Exempting Races from the +1 rule

CapnZapp said:

Yes. But some posters seem to take that as conclusive evidence that WotC has abandoned any QA ambitions regarding characters that use their official material together.

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I could be snarky and say that WotC abandoned any pretense for QA when they announced 5E in the first place**, but I'll satisfy myself by merely clarifying my point:

The idea that 'WotC should philosophically test their material against all other material for balance, therefore they do' is not a statement that reflects reality. As skerrit points out, there are numerous statements by the designers that they simply don't do this, despite your insistence that they must do this because...well, it's not really clear why they must do this except for your insistence that, if they don't, they're somehow not earning the money they're getting from their customers.

That's the puzzling thing -- it's not that the statement is *wrong*, it's that it doesn't reflect reality and thus has no meaningful interaction with any state of existence that's able to be productively discussed.

** - I mean, for crying out loud, they actually released a mass combat system for 5E for playtest and never noticed that, if the two units in contact have combat values that differ by more than the numbers you can roll on a d20, that there was no useful effect from rolling the die. If I wanted to make the argument that most Unearthed Arcana material is written the night before it's supposed to go out on the website, as if it were some high-school game-design class homework, that's where I'd start my argument.

--
Pauper

KahlessNestor said:

Part of the reason for the rule is future proofing . Just because we see no reason for it now doesn't mean it won't come up later.

Sent from my SM-G900P using EN World mobile app

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AL changes or adds rules every single season. I don't believe this is a strong reason to prevent players from customizing characters. As is, Xanathar is going to make a lot of new Vumans. Which is fine, but its more fun to run into some oddball races.

Just my 2 cp though.

thethain said:

AL changes or adds rules every single season. I don't believe this is a strong reason to prevent players from customizing characters. As is, Xanathar is going to make a lot of new Vumans. Which is fine, but its more fun to run into some oddball races.

Just my 2 cp though.

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Again, though, PHB+1 isn't an AL rule, it's a WOTC rule. It's handed down from on high and can't be changed by the Admins.

KahlessNestor said:

Again, though, PHB+1 isn't an AL rule, it's a WOTC rule. It's handed down from on high and can't be changed by the Admins.

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It's an AL rule, alright. The fact it originates from one part of the organization rather than another doesn't change the fact it is only within the AL the rule exists.

Perhaps you meant to say "a WotC-mandated AL rule"?

Who all in this thread does Adventure League regularly? By regularly I mean once a month or at every con you attend.

I have an weekly adventure league campaign and at Dragoncon every year. (don't go to many cons).

But I really don't know if it has much bearing on "Should this rule be considered for revision?"

If an argument has merit, it has merit regardless of the person.


Even if this rule is handed down, (This has never been officially communicated as best as I am aware it is just rumor or second hand accounts) it doesn't mean it is completely carved in stone and unassailable? When Mike Mearls descended from Mount Sinai and handed the 10 Commandments to the AL Admins, did any of them question the rule or just accept it?

If an argument has merit, it has merit regardless of the person.
Yes it does. True story and it applies. Had a church member go crazy at a pot luck dinner because no one brought vegan options. He was vegan but never brought anything to any dinner. So he was just a person who start problems when he had no skin in the game.
So my default to any complaints in AL threads are. Do you play AL regularly? Do you DM AL regularly? If the answer is no to both, then you don't get a say in the discussion.

jasper said:

Who all in this thread does Adventure League regularly? By regularly I mean once a month or at every con you attend.

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I do AL ir-regularly.

I seek out AL options when I go to conventions.
Due to workload I haven't been able to attend a convention in 2 years - but I hope to change that by Winter Fantasy 2018.

I'm not currently able to play D&D regularly (used to play weekly) and would consider an AL option if FLGS was interested in hosting.

jasper said:

Who all in this thread does Adventure League regularly? By regularly I mean once a month or at every con you attend.

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I play AL every week at my FLGS and have done my share of DMing (started DMing ToA earlier this month). I've played and/or DM'd AL at half a dozen cons this year, same as last.
over
As a player the PH+1 has limited some of my PC options. But not a large number of them and it's something I accept as part of keeping AL on an even keel. As a DM I like PH+1 because it keeps things simpler for me with respect to reviewing character sheets and character actions in-game. Compared to limitations I've run into in other organized play gaming environments, this one is way down the list in regard to impact on my enjoyment of the game.

thethain said:

Even if this rule is handed down, (This has never been officially communicated as best as I am aware it is just rumor or second hand accounts) it doesn't mean it is completely carved in stone and unassailable? When Mike Mearls descended from Mount Sinai and handed the 10 Commandments to the AL Admins, did any of them question the rule or just accept it?

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It is a WOTC mandated rule that was handed down. The Admins did not question the rule, because once it was explained alongside the design philosophy for all of 5e, we were in agreement that it was a good idea. (Mind you it was originally part of the Story Origin rule when this was done, but the logic still holds.)