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dark.sun.druid
2011-02-05, 07:23 PM
It is very likely that my current character in my Friday game is about to be killed off*, and so I'm looking into making a new character. The campaign is run at ECL 9th, with only one of those levels allowed to come from class. Therefor, I've designed a character** that satisfies that. However, only the class level has any HD, so taking maximum from that die (a d8) along with the CON modifier I've rolled (+7) I would end up with only 15HP. In a campaign with an average CR of around 12 or 13, 15HP would get me killed off faster than I could say "Full Retreat". Did I do this correctly, or am I forgetting something? 15HP seems extremely low, and there must be something else that I'm forgetting.

* My barbarian is raging right now, so I have about 30HP, but when it goes away I will be at about 10HP, and I'll be exhausted (we marched through the night, so I was already fatigued), and there are still enemies around.
** Arcane Blood Crucian Red Dragonspawn

Greenish
2011-02-05, 07:26 PM
The only thing I think you might be forgetting is Racial Hit Dice (RHD). Off the top of my head, Red Dragonspawn should have a few, in dragon (d12) nonetheless.

Waker
2011-02-05, 07:35 PM
It would probably help if you posted where you grabbed some of your templates from. Can't find anything about Arcane Blood. In the Dragonlance Campaign setting, a Red Dragonspawn has a +4 LA on it, a Crucian from Sandstorm has 3 RD and +2 LA, so right there your character is already ECL 9.

dark.sun.druid
2011-02-06, 06:38 PM
Crucian have no RD for player characters (look under the "Crucian Characters" heading), unless I'm misreading that. Arcane Blood is from an issue of Dragon Magazine, so you won't find it unless you have a compendium (such as one of the crystal keep ones*).

* Did WotC win the lawsuit they filed against Crystal Keep?

tyckspoon
2011-02-06, 07:53 PM
Crucian *should* have the racial HD; they're non-optional, generally, but in the specifics of that printing it's probably an "Ask your DM" situation.

If you truly only have 1 HD, then yes, your HP is supposed to be that low, and you're gonna get yourself killed. If you want to survive (and, incidentally, have any skills, saves, and BAB, which are all also based on HD and don't care what your LA/ECL is) you're going to want half or so of your ECL to come from racial HD. Although you're probably going to die anyway; if you really are regularly encountering CR+3 and 4 encounters at ECL 9, a TPK is a matter of when, not if. Especially with only real class level to use.

KillianHawkeye
2011-02-06, 11:00 PM
Why is your DM enforcing a "only 1 class level" rule? Having only 1 HD at level 9 is dumb. What are the other players playing as? Is everyone else's hp so low, or are they playing more traditional monsters?

dextercorvia
2011-02-06, 11:16 PM
May I suggest a Minotaur Barbarian1?

6 racial HD, and 1 Class HD, +4 Con, +8 Str.

dark.sun.druid
2011-02-07, 12:09 AM
Okay, I'll have to find some way to get around the HD issue. I'll probably talk to my DM about it. Anyway, the main problem is (and I'll talk to my DM about this too) that new characters starting out in the game are supposed to be at ECL 9, but there are a few party members (myself (a barbarian), a fighter, and a cleric) who have been around long enough that we're ECL 15 or 16. The rest of the party tempers it a bit, but they continue to level up as well, and the CR for our encounters just keeps getting higher. I think I might try to convince him to let me come in as a higher ECL, preferably by adding class levels. Also, as a side note, if he does TPK us, he is going to set the ECL down to 7. I don't know why.

EDIT: Also, no, not everyone's health is so low. I have about 120 HP at max, and out fighter has even more than that. The explanation for this might be the fact that the game we're playing in is classified as an Elite game. I know there was some extra dice-rolling at the time of character creation, but that was a couple years ago so I don't really remember what all of the rolls were for.

Perhaps I'll get rid of the template and try to find a monsterous humanoid with +2 level adjustment and 2d10 or 2d12 racial HD (or for that matter one with level adjustment +1 and 3d10/12 RD).

So, that means that this thread has developed a new question: Does anyone know of a race that fits those specs? It needs to be humanoid or MH, or else the dragonspawn template won't work.

dextercorvia
2011-02-07, 12:52 AM
Humanoids and Monstrous Humanoids have d8 HD.

Bugbear has 3d8 and +1LA.

If your template changes their type to Dragon, then that should change the Die to d12's.

dark.sun.druid
2011-02-07, 12:54 AM
Humanoids and Monstrous Humanoids have d8 HD.

Bugbear has 3d8 and +1LA.

If your template changes their type to Dragon, then that should change the Die to d12's.

Noted. I'll take a look at bugbear.

I didn't know that H/MH always had d8s. I'll keep that in mind.

The template makes the character MH (slight to no change), but it also gives them the subtype of the dragon that they took their color from (so fire for reds).