D&D 5E A First Look at Tasha’s Lineage System In AL Player’s Guide - Customizing Your Origin In D&D

The new player’s guide for the D&D Adventurers League has been released. Appendix 1 includes the new info from Tasha’s Cauldron on customizing your origin. It‘s a one-page appendix.

The D&D Adventurers League now uses this variant system from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything since it allows for a greater degree of customization. For ease of reference, the relevant information is included as an appendix to this document and doesn’t count against the PH + 1 rule.

You can do any of the following (obviously the full document has more detail):

1. Move your race ability score increases wherever your want to. “...take any ability score increase you gain in your race or subrace and apply it to an ability score of your choice.”​

2. Replace each language from your race with any language from a set list.​

3. Swap each proficiency for another of the same type.​

4. Alter behaviour/personality race-based descriptions.​

Its not clear if that’s the whole Lineage system or just part of it. You can download the player’s guide here.

 

[Azzy]

Like balancing the races by making sure the dwarf subspecies that had armor, str, and con as its things was lifted up to the others by making both of the ASI +2 instead of a +2 and +1?

Sure, or not having 1st-level ASIs (race or not) at all.

Are any race/clase combinations uniformly sub-optima? If a character is not getting a +2 in their prime requisite, it's presumably helping somewhere else. Maybe it's extra con so they can still cast their minisculely less effective spells after the other wizard fails their con save against poison? Maybe it's extra chr so they can have a better chance of talking the parties way past the guard to bust the bard out of jail when their dark vision allowed them to not be caught.

In my opinion? No, I don't see any race/class combination that are significantly suboptiomal (though I haven't played all of the races or classes, much less every combination thereof), but I can see where static racial ASIs will funnel some people to play certain combinations and avoid others (even if the numbers aren't drastic). How humans tend to view numbers subconsciously is definitely part of this (here's a neat article related to this). That's why many of us will choose a weapon (if available) that does 1d8 damage over one that does 1d6 damage, even though 1d8 is only doing 1 more point of damage than 1d6 on average, or 2 points more at max (4 more on a maximum crit) which isn't really significant except at maybe the lowest levels.

But yes, going through PF for example, they have a lot of archtypes that are flagged in the class guides as being dumpster fires. There's no need for that.

Right, or in 3e where some feats and other choices were designed to be less optimal to "reward system mastery".

 

[Cadence]

Those are all the races I know of, but I probably missed some.

Thank you! Bookmarked it.

So starting with a 17/16 doesn't make enough difference over a 17/15 or 16/16 for those later ones to be noticably sub-optimal?

 

[Maxperson]

Which is all well and good until you get frustrated that you're not playing your character as you envisioned playing it.

Not everyone gets frustrated like that. I have more concepts spread out among most of the races and classes than I could ever play in my lifetime. There's no way that I can't make one of them happen.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Thank you! Bookmarked it.

So starting with a 17/16 doesn't make enough difference over a 17/15 or 16/16 for those later ones to be noticably sub-optimal?

It depends on the class. There are some classes that need multiple stats to be x high to be good at their class (cough, ranger, monk, paladin, cough), and others that don't need a ton of high scores besides their main one (clerics, druids).

 

[Maxperson]

That's exactly why I object to racial ability score bonuses. Some will want to be a Firbolg Archfey Warlock, but not be limited by their racial ability scores.

There currently is no limitation. If you self-impose one, that's on you.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Not everyone gets frustrated like that. I have more concepts spread out among most of the races and classes than I could ever play in my lifetime. There's no way that I can't make one of them happen.

That doesn't really have much to do with the person I was quoting. I think almost everyone would get frustrated if they roll for stats and they get 5 stats below an 8 and one 14.

 

[Maxperson]

And that's fine, but to some it isn't. You are definitely not doing anything wrong in the campaign if you're having fun with your character.

If I'm in a game with someone else, I'm not going to care if they don't like how I make my character. If they call me out on it, problems will happen. I'm not just confrontational on the internet. It's not their business or place to say anything.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

If I'm in a game with someone else, I'm not going to care if they don't like how I make my character. If they call me out on it, problems will happen. I'm not just confrontational on the internet. It's not their business or place to say anything.

And I agree with that. It would be a rude to tell you that you aren't filling your role if you have a 14 instead of a 16.

 

[Maxperson]

That doesn't really have much to do with the person I was quoting. I think almost everyone would get frustrated if they roll for stats and they get 5 stats below an 8 and one 14.

If they do that, they're probably cheating. And bad at it. Besides, you should probably use the 3e rules for stat bonuses so that something like that doesn't happen.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

It depends on the class. There are some classes that need multiple stats to be x high to be good at their class (cough, ranger, monk, paladin, cough), and others that don't need a ton of high scores besides their main one (clerics, druids).

This is why stat bonuses to classes would have helped. The designers could have just fiven the ranger monk and paladin 2 +1's and only 1 +1 for the fighter. That does not sound like much, but it helps.

Actually, if you can chose where your stats go exactly, Wizards have it even easier, because now every wizard has +2 int, +1 con or vice versa, while the ranger and monk and paladin still have too many stats to raise. On the other hand, with static stat bonuses, the probability that your race gives a bonus to the most relevant stats is higher.

I think having stat bonuses for classes and other abilities for races that makes them strong (heavy built) nimble (halfling nimbleness) and so on would be my preferred method.