How are Effective Character Levels (ECL) treated with the mods? If I have an ECL +1 that means that I am treated as a level 2 PC and I will level more slowly. Does this mean that the maximum level I can attain is 19 and with an ECL +2 18?
Afaik, there are 2 detrimental effects: Each ECL moves the character into the next higher experience bracket. So it is dependent on your total xp overall for each character. There is no max level restriction unless you have defined one in config for the entire party - and ECL does not prevent reaching this maximum. And, yes you are also treated as higher level for CR results.
