Death Curse Surrogates

[lonelynoose]

So last night my weekly AL game had a PC die. We're playing LMoP and the Paladin took 49 damage. His max was 37 but he was down to 21. Since this was more than double his HP the DM declared it an instant death. (Is that right?)

Anyways, since it is S7, does he get a ToA Surrogate? We all said yes but the player was hoping to get to use spells in XGtE. I said he could as Tortles are included in XGtE. The DM is looking into it . Any clarification here?

 

[lonelynoose]

Wait, I see that Surrogates aren't playable out side of S7 or CCC events. I guess that changes everything.

 

[kalani]

Surrogates can't multiclass, and can't choose a PHB+1. They can only select options in the PHB when leveling up (regardless of any options outside that source they start with).

I believe there is a Tortle Druid surrogate that is available, but that is the only option for the Tortle. The surrogates are specific (nameless) characters (that you can name upon gaining them).

 

[lonelynoose]

When leveling up (can they?), can they only choose spells from the PHB? If tortles are considered XGE, can they choose spells from there?

 

[Warmaster Horus]

The Paladin should not of suffered Instant Death.


INSTANT DEATH
Massive damage can kill you instantly. When damage reduces you to 0 hit points and there is damage remaining, you die if the remaining damage equals or exceeds your hit point maximum.

Paladin was at 21hp and took 49pts of damage. This leaves a remaining damage total of 28, which is below the Paladin's hit point max of 37. Should of knocked the Paladin to 0hp, not instantly killed them - unless their HP max had been dropped for some reason (wights, etc).

 

[jasper]

season 7 death curse only applies if the pc has played in
A season 7 module or the TOA Tomb of Annihilation hardcover, or a con content module.

 

[Pauper]

Anyways, since it is S7, does he get a ToA Surrogate? We all said yes but the player was hoping to get to use spells in XGtE. I said he could as Tortles are included in XGtE. The DM is looking into it . Any clarification here?

Since he's got 37 max hp normally (assuming that's not been reduced via the Death Curse as a result of playing a Season 7 module or in the Tomb of Annihilation hardcover), I'd assume he's 4th level, but depending on multi-classing and Con score he could actually be 5th -- that makes a difference as to what happens next. (Note, these options are listed in the Season 7 AL DMG, pp.5-6.)

- If 4th level (or below), a member of a faction, and not suffering from the Death Curse, he can receive Faction Charity to return to life. He forfeits all rewards from the session in which the character died and cannot play the current episode of Lost Mine with the same character (so may need a new character temporarily until the party reaches the next episode). If the player does not want to forfeit rewards from the session and the character can afford a raise dead (see below for more details), the player can purchase raise dead as a spellcasting service. If the character does not belong to a faction, it can join a faction in order to receive Faction Charity. (ALPG, p.3: "At any time, you can join a faction...")

- If 5th level (or higher) and not suffering from the Death Curse, he no longer qualifies for Faction Charity, but he can receive a raise dead as a spellcasting service -- receiving spellcasting services is the only downtime activity a deceased character can perform. (FAQ 7.1, p.11) Some or all of the 1250gp cost can be paid by fellow party members (i.e.: the characters at the table during the session in which the paladin died), but no party member can be required to participate in covering the cost of the service. If the character cannot assemble enough gold to be raised from the dead, that character must be retired. (It's not clear if DM rewards can be applied to a dead character, save for DM rewards that explicitly allow a dead character to return to life, such as the Acererak's Harbinger reward which returns characters affected by the Death Curse.)

The character suffers from the Death Curse if it played in any Season 7 DD adventure**, played in a tier 1 or tier 2 Convention Created Content adventure after August 24 of this year, or participated in any session of the Tomb of Annihilation hardcover -- this should be noted on the character's log, so should be easy to confirm. If the character does not have such a log entry, then it is not affected by the Death Curse.

** - Technically there's a start date for Season 7 DD adventure eligibility as well, but since Season 7 was premiered at GenCon two days after that date, there's pretty much no way the character could have played a Season 7 mod prior to the eligibility date.

