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!
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Pauper