D&D 3.5 Character Creation Question

[Gwazi Magnum]

ECL is effective combat level, to find ECL you add class levels, racial HD, and then LA with the result being your ECL, necro-warrior with 3 HD and 1 LA would add 4 to your ECL and you would get 3 HD so you would in effect get 4 levels in terms of comparing to opponents and in regards to exp penalty though only gain 3 levels worth of HP hence my remark to not continually stack templates if you do you will either be woefully underpowered and a huge drain on the group our you are making some completely overpowered build.

I get it now.

So HD also adds to levels on top of the LA.
So ending up with a level 5 character with 8 HD wouldn't be possible right?

As per the rules, Vampires can't get the Lycanthrope template, since they're Undead, and Lycanthropes can only be made out of Humanoids or Giants. You could, however, start as a Lycanthrope, then get turned into a Vampire. But, to be honest, a Vampire's abilities are, on average, much better than a Lycanthrope's.

You get ability bonuses whenever you shift? How cute. Vampires constantly have their bonuses active.

Low-Light Vision? Iron Will? Well, being Undead gives you Darkvision 60 feet and immunity to mind-affecting effects.

Damage Reduction 5/Silver? How about Damage Reduction 10/Silver and Magic, Cold and Electricity Resistance 10, and Fast Healing 5?

You can make animals your friends? What if you could summon (on average) 10-11 wolves to do your bidding once a day, instead?

Let's not forget that the Lycanthrope can shift between three states, while the Vampire can turn into a Bat, Dire Bat, Wolf, Dire Wolf, and a cloud of freaking gas virtually every round.


So, yeah, stacking the two seems rather pointless, from a mechanical point of view. But, I'd like to see the fluff behind the concept!

If you're a natural lycanthrope you can stay in hybrid form all the time and the DR becomes 10.

[Goldmarble]

I get it now.

So HD also adds to levels on top of the LA.
So ending up with a level 5 character with 8 HD wouldn't be possible right?

Yes...but you will be treated like a 13th level Character.
ECL is Effective Character Level. Anything that adds to your Character Level, Your HD, or Level Adjustment, raises your ECL.
And yes, Level Adjustment adjusts the Effective level of your character, but you do not gain any attribute bonuses, feats, skills, or hitpoints for that adjustment. All "Level Dependent Effects, Abilities or Bonuses" rely entirely on your HD + Class Levels.

Some quick Examples:

Human with 10 Levels of Fighter: ECL 10
Human with 5 levels of Fighter, 5 levels of Cleric: ECL 10
Hobgoblin (+1 LA) with 10 levels of Fighter: ECL 11
Ogre (4 HD and +2 LA) with 10 levels of Fighter: ECL 16
Vampiric (+8 LA) Ogre with 10 levels of Fighter: ECL 24 (Still with just 14 HD however)