If the character is affected by the Death Curse and is now dead, a surrogate is assigned as per the Death Curse Primer (Death Curse Primer, p.2), but the surrogate is not eligible to participate in Lost Mine of Phandelver. As long as the player doesn't participate in a Season 7 DD, CCC adventure, or episode of Tomb of Annihilation, the paladin can be brought back to life after the Tier 3 Season 7 modules are released in January -- if he does do one of the previous, and doesn't play with his designated surrogate character, the paladin's soul is devoured by the Soulmonger and is permanently retired (barring some effect that allows devoured characters to be returned to life, which to the best of my knowledge does not yet exist). If the character plays one of the above adventures with his surrogate character, he should roll to see if the paladin's soul is devoured as per pp.2-3 of the Death Curse Primer.

The player could, of course, also simply choose to create a new level 1 character, and be a Tortle from Xanathar's Guide (via the Tortle Package) -- this would allow the new character to choose XGE spells. This new character can play Lost Mine with the other PCs, even if those PCs are now in Tier 2, as hardcover adventures*** and Lost Mine do not use the strict tier restrictions of DD adventures; see the guidance on pp.12-13 of the DDAL FAQ for more details.

*** - except for Tales from the Yawning Portal

That's pretty long-winded, but I think it's comprehensive. Hope that helps!

--
Pauper

 

[kalani]

Regarding dead characters & DM Rewards:

It has been clarified previously that you can apply DM rewards to a character for the purpose of gaining sufficient GP to raise them from the dead. The character is retired until such times as they can afford the raise dead, at which point they are revived. Any XP, DT, Renown, or Magic items that come with the accumulated DM rewards are applied as normal but are meaningless until such times as the character is raised from the dead. If you lack sufficient DM rewards to revive them, they are retired until you DM sufficient adventures to afford the cost.

Dead characters cannot trade items, and cannot benefit from spellcasting services other than those necessary to return them to life. They cannot spend downtime, or take any other action.

AFAIK - The only way to be permanently dead in AL at this time is through the Death Curse (although there are several ways to prematurely retire your character, such as by choosing to keep certain magic items, or other story awards)

Regarding LMoP & Tier 2 Characters:Tier 2 characters can only play this adventure if they were L1-4 when they started playing the adventure, and have not played any other Hardcover adventure since. Characters are only considered to be playing one HC adventure at a time. If you level out of a HC, you can finish playing that adventure, but if you play a different HC, you cannot return to it (the DDAL, DDEX, DDEP, DDIA, and other softcover adventures don't count, and can be played alongside your one HC adventure).

For Example: Kanare is a 10th level Paladin who is playing ​Curse of Strahd (L1-10). CoS is considered her HC adventure at this time. She takes a break from CoS to play some softcover adventures resulting in her reaching 11th level. At this point she has leveled out of CoS, but can continue playing it as long as she doesn't play any other HC adventure.

If she chooses to play Rise of Tiamat, Princes of the Apocalypse, Out of the Abyss, Storm King's Thunder, The Yawning Portal, or Tomb of Annihilation after reaching 11th level, she will be prohibited from returning to CoS as she has leveled out of the adventure, and the most recent HC adventure is the one she is considered to be playing. Upon reaching 12th level, she would level out of Storm King's Thunder, and Tomb of Annihilaton but could continue playing them as long as it was the last HC adventure they played. The remaining HC adventures in this list would be leveled out of upon reaching 16th level.

16th level (and higher) characters can only complete their current HC adventure, or play softcover modules at this time.

 

[Pauper]

Thanks for the clarification on dead characters and DM rewards.

However, with respect to this:

Tier 2 characters can only play this adventure if they were L1-4 when they started playing the adventure, and have not played any other Hardcover adventure since.

My understanding is that Lost Mine has a level range of 1-5, not 1-4. (This thread from reddit points this out, as do other online sources.) This would mean that a level 5 character could rejoin Lost Mine, even if it played in another hardcover adventure in the interim.

The old ALPG from the Elemental Evil season (v2.0) had a sidebar that referred to Lost Mine being an evergreen adventure, and noted that it "takes characters from 1st to 5th level", but it does not specify that this is the actual level range for play.

--
Pauper

 

[lonelynoose]

Thanks for all the great info. Apparently, I got the situation wrong, and the Paladin failed all three death saves with rolling a nat 1 on the first roll. A lot of this information this thread provided is still very useful for the situation though. Thanks again.

EDIT: Just wanted to also say, I was under the impression that all AL deaths were placed under the death curse umbrella. The Paladin is under a faction and this was the plan for resurrection. Big misunderstanding on my part.