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Exempting Races from the +1 rule
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<blockquote data-quote="Runny" data-source="post: 7262676" data-attributes="member: 6744058"><p>Thank you very much for your reasonable explanation of the current situation and rationale. Here are my thoughts...</p><p></p><p>I 100% agree with the OP. AL should make an exception for races. Let’s look at the stated cons:</p><p></p><p>1. Allowing any race invites power gaming. </p><p></p><p>The published races aren’t powerful enough mechanically too create power gaming concerns. They are well balanced. Please note that I play AL every week and just started DMing AL for ToA last week. A yuan-ti character is role playing gold. The rule of cool should out weigh the minor downside of a little more min-maxing. The goal of AL should be to maximize fun. While that sometimes means saying no to things, an exception could be made in this case. Aasimar Celestial Warlocks are clearly intended to be a thing, and I would allow it at my table, AL or not. </p><p></p><p>Also, the actual power gaming in AL comes from magic items. That FAR overshadows any race combos. We have a DM who earned a manual of the planes and then built a character with a low int, traded the item to him, and used failed saves to teleport bad guys to other dimensions. Ingenious, but definitely power gaming. But whatever... homeboy DMs enough to get all the toys, let him play with them when he gets to play a PC. The problem of not having enough DMs is worse than the problem of power gaming. </p><p></p><p>2. WoTC can’t design for more than PHB + 1. </p><p></p><p>I’m skeptical this is true, but it’s irrelevant to the OP suggestion. They can design for all races. The races just aren’t that powerful mechanically. </p><p></p><p>3. PHB + 1 makes it easier for newbies</p><p></p><p>Mike Metals tweeted this, and it made me think, “Dude doesn’t play with newbies. Or he doesn’t play AL. He definitely doesn’t play AL with newbies.” PHB +1 is actually a pain to explain to new players. I get the intention, but new players see it as arbitrary. It’ll only get worse when clearly intended combos like Aasimar Celestial Warlocks are outlawed. </p><p></p><p>4. It makes it easier for DMs </p><p></p><p>While this is true for PHB + 1 in general, making all races legal is not hard to handle as a DM. ToA allows Torltes. I am the DM. I don’t own anything that mentions Tortles as a race. And yet it is trivial for me to handle having a Tortle Barbarian/Druid play in my game. </p><p></p><p>Also, since PHB + 1 doesn’t actually exclude anything from AL, I still need to be fluent in all the splat books, just a different one for each player. It’s actually harder because I have to tell the paladin/bard that he can’t take the Oath of the Crown because he learned the thunder-clap cantrip last level as a bard. Not really intuitive. </p><p></p><p>In short, I wholeheartedly recommend AL adopt the suggestion of the OP. My name is David Sharp and I support this message. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Runny, post: 7262676, member: 6744058"] Thank you very much for your reasonable explanation of the current situation and rationale. Here are my thoughts... I 100% agree with the OP. AL should make an exception for races. Let’s look at the stated cons: 1. Allowing any race invites power gaming. The published races aren’t powerful enough mechanically too create power gaming concerns. They are well balanced. Please note that I play AL every week and just started DMing AL for ToA last week. A yuan-ti character is role playing gold. The rule of cool should out weigh the minor downside of a little more min-maxing. The goal of AL should be to maximize fun. While that sometimes means saying no to things, an exception could be made in this case. Aasimar Celestial Warlocks are clearly intended to be a thing, and I would allow it at my table, AL or not. Also, the actual power gaming in AL comes from magic items. That FAR overshadows any race combos. We have a DM who earned a manual of the planes and then built a character with a low int, traded the item to him, and used failed saves to teleport bad guys to other dimensions. Ingenious, but definitely power gaming. But whatever... homeboy DMs enough to get all the toys, let him play with them when he gets to play a PC. The problem of not having enough DMs is worse than the problem of power gaming. 2. WoTC can’t design for more than PHB + 1. I’m skeptical this is true, but it’s irrelevant to the OP suggestion. They can design for all races. The races just aren’t that powerful mechanically. 3. PHB + 1 makes it easier for newbies Mike Metals tweeted this, and it made me think, “Dude doesn’t play with newbies. Or he doesn’t play AL. He definitely doesn’t play AL with newbies.” PHB +1 is actually a pain to explain to new players. I get the intention, but new players see it as arbitrary. It’ll only get worse when clearly intended combos like Aasimar Celestial Warlocks are outlawed. 4. It makes it easier for DMs While this is true for PHB + 1 in general, making all races legal is not hard to handle as a DM. ToA allows Torltes. I am the DM. I don’t own anything that mentions Tortles as a race. And yet it is trivial for me to handle having a Tortle Barbarian/Druid play in my game. Also, since PHB + 1 doesn’t actually exclude anything from AL, I still need to be fluent in all the splat books, just a different one for each player. It’s actually harder because I have to tell the paladin/bard that he can’t take the Oath of the Crown because he learned the thunder-clap cantrip last level as a bard. Not really intuitive. In short, I wholeheartedly recommend AL adopt the suggestion of the OP. My name is David Sharp and I support this message. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk [/QUOTE]
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