1 HD monsters with class levels

[Taffer]

I have been searching my books with no luck trying to find this rule. A friend of mine wants to play a fey creature in a new 1st-level campaign. This fey has 1 racial HD. He thinks he gets to swap this out for a 1st-level HD from whatever class he picks. I told him no, that's not how it works...unless the race is specifically "defined by its class levels", it keeps its racial HD, even if it's just 1.

However, I cannot find this rule anywhere. The best I've been able to do is find an example (p.13 of The Snows of Summer).

If anyone out there can point me to the actual rule so I can show him (he's very stubborn about these things sometimes), I would really appreciate it!

Thanks in advance!

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Taffer

[John Murdock]

the only thing i was about to find was an exception with humanoids that say this

Humanoid wrote:

Humanoids with 1 Hit Die exchange the features of their humanoid Hit Die for the class features of a PC or NPC class. Humanoids of this sort are typically presented as 1st-level warriors, which means they have average combat ability and poor saving throws. Humanoids with more than 1 Hit Die are the only humanoids who make use of the features of the humanoid type. A humanoid has the following features (unless otherwise noted in a creature's entry).

so he take a fey with one racial hit he keeps it, he can't change it. only humanoids have that line that say they can do it

[2bz2p]

Is this a race from one of the Bestiary books? They are really clear when a "creature" has racial HD and when they are class based.

[Lady-J]

yes they would keep the racial hit die meaning every one else would be lvl 1 in a class and he would have no class levels or every one would be level 5 and he would only have 4 class levels

[Lady-J]

There are a number of monsters in this book that do not possess racial Hit Dice. Such creatures are the best options for player characters, but a few of them are so powerful that they count as having 1 class level, even without a racial Hit Die. Such characters should only be allowed in a group that is 2nd-level or higher.

For monsters with racial Hit Dice, the best way to allow monster PCs is to pick a CR and allow all of the players to make characters using monsters of that CR. Treat the monster's CR as its total class levels and allow the characters to multiclass into the core classes. Do not advance such monsters by adding Hit Dice. Monster PCs should only advance through classes.

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.

Note that in a mixed group, the value of racial Hit Dice and abilities diminish as a character gains levels. 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.

[Taffer]

This is actually not an official Pathfinder monster. For some reason I cannot fathom, he really really REALLY wants to play a Jermlaine (from Monster Manual 2, 3rd edition D&D). I'm working on a conversion, but the 1-racial-HD thing came up almost immediately. :(

An official 1-HD fey example would be the Mite.

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Taffer

[Tacticslion]

Dot

[Kitty Catoblepas]

Just to play Archeon's advocate...

The Fey race is in the Race Builder's Guide and is slightly weaker than a Native Outsider (Low Light Vision instead of Darkvision). A Fey race with class levels and no racial HD wouldn't be inherently more powerful than current options

That being said...
If you have to build the race, it's going to be as powerful as you build it. Things to worry about.

1. Jermaline are Tiny, from the stat blocks I've seen. This will come with its own challenges (both for player and DM).

2. I've seen some crazy stat bonuses for writeups of this race. Keep in mind Rogue, Gunslinger and Wizard builds (really anything that can benefit from the +hit and +dex) when designing as to not make those options too powerful. Alternately, keep the bonuses under control as you write the race.

3. The Race Builder is full of ideas and guidelines, but not full of good information to balance your race. Eyeball it. Compare it with existing races.

4. Sounds fun. Do it.