When deciding to apply for aasimar, I was fully aware of the mechanical hindrance that the ECL system imposed upon my character. At that time I didn't mind, because Leliel was supposed to be a "break" from my main character. However, I ended up falling in love with her, and while I appreciate the unique roleplay opportunities that ECL races give, even I admit that the penalty such character receives is quite high, for often moderate gain.
Aasimar receive bonuses to their Wisdom, Charisma, as well as some elemental resistance and a Light cantrip, which is most likely going to be used solely as a source of roleplay. I didn't notice any penalties to OCR, but Leliel is a bard, which might be the reason why. Those bonuses plus the free feat humans receive at character creation seems like enough reason to impose a penalty on what otherwise would be a vastly overpowered character, comparing to other races. ECL 2 might not seem like much, comparing to such bonuses, but lets analyze some of the difficulties such characters face:
- Only few times I was able to adventure with a group of similarly-leveled characters. Most often I was forced to find more "advanced" group and be a spectator, more than an active participant, which resulted in Leliel becoming a full-support bard, rather than an archer I envisioned her as.
- The roleplay experience, while invaluable, is not enough to provide a steady, satisfying progression, and ECL characters will not be forced to leave Vallaki area much quicker (around level 12) than regular characters (level 14), which can be hurtful in some cases.
- Higher OCR, in case of tieflings or drow, which makes an early-stage game extremely difficult.
As a result, such characters are played by more "experienced" players, who thanks to their knowledge, know how to avoid some of those difficulties. Even then it often leads to such character being shelved after some time.
Were I to recreate Leliel, I would most definitely pick an aasimar again. This race provided to be an endless source of roleplay for me, and a way to stay relevant, despite the fact that she is not able to run dungeons as efficiently, as other races. Playing an ECL race is
very hard and frustrating, which may be why many people decide not to or shelve the character. I agree that ECL races should be rare, as sudden swarm of tieflings, aasimar and drow in the Outskirts would make little sense. Perhaps by changing the ECL to 1, or taking away the extra feat humans receive at character creations, we could find balance.
I will continue playing Leliel despite the difficulties ECL imposes. I'm not very level-progression oriented, and the unique roleplay experience she provided made me see the server in a completely different light, as the place where you not only run the same dungeons over and over again in order to become mechanically powerful, but also scheme, collect and network to protect yourself. Still, a review of the ECL system would be nice, maybe not as a way to encourage players to pick such races, but rather lessen the burdens of players who decide to enrich the server by playing often very challenging races.