Quote:
Originally Posted by Sendric
I wish my DM would allow that. My Half(red)-Dragon Troll would have been awesome. Well, more awesome anyway.  |
Frankly, if you look at 1st and 2nd Ed. you would see that was how it always worked. When the ECL system with the Level Adjustments were introduced in v3.5, it made no sense. Essentially, it meant that monsters were gaining experience towards being monsters, which is totally against what the experience system is meant to represent. I know, I know, arguments can be, and have been, made to indicate the validity of that. However, any Joe Schmo can become a Wizard with 0 XP just because the Humanoid has 1 HD. So where does that HD go, it was there all through birth, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, but as soon as you choose a class it goes away? *smh* Just a stupid system IMHO, and it should've never been implemented as a catch-all.
Now the argument to balance out characters is valid. A 1st level Ogre is not the equivalent of a 1st level base race character. In order to balance party level, that makes sense, but only as a metric for party balance, and not a catch-all for how experience is distributed. For example, I believe ECL is a great metric to indicate a 1st level Ogre is the equivalent of a 4th level character, but I still think the Ogre starts at 0 XP and would need 1000 XP to gain level. He just increases the party level balance with the ECL of 4th, basically for determining CR of encounters and overall party level or division of experience. Otherwise, an Ogre that is just an Ogre (from birth, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, just like a base race character) would have to gain 6000 XP before it even chooses its first class, and will take another 4000 XP before it would gain another level. What?!?
In any case, I wouldn't even allow for a half-dragon troll, so you wouldn't like me as a DM. :P
Rant over.