Some of the added abilities of the ECL classes are a bit overpowered (see spell resistance for sure and the ac bonus of the deep gnome is a bit crazy too).BeyondRedemption wrote:
They shouldn't reach 20 because taking a little longer to reach that level is not payment enough for the power that they will have over others. Hell, there are plenty of ECL races now with levels that are on par with the rest of the powergamers on the server. Extra grind should not grant you superpowers.
For one, if people want to play the class for the simple novelty factor, then the level cap shouldn't be a problem.
As the OP brings up, from a mechanics perspective, the experience cap is a whacking of the nerf bat that is perhaps too extreme for the benefits received. You lose BAB, spells per day, feats, skill points, spellcaster levels, etc.
A meeting in the middle might be to rebalance of the races and take away their ECL. Or simply keep the ECL (perhaps modify it), allow max level 20, but strip the races of some of the more imbalancing abilities. Or at least make them a bit more tame.
To save the DM's time in this, perhaps they could assign a small committee to help with this project. The committee could submit the project for approval when they feel like they have met a conclusion. Then their results would be subject to DM and/or player base revision and approval. This would likely save the DM's a bit of time in this endeavor. And I'll just say one more thing as to keep from turning this into a novel: the final problem really lies in where do these races come from? If they are indeed rarities, perhaps they should be restricted entirely (or with DM approval) as to keep the make-up of the community consistent with the campaign setting.
Thanks for reading this monstrosity
P.S. I think gold and experience being used to purchase homes and such after level 20 or along the way would be really cool.
