Just a general census thread, which races do people feel are worth the starting slowness due to level adjustment? The Aasimar bonus to Wis/Cha seems really nice for so many classes and when stacked with the resists and other racials the level adjust of +1 seems totally worth it. At the same time as much as I like the idea of svirfneblin (deep gnomes) that +3 level adjust is just harsh and the racials, while nice, just don't seem to warrant such a heavy hit. Any input on the good, bad, and flat out ugly when it comes to races with level adjustment? (Btw if anyone has experience with svirfneblin that proves my statement wrong please share, they seem a great race lore wise but that +3/stat penalties makes it hard to justify not using a different race)

Generally speaking, the adjustments hurt most at low levels, and become less problematic as you level up. The +1 adjustment races are mostly good (aasimar is one of the better ones). The best of the +2 races is the Drow, while the others are mostly mediocre. The Deep Gnome at +3 is ludicrously overpriced and easily the worst race in the game as a result.

As Darvin noted, it's not really a factor at high levels, but getting there can be a real pain for the higher level adjustment races.

I personally tend to go for the Tiefling if I decide to use a level adjusted race, simply because I like the race and the bonus to INT and DEX is great for what I tend to use them for anyway (Rogue/warriors or Rogue/Wizards). The Earth Genasi is a nice choice for a warrior as well (for obvious reasons), and the Strongheart Halfling with the extra feat can be nice as well. But I usually tend to stick to the standard non-penalized races, as more often than not a non-penalized race is just a better choice for most character builds.

Tiefling and Earth Genasi are both superb choices, I gotta agree. It's a shame the other Genasi are mostly redundant when compared to existing races. Air and Fire are just inferior versions of the tiefling (the only purpose they serve is if you need favored class fighter), and water Genasi is basically just a dwarf with an ECL attached for absolutely no reason.

Strongheart Halfling doesn't have a racial adjustment; it's non-penalized. Since the luck of heroes feat is strictly better than the lightfoot halfling's racial feature, going Strongheart is always better if you aren't getting a heritage feat.

Personally for me, any character with a level adjustment of more than +1 is probably pushing it, though Drow do have those fantastic stat bonuses on top of magic resistance. No idea why anyone would want to pick Fire/Water gensai for anything other than role-playing reasons, since their "bonuses" amount to weak once-per-day spells. I'd go as far as to say the level adjustment automatically makes them worse than Half-Elves, who are the weakest of the core races.

I'm not going to lie though, the idea of playing through the NWN2 OC as a Deep Gnome appeals to me in a morbid fashion, despite that +3 level adjustment more than negatively compensating for whatever usefulness that the +4 AC and Spell Resistance grant.

Yeah, I brain farted on that one. Just had in my mind the 'non-standard' races (with respect to what was available in NWN1) when I wrote that.

I have one question.
In the OC of NWN2 all characters have the same exp (not the same level) as the main char and the exp you get are dependant of the average level of your group.
That means when you use an ELC class and neeshka is in your group the non ELC group members level up much faster than normally, right? So the game is not much harder when you have a level less but khelgar and elanee have a level more.

First off thanks everyone for the input, kind of confirming my thoughts in regards to a lot of the ECL races

True, ECL is only a problem in the lower levels but in the OC you party with Amie and Bevil during the attack and Amie gets killed little under halfway through, so being stuck with Bevil and a level 2 (or 1) character seems to add an unneccesary level of complication given you end up fighting groups of dark dwarves and the "local militia" seems poorly inadequate to grant you aid.
It would be nice to find a build with Svirfneblin (like ArbitraryWater said, I too find a certain appeal in the deep gnomes) or Yuan-Ti that doesn't make starting out a potential headache , but tbh they seem more feasable with a campaign/module that starts you with some levels under your belt already
Tiefling looks great, and if you took a female tiefling down the bard/RDD route you could make your own homestyle succubus (hey, attractive female demon, bat wings, fire immunity, and all the skills or spells needed to make anyone your slave...er, follower :P )
As mentioned already Aasimar get some great bonuses for their +1 with no real drawbacks except for possibly the multiclass exp penalty, but feels kind of limiting to be stuck with the "one incredible race and a bunch of meh ones" Would be nice to branch out a little is all.
I've taken a look at the Earth Genasi because they do indeed seem to have a wonderful knack for Fighter builds but I've got to ask does that racial of theirs scale? DR/+5 is nice but only absorbing 20 points of damage before breaking means it will last maybe 2-3 hits in the beginning, and later on it won't even last 1 if it doesn't scale with your level

Class question- Does anyone know if Spellcasting Prodigy affects Warlocks? I know that since they use "spell like abilities" instead of official spells that the metamagic feats don't help and I can't seem to find confirmation of whether or not this feat is an exception like Spell Penetration

Bad news. Red Dragon Disciplines don´t get wings in NWN2 and in NWN1 you don´t have tieflings as race for player characters. At least in the version you get from gog.

I like to make a gray orc monk, cleric, sacred fist.
An orc as monk sounds strange. I bet his best friend is a tiefling paladin.

*sniff sniff* are you serious? the wings were so much fun for RP aspects in NWN 1, they are part of the reason that I even considered trying the build (the other part being the superb stat bonus hehe) Well thanks for the warning, guess that saves me the time of trying to make one :(
As for the Gray Orc setup that actually sounds like it'd work pretty well, what with the Str/Wis bonus. I might try one out. Really just trying to get a feel for all the changes between the NWN 1 that I know and all the classes/races implemented in NWN 2

Not bad news from where I'm sitting. I'm actually one of the few people that didn't like the wings. *shrug*