Level Adjuster

Level Adjusters (LA) are a way to compensate for the traits of the more "powerful" races. The average Dark Elf, for example, has several powerful abilities that make them more powerful than Humans. To compensate for this, we use the concept of LA and Effective Character Level (ECL). ECL is defined as hit dice (HD) plus Level Adjustment (LA). For standard races (LA +0), ECL equals character level. Races with level adjusters will have an ECL higher than their character level to compensate for their powerful racial capabilities. Dark Elves, returning to the example, have an LA of +2, which means that a Dark Elf character would have an ECL of 3 at level 1 (or an ECL of 12 at level 10). When calculating experience gained from defeating enemies, the amount of XP that a character gains is based on comparing his or her ECL, not his or her character level, against the enemy's Challenge Rating (CR). In general, this means that a character with a level-adjusted race will earn less XP for defeating the same enemy than they would earn if they had a non-adjusted race. However, XP awarded from quests is not affected by ECL.