Balancing "Level Adjustment: -"

[rferries]

Some monsters are considered unsuitable for PCs. The LA-Assignment thread deals with calculating the actual value of these "broken" abilities, but I wonder if it's possible to brew alternative abilities on par with those of class levels?

For example, a medusa's gaze. Would it be workable for PCs, given one or more of these limits:

1) Deals Dexterity (or Wisdom) damage instead of being a save/lose effect (with creatures only being petrified if their Dexterity reaches 0).

2) Can't affect creatures whose CR is greater than your own -4 (subject to negotiation).

3) A limit on uses per day, similar to a sorcerer casting their most power spell for every encounter?

If this is too much of a debuff, he medusa's racial Hit Dice could be reworked to give additional class features, probably as a rogue or ranger.

Other monsters could be reworked - e.g. undead with Create Spawn could all have a standardised limit of how many spawn they can create, or it could be ruled that spawn are always free-willed.