Exempting Races from the +1 rule

[skerritthegreen]

Thanks for bringing it up! It makes me feel better knowing that it was at least considered. What was the main objection? Don’t mess with success? Or was it fear of a slippery slope, as Jasper alluded to?


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More the later. We have a policy in place for a reason.

 

[briggart]

The published races aren’t powerful enough mechanically too create power gaming concerns.

I think you may be forgetting that until the recent influx of Guild's adepts content, the only published player options to be specifically banned from AL regardless of +1 were two races (aaracockra and winged tiefling). I agree with you that most of the published races do not seem overpowered compared to the PHB ones, but the above examples show that races can be OP, or at the very least have the potential to completely wreck encounters in T1 adventures.

 

[Runny]

I think you may be forgetting that until the recent influx of Guild's adepts content, the only published player options to be specifically banned from AL regardless of +1 were two races (aaracockra and winged tiefling). I agree with you that most of the published races do not seem overpowered compared to the PHB ones, but the above examples show that races can be OP, or at the very least have the potential to completely wreck encounters in T1 adventures.

And the AL admins were quite capable of banning certain races.

I wonder what the policy is on re-skinning? Could someone play a flightless aaracockra using the stats of a tabaxi? Could you pretend you are playing an Aasimar Celestial Warlock but use the stats of a half elf? For people more invested in the role playing aspect of race, that might be sufficient.


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[jasper]

Re-skinning is always allowed. I have a player running around with a crafted Kobold +1 spear, aka +1 rapier. I have a spell caster with no spells. Aka Barbarian who thinks he is a spell caster.

 

[Remathilis]

I actually do like the fact that at this moment you have to pick either a funky race OR subclass*. Sure, there are a few combos that would make sense that aren't allowed (divine soul aasimar, storm herald triton) but it forced an interesting choice: do I want to be an Orc Fighter and be limited to Champion, BM or EK, or a half-orc Fighter and get access to Samurai, AA, or Knight? It forces one thing about your character to unique, not both.

Not sure how that division will play out in the future, but for now, its kinda nice that one part of your identity (race or subclass) is still rooted in the PHB.

* PIcking SCAG gets you a few optional subraces AND subclasses, but they're fairly limited. Unless you had your heart-set on a duergar long-death monk, you're probably still going end up with either a mundane sublclass or race.

 

[jimtillman]

the worst thing about al is the +1 rule, in particular about races imho , it is what it is
it does keep me less interested in al play , like why would i buy the tortuse race if its limited to the player handbook.
but it does not hurt home games and xanthars guide looks like its going to open up 5th edition more and make it less limiting and more interesting

though i have noticed a lot of al players ignore some of the +1 stuff at local venues, somes times by accident sometimes in a this is what i play and this is what ill show if asked way

 

[Warmaster Horus]

the worst thing about al is the +1 rule, in particular about races imho , it is what it is
it does keep me less interested in al play , like why would i buy the tortuse race if its limited to the player handbook.
but it does not hurt home games and xanthars guide looks like its going to open up 5th edition more and make it less limiting and more interesting

though i have noticed a lot of al players ignore some of the +1 stuff at local venues, somes times by accident sometimes in a this is what i play and this is what ill show if asked way

If that's the worst thing then AL is doing pretty well. The Tortle is considered XGtE with regard to its' +1 for AL purposes, too.

As an AL DM I correct players frequently on what is allowed at the table. Usually this is a new player but occasionally it's not. In any case, if you're signing up for organized play you need to know that it has rules in place that would not necessarily be there for your home game and become familiar with them. It's an attempt at play balance so we can all have portable characters to play at any AL game that's out there.

 

[Runny]

If that's the worst thing then AL is doing pretty well. The Tortle is considered XGtE with regard to its' +1 for AL purposes, too.

As an AL DM I correct players frequently on what is allowed at the table. Usually this is a new player but occasionally it's not. In any case, if you're signing up for organized play you need to know that it has rules in place that would not necessarily be there for your home game and become familiar with them. It's an attempt at play balance so we can all have portable characters to play at any AL game that's out there.

I agree that AL is doing pretty well, but the PHB + 1 rule for races definitely is suboptimal. I would love to play a home game, but home games on Wednesday nights aren’t easy to pull off. So I’m stuck with AL. It’s fun, but not as fun as it could be.

As for reskinning, it’s weird that you can have a yuan-ti that just uses the vuman stats.


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[Enevhar Aldarion]

As has been said before, and as I remember it from being around when 5E and AL were launched, the +1 rule is there to prevent future abuse, like the crap that happens in Pathfinder Society with their dozens of sourcebooks.

Right now, we only have Core and three hardcover books to use for that +1, plus the free Elemental Evil Player's Guide pdf, though I think most of that has been reprinted in the hardcovers now. I personally would be fine if the EEPG was disqualified as a +1 once Xanathar's is out and legal for play.

I would also personally like to see, after there are one or two more hardcover sourcebooks released, the +1 bumped up to +2. That would give more flexibility without opening the floodgates to just any combo.

 

[jimtillman]

If that's the worst thing then AL is doing pretty well. The Tortle is considered XGtE with regard to its' +1 for AL purposes, too.

As an AL DM I correct players frequently on what is allowed at the table. Usually this is a new player but occasionally it's not. In any case, if you're signing up for organized play you need to know that it has rules in place that would not necessarily be there for your home game and become familiar with them. It's an attempt at play balance so we can all have portable characters to play at any AL game that's out there.

honestly no it does not speak well of the system, it shows a lack of faith in the design of the game and intelligence of the players in Al
sure sometimes something gets made in a game that does not play well with something else, but when you spread out player info but limit its inclusion, thats a negative IMHO.
now wizard seems to be trying to fix this to a degree with xanths guide but is having to waste space with stuff from sword coast due to the limitations introduced by book +1
this will only grow worse as the game ages, lets assume the crazy possibility that wotc releases a new player book next year, then what.
will xanths 2 have to duplicate important spells invocations etc from xanth 1?
if your running in a forgotten realms setting are we goign to exclude faerun races if we want to play with xanth book 1 or 2?
that makes book + 1 the game more complex then just including non banned stuff.