no 'level adjustment' in Pathfinder
Not as such, but iirc there are rules for playing monstrous PCs, taking into account their monstrous CR as initial character levels.
Oh, here it is:
If you are including a single monster character in a group of standard characters, make sure the group is of a level that is at least as high as the monster's CR. Treat the monster's CR as class levels when determining the monster PC's overall levels. For example, in a group of 6th-level characters, a minotaur (CR 4) would possess 2 levels of a core class, such as barbarian.
This is functionally equivalent to the old DD3.5 concept of LA. For example, a spirit naga has a CR of 9. So if the other PCs are 10th level, you could play a spirit naga with one character level. You could presumably swap out the listed spells for any sorcerer or cleric spells, though you would doubtless have to choose a list of "spells known" as a 7th level sorcerer.
Below 10th level, I would think you'd have to play a Nagaji, perhaps swapping legs for a tail, either keeping or eliminating the arms depending on your aesthetic preferences.
Don't forget this bit of text as well.
It is recommended that for every 3 levels gained by the group, the monster character should gain an extra level, received halfway between the 2nd and 3rd levels. Repeat this process a number of times equal to half the monster's CR, rounded down. Using the minotaur example, when the group is at a point between 6th and 7th level, the minotaur gains a level, and then again at 7th, making him a minotaur barbarian 4. This process repeats at 10th level, making him a minotaur barbarian 8 when the group reaches 10th level. From that point onward, he gains levels normally.
This is why a lower power race with race feats is a good substitute. You can gradually go up in power and have your "awesome race" scale with level, so you don't hog the spotlight at level 1, but don't feel less interesting and powerful at level 10.