A few brief things to note first off:
1. I pretty much just joined this site to ask this, so I apologize if this or something similar has already been asked, or if this should go in Advice.
2. My friends and I are all relatively new to Pathfinder and D&D (it will be a year on the March break, we try to play once a month). We started with D&D 3.5 until switching to Pathfinder after session two, and here we shall stay. I apologize for my noobness here.
That being said, for her character, my friend wants to play a creature called a centacornus, the source material of which can be found <a href="http://www.rpgnet.gr/store/netbooks3rd/nb_bookofbeasts_v3.pdf">her e</a>. As far as I know, she copied the information onto her character sheet verbatim, word for word. When it came time to play, I noticed how OP the character seemed compared to the rest of us (regrettably leading to a quarrel which slowed things down). I was convinced for awhile that it must not be meant to be playable, but now I've heard of this Level Adjustment system, racial hit die and how the two affect gameplay overall and a lot of other things I vaguely understand.
I like the character idea, and I don't believe it would be right to deny her it. But how should I handle this? Should I try to use this level advancement system, and if so, would someone explain it? Should I try to nerf it, remove things racial hit die, lower ability scores and skills and substitute where appropriate for Ranger class standard (her chosen class)?
Thanks in advance :)
Welcome! If you want to link things in the future, use ["url = PUT URL HERE"]text you want the link to appear as["/url"] without the quotation marks.
As for level adjustment, generally a monster can be used as a PC, with effective level being equal to their CR. It's important to note that they do not get PC wealth until they take PC classes- a base monster's wealth is the listed treasure for that monster and only that treasure. So a CR 5 monster would count as a 5th level character and have 1,550 gold pieces worth of wealth.
Normally, a 5th level PC is expected to have about 10,500 gold pieces worth. The game assumes the abilities of the monster are roughly equivalent to the worth of the wealth difference. So this centacornus' abilities are assumed to be worth roughly 9,000 gp, meaning that a PC could duplicate them with 9,000 gp worth of gear.
CR is not an exact system, so if the abilities of the centacornus seem to be worth more than 9,000 gp, feel free to bump up the effective level by 1, 2, or however much seems necessary.
Now, the centacornus gets some extreme stat boosts, a high base speed and an even higher fly speed, plus a lot of SLAs. You may have been correct in thinking it was unplayable. I'll try and calculate how much it would cost to get all the relevant abilities as slotless magic items.
For 5 levels' worth of advancement, the size, SR, and natural armor aren't all that bad. Large size is worth roughly 2,500 gp- the cost of a permanent enlarge person.
Its SR is 10+class level, and with the level advancement system it'll always be 5 levels behind of the PCs and enemies, meaning that an equal-level caster will usually have a 80% chance of penetrating it, plus it applied to allies' spells, too. For a caster, that's not such a nuisance, more so for a martial. With the low SR and hampered progression, I wouldn't worry about it much. Removing it might be doing the PC a favor, in fact.
The SLAs are half of the really broken part of the monster. Feather fall, endure elements, jump, and gust of wind are handy, but not too bad. Fog cloud, obscuring mist, and sleet storm are really good battlefield control, and removing them might be justified.
The other broken part is the stat modifiers on this thing. 10 Strength, 6 charisma, 4 dexterity, and 2 Constitution. I'd recommend just giving her +4 Strength and +2 Charisma to whatever pregenerated stats she had.
The natural weapons are okay. Racial hit dice are okay and don't give too much. Scent, low-light vision, and the skill bonuses seem fine.
Welcome! If you want to link things in the future, use ["url = PUT URL HERE"]text you want the link to appear as["/url"] without the quotation marks.
As for level adjustment, generally a monster can be used as a PC, with effective level being equal to their CR. It's important to note that they do not get PC wealth until they take PC classes- a base monster's wealth is the listed treasure for that monster and only that treasure. So a CR 5 monster would count as a 5th level character and have 1,550 gold pieces worth of wealth.
Normally, a 5th level PC is expected to have about 10,500 gold pieces worth. The game assumes the abilities of the monster are roughly equivalent to the worth of the wealth difference. So this centacornus' abilities are assumed to be worth roughly 9,000 gp, meaning that a PC could duplicate them with 9,000 gp worth of gear.
CR is not an exact system, so if the abilities of the centacornus seem to be worth more than 9,000 gp, feel free to bump up the effective level by 1, 2, or however much seems necessary.
Now, the centacornus gets some extreme stat boosts, a high base speed and an even higher fly speed, plus a lot of SLAs. You may have been correct in thinking it was unplayable. I'll try and calculate how much it would cost to get all the relevant abilities as slotless magic items.
Cheers. Also, I think it might be worth mentioning that she'd be (or should be) Character level 1 like the majority of us, so the reason I thought it sounded unplayable was mainly be uses of the types of bonuses she was getting while only being level 1. Would Level adjustment even be reliable here with this in mind?
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Level adjustment isn't used anymore in Pathfinder, you should look at it's CR. It's CR is 5 so if the rest of the party is level 5 she should be an equal for the other party members. When the other PCs reach level 6, she would gain her first class level. (Having only racial levels before that)
The other broken part is the stat modifiers on this thing. 10 Strength, 6 charisma, 4 dexterity, and 2 Constitution. I'd recommend just giving her +4 Strength and +2 Charisma to whatever pregenerated stats she had.The natural weapons are okay. Racial hit dice are okay and don't give too much. Scent, low-light vision, and the skill bonuses seem fine.
To clarify, does that mean add the +4 and +2 to her ability scores, make those her ability mods, or add those to her ability mods?
And you're sure about the skills? Does that really fit with the Pathfinder changes? And what about the things like bonuses to attack and damage?
Third, if the party is under level four, you can parcel out the creature, gradually adding its abilities as she levels up. 3.5 (and probably 3rd, though I don't think I've actively seen it there) has a handful of pseudo-classes that are designed to add things like Half-Dragon to a character. In this instance it should require four levels to become a 'full' Centacornus.
Fourth, if you're under 5th level, you can simply 'freeze' her character. She does not advance until she gains enough experience to reach 6th level-- until then, she's a Centacornus Ranger 1, while the Human Fighter goes through levels 1-5. This is probably the simplest option that lets her keep her character assuming you're low-leveled, but it will lead to her utterly dominating the first part of the game.
Really digging these two options... I think I'll take the modifications recomended by Ipslore the Red, and then from there, give the final decision out of these two options to her. Thanks again everyone!