Not that difficult.

You may also wish to note that what I have specified are clearly described as House Rules – look just under the title of this post and you will even see “House Rules” as a category. The question was asked, how do I go about levelling up in this circumstance. Not what do the rules say, not what do other websites or GMs do, but what do I do. These were designed to overcome percieved flaws in the standard situation, or more specifically, to overcome contradictions in the information available, not all of which made sense when they were all combined together.

You don’t have to agree with me. I can respect people who honestly think differently. But I would argue that it is impossible for any GM to be “flat-out wrong” about anything, given this line from the DMG page 4: “You are the master of the game – the rules, the setting, the action, and ultimately, the fun.” But the earlier editions said it more clearly: the DM is free to change anything he sees fit to better suit his campaign. Naturally, the players have to have a voice – after all, if there are no players, there’s no campaign – but the DM has the final say.

Okay. Fine.

MM, pg. 290: “Creatures with 1 or less HD replace their monster levels with their character levels. (For example, a goblin sorcerer) loses (its humanoid) attack bonus, saving throw bonuses, skills, and feats granted by its 1 monster HD and gains the attack bonus, save bonuses, skills, feats, and other class abilities of a 1st-level character of (a 1st-level sorcerer).”

DMG, pg. 172: “Characters with more than 1 Hit Die because of their race do not get a feat for their first class level as members of the common races do, and they do not multiply the skill points for their first class level by four. Instead, they have already received a feat for their first Hit Die because of race, and they have already multiplied their racial skill points for their first Hit Die by four.”

DMG, pg. 172: “Use ECL instead of character level (when referring to Table 3-2: Experience and Level-Dependent Benefits in the Player’s Handbook) to determine how many experience points a monster character needs to reach its next level. Also use ECL (with Table 5-1: Character Wealth By Level) to determine starting wealth for a monster character.”

MM, pg. 292: “A monster’s total Hit Dice, not its ECL, govern its acquisition of feats and ability score increases.”

DMG, pg. 172: “Monster characters treat skills mentioned in their monster entry as class skills.”

Look familiar?

The rules in the SRD are identical to those found in the rulebooks. You’re just flat-out wrong. About everything.
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I am always careful, when writing these pages, to distinguish between my own house rules and interpretations and the official ones. I also try to explain the fundamental assumptions and logic that led me to that interpretation. Your comments seem to have missed that distinction, Justin. The author of the SRD you cite has filled in the blanks of the rules as published with logical inferances but has not distinguished between official rules and his own deductions, presenting the whole with an authoritarian “this is the way it is now and shall ever be, amen”. The style gives the site an air of authority that implies, as you have, that this is the only interpretation.

It’s not.

In fact, if you go to the home page, you will find a link to a page describing changes from the official d20 SRD. And while, on that page, the author claims: Translating the d20 SRD for use on the Web has necessitated several presentational and organizational changes. I have not added, removed, or changed any rule mechanics in the d20 game engine. I would contend that organising rules with inherant confusion such as the official rules on this subject necessitates interpretation and rationalisation. I consider the hyperlinked SRD to be a valuable resource – but not canon.

Having taken quite a lot of time and space to disagree with you, I want to end by thanking you for summing up an alternative answer – that might even be closer to canon – so clearly. The more clearly we can articulate different interpretations, the easily GMs can choose the interpretation that they find right for their game. And that’s the point, when you get right down to it: the rules are just a foundation, apon which each GM builds a different house.

(1) The SRD is explicit: “Creatures with 1 or less HD replace their monster levels with their character levels. The monster loses the attack bonus, saving throw bonuses, skills, and feats granted by its 1 monster HD and gains the attack bonus, save bonuses, skills, feats, and other class abilities of a 1st-level character of the appropriate class.

Characters with more than 1 Hit Die because of their race do not get a feat for their first class level as members of the common races do, and they do not multiply the skill points for their first class level by four. Instead, they have already received a feat for their first Hit Die because of race, and they have already multiplied their racial skill points for their first Hit Die by four.”

There really shouldn’t be any confusion here. Those two paragraphs tell you EXACTLY how to handle monster PCs.

The only thing level adjustment is used for is to calculate ECL, and the role of ECL is also explicitly spelled out: “Use ECL instead of character level to determine how many experience points a monster character needs to reach its next level. Also use ECL to determine starting wealth for a monster character.”

I’m not sure where your confusion is coming from, but ECL is used for absolutely nothing except XP and wealth.

You claim that ECL should be used when determining if a character should gain feats, but once again the rules are explicit:

“A monster’s total Hit Dice, not its ECL, govern its acquisition of feats and ability score increases. ”

I’m not sure what you find confusing about the phrase “not its ECL” that’s leading you to conclude that it should be read as “totally use its ECL”, but the meaning seems pretty clear to me.

You also claim that the character has no class skills for its monster HD, but this is also EXPLICITLY wrong. From the SRD once more:

“Monster characters treat skills mentioned in their monster entry as class skills.”
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As for your general point, I agree. Still, a bit of cleverness and reimagining never goes to waste. As in the case of the Medusa, where the notion of a time-limited petrificaion also explains why they happen to have that ability in the first place. Once they achieve maturity, they can choose the duration (anything from permanent on down) – but because whenever they encounter characters, they use it full-strength as a defence, and so only a few specialists ever discover the flexibility the have with the ability.

Still, my general point stands. Any of the issues can be fixed. But, each one requires a “hands on” fix, and occasionally a bit of cleverness. And, sometimes, a bit of re-imagining of the creature in question.

Er, by FRCS I meant Forgotten Realms Campaign Sourcebook. As one of the first 3.0 books to include LA races, they actually devote a whole page to the subject. The page includes extensive instructions on how they work. Instructions that end up being way over-complicated and a muddle-headed mess.
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As for the FRCS – I’ve never hung around there, so I can’t comment on how comprehensive their discussions are, but I would be interested in their reasoning. Right or wrong, I always try to explain my thinking, the supposed logic of my position, but some sites simply give an ex-cathedra answer without supporting their position.

Other critters have similar issues. Would a 1st-level medusa just have a petrifying gaze with a really low DC? Would a 1st-level mind flayer not have a mind blast, because there’s no way to skip the bite attack?

They’re all fixable. But they’re also all fixable in different ways. There is no simple pattern you can apply. Hence, art.

As for the levels question, I’ve actually always read the page in the FRCS (the most comprehensive discussion I’ve found) as implying that you don’t get any of the other benefits. A bugbear cleric gets a new feat when he has three levels of classes, and the bugbear levels don’t count. The bugbear levels only count for calculating XP. Which is plain goofy. And contradicts most of the actual examples I’ve seen in the text. And is not the way I’ve ever seen anyone else play it. And doesn’t entirely seem to be what they meant to say.
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