Is the level modifier really needed?

Has anyone house ruled that it was not needed, and if so how did it impact your game?

Yes it is needed. However I do not see the Nephilim XP loss/session as being needed, per se. I modified the rules for nephilim, but did not remove them.
But, for example, +1 to all attributes needs to come with some penalty (and that's just a portion of what Duk'Zarist get).

However, if someone gains something mechanically they must also lose something mechanically, that is all there is to it.

Yeah, but Blood of the Great Beasts costs 1, 2, or 3 CP so you DO lose something mechanically.

Personally? I don't think it deserves a Level Adjustment. You can't use it to buy Essential Abilities, so no stat mods. Instead you can get some armor, or wings for flight, or claws or a few resistances. Nothing that extreme.

Since there is another Advantage that gives 40, 80, or 120 DP without a Level Adjustment (the one that improves Martial Knowledge), I don't buy that the weak abilities you can pick from are worth a full LA, other than to make the choice less common. But honestly, those CP are **** useful and there are far more potent 'normal' CP abilities for standard character builds.

can't you pay an additional CP to void the level adjustment? i don't have my copy but i think i remember it saying that.

The GM can allow using extra CP to remove the LA, but that is just as bad as the LA (actually it is worse, really). LA is only an effective -25XP, not that bad of a hit...(depending on what your GM gives. I give 15-30XP per session. More if they complete a quest).

However it actually states (I think) the LA is just to make people not take these abilities every time they make characters. If you do not care removing the LA is fine.

Huh? Only 25 XP? Are you sure?

I read the rules about LA like this:

Example: LA +1
XP needed to reach Lvl 2 = 125 (instead of 100)
XP needed to reach Lvl 3 = 275 (instead of 225)
XP needed to reach Lvl 4 = 450 (instead of 375)
XP needed to reach Lvl 5 = 600 (instead of 450)
....

The higher the level the greater the difference. But maybe my reading is wrong.

~ Sofia Corba

Made a mistake.

Sofia Corba said:

~ Sofia Corba

The Level Modifier on Blood Bonds is pretty strangely balanced as of itself on my opinion, since most of them don't really deserve a Level Modifier...still I wouldn't go as far as removing it, since I guess there must be some "game design" after that (perhaps) that justifies it. But unlike in non-human races, "tracing" the level-modifier is...harder.

Anyway, I don't add it once for EACH blood bond the character gets (if you do like this, a character with Latent Blood is doomed to get huge Level Modifiers that go beyond the point, on my opinion), but only a +1 if he has any blood bond at all.

ALSO, I allow races that already have Natural Weapons to buy the Natural Weapons Blood Bond as an upgrade on their own natural weapons WITHOUT getting the +1 Level Modifier.

As far as I'm concerned, I believe that the best way to have Blood Bonds "value" their Level Modifier, is having stuff that can only be used by those with the Blood Bond. That' s the main reason why I created magnus for all blood bonds (althoug none of those is as good as Dragon Seals, since they are THE ONLY reason you spend 1CP and +1Level Modifier, when you get Dragon's Blood) and try to make Techniques that "exhalt" or require the use of a blood bond.

Sofia Corba said:

Yeah, the Level Adjustment rules are really, really badly written. I would love to hear from a spainish or French reader to know if they are any clearer in the other versions of the books.

As it is now, you can read it a number of ways. One way is to read it that it simply shifts you 'up' a level on the xp chart (level 2 requires 125, level 3 150, etc). Another way to read it is that before you gain more DP, you have to earn the TOTAL xp you would need for Character level+Level Adjustment (so before you saw more DP, you'd need 275 xp...putting you effectively a DP level behind your mates).

So unless there is a Spanish or French clarification, its basically up to the GM.

I read both English and Spanish rulebooks and as far as I'm concerned, the Level Modifier is simply what it means. I'll make a few examples:

You require 225 XP to be a Level3

When you're a Daimah, althoug you start with 0XP, you're still considered Level2 (actually I write it down on Sheets as Level1+1), so you must reach 225XP before you can Level Up, but when you level up you're making nevertheless your Level2+1.

A Duk'Zarist is very powerful, strong, cool, emo, goth, and stuff...but still he gets to Level2 when the rest of the party gets to Level5.

The reason beyond that is that non-human races have additional DPs spent on supernatural abilities powers. For some races the balancing is almost perfect (if you make the count they REALLY have like +100DP or +200DP) for some others...not so much. Besides there are a few rules that are "hard" to quantify in DPs.

I might go as far as to consider homeruling a few races (not changing them, but changing their Level Modifier...well, except Vetala that need an homeruled Night Vision, otherwise they really make no sense at all).

Elric of Melniboné said:

We had this exact same discussion on the official forums. I thought that was how they worked as well. However Gimp disproved that, see the thread:
http://cipher-studios.com/AnimaBB/index.php?topic=5459.15

Sharpandpointies got the last word in edgewise.