The LA +1 Human, Half-Orc, and Half-Elf

[Koewn]

Some time back, I'd posted a short series of races pulled partly from WotC's Savage Species articles, a LA +0 Tiefling and Feytouched.

I'd been wanting to muck about with the 'common' races in my campaign-world, and I'd been leaning towards a humano-centric game. Everything being LA +0 was important to me, since I was dropping many of the PHB races in favor of my own, and still wanted to provide large set of choices (as the majority of my players, and myself, don't choose LA +1 races)

The strange dances I had to do with bonuses/penalties to get the 'flavor' of the race in without going over the LA +0 line was annoying me. Plus, I couldn't differentiate the LA +0 Feytouched enough from Half-Elf (which I'd decided to rename the Elf stats into).

Anyway. A few nights ago I awoke with a start, the most convoluted solution to my problem still afresh in my mind - redefine LA +1 *as* LA +0! Tada!

I've put all three races (Human, H-Orc, H-Elf) into this first post for brevity's sake.

HUMAN

* Medium, 30 ft.
* One Bonus Feat at 1st level
* 4 Bonus Skill points at 1st level, and one extra skill point each level thereafter.
* Knack: Pick two skills that will always be considered class skills for any class or prestige class.
* Forte: Gain the Skill Focus feat in one of your knacks.
* Upbringing: Choose one feat from a limited list (like Regional Feats, or whatever appropriate to your campaign)
* A human takes no XP penalty at all for multiclassing in any way, and therefore, has no favored class.

HALF-ELF

* Medium, 30 ft.
* +2 Dexterity, -2 Constitution, +2 Charisma
* Immunity to magical sleep, +2 on saves vs. Enchantment spells or effects.
* +2 Racial bonus to Listen checks.
* Elfsight: A Half-Elf can see thrice as far as a human in conditions of poor illumination, just as Low-Light vision. She also gains a +4 Racial bonus to Spot and Search.
* Elven Blood: For all effects related to race, a Half-Elf is an elf.
* Favored Class: Any

(the original half-elf post below details why this looks more like the SRD/PHB elf)

HALF-ORC

* Medium, 30 ft
* +2 Strength, -2 Intelligence
* 60 ft Darkvision
* Rage 1/day, as the barbarian ability. This stacks with any other source of Rage.
* +4 Racial bonus to Intimidate.
* Orc Blood: For all effects related to race, a Half-Orc is an orc.
* Favored Class: Barbarian



At any rate - thanks for any/all comments!

Koewn

 

[Conaill]

I know this may sound a little drastic, but...

you could just give the humans one extra class level.

Or would that be a bit too much?

 

[Vrecknidj]

First, I like the solution of redefinining what LA+0 means--it could be difficult to arrange in a campaign where this means changing a whole bunch of races, but it's an elegant solution.

Second, I don't think that the elimination of the multiclass penalty is sufficient or even that good an idea--it effectively penalizes people who want to play a single-classed character.

I think that having two skills that are permanent class skills is a great idea for a human, given the supposed versatility of the race. Even that, though, isn't enough for me.

Given that almost every other race has something with some real oomph, like adjustments to ability scores, or darkvision, or save bonuses, I'd think that there should be more to the human, as you're envisioning it, than has been proposed thus far.

Maybe you could give the human two feats at first level--one is any feat for which the character qualifies, another is from a shorter list. . . .

Dave

 

[Ferret]

Why not have it so that they can choose from a regional list, tailored to your setting. This could also facilitate the orphend with elves/dwarves/whatever idea too.

 

[Koewn]

I know this may sound a little drastic, but...

you could just give the humans one extra class level.

Or would that be a bit too much?

Oh, that's too easy

Actually, I'm kinda close to giving them a extra class level. The Human Paragon from Unearthed Arcana - the first level gives you:

* +2 Will Save
* d8 HP
* Adaptive Learning (1 skill always class skill)
* 4+Int Skill Points

(from memory, may be a touch off)

OK. Let's notch it up a bit, as Dave suggests, and see if it's too much:

* Knack: Pick two skills to be class skills, always.
* Knackity Knack: Gain Skill Focus in one of your Knacks.
* Upbringing: Choose any General feat for which there are no prerequisites (other than ability score), and is not directly combat or magic oriented.
* A human takes no XP penalty for multiclassing, and therefore has no favored class.

I've not scrolled through the SRD for how the Upbringing feat list would turn out, that's just kind of a guideline. I'd expect it would work out a lot like Regional feats - some odd +2/+2 Skill combos, stuff like that. Run, Endurance, Track would go on the list, and I'd argue for the Weapon and Armor proficency feats, as well as Exotic Weapon feats, they're not combat-maneuver oriented - any wizard could possibly have had training as a kid in the local militia.

I don't know if the 'no XP penalty' really penalizes a single-class human - many race/class combos don't really use their bonuses if they go outside their 'classic' niche.

Koewn

Oh, and PS: Interesting thread on the Awakened Animals, Conaill.

 

[Koewn]

Double post. First time, I feel a little unclean.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

I would definitely go for the second bonus feat but make it something useful. A regional feat drawn from the new Player's Guide to Faerun for instance would make a good choice. Since they are stronger than most feats, they're a good choice. You might even want to go a bit further but it would really depend upon what "half-X" races you're using. An Aasmar is definitely not the equal of a half-ogre for instance.

 

[Koewn]

A regional feat drawn from the new Player's Guide to Faerun for instance would make a good choice.

Right. I'll probably do that, once I've fleshed the world out enough to have regions (I'm a proponent of the "build outward" method of world development). Between regional feats and the odd General feat, I think it'd be a pretty good list.

You might even want to go a bit further but it would really depend upon what "half-X" races you're using.

True. And those will need to be worked on later in the thread - the LA +1 half-elf and half-orc are going to have to be created as well. Prolly post something on that when I get home to my Unearthed Arcana book, as I'm not seeing any postings of the Paragon races in Google.

Koewn

 

[handforged]

I like the idea of letting all humans starting with 1 level of Human Paragon for free. Don't change anything else. Give them all the benefits of it, including the ability to take levels two and three.

The extra 4+int skill ranks can be in any skill.
Any skill is always a class skill.
+2 Will
d8 HD(maybe even max it out)

Humans will be hardy and versatile.

Now a human at third level could be Cleric 1/Human Paragon 3 and not have lost a caster level, have extra hit points, 4 feats instead of 2, etc. I think that this will be powerful enough to balance out other LA +1 races.

~hf

 

[Koewn]

The LA +1 Half-Orc

First shot at the Half-Orc. Using proven technology, we'll steal a bunch of stuff from the UA Paragon classes again.

Here's the changes:

* +2 Str, -2 Int
* Rage 1/day
* +4 Racial bonus to Intimidate
* (everything else the same)

I've read a lot of the "Half-Orcs are Weak" threads. While I can accept that only the most dedicated of half-orc could master the complexities of 7th+ level arcane spells, I won't accept that they have any less force of personality. I may have a weakness for the noble savage, though, and I also dislike penalizing the 'mental' attributes anyway.

That being said, following Wizard's stat guidelines, merely penalizing Intelligence for the +2 Strength firmly catapults the half-orc into the LA +1/3, or even +1/2 area.

Making sure that people listen to Thog when Thog says he's going to break your arm if you don't tell Thog where what Thog wants is, and then giving Thog the inner anger to do so fleshes out the rest of the half-orc to a full LA +1, I hope.

Koewn