Volo's Guide AL Rules - You can play them all!

[MiraMels]

If the given justification is the reason behind the background restrictions, then it doesn't make sense that some characters of those races are exempt from the restrictions. Either the goliath and aasimar restrictions should not exist (and thus would not exist for all characters of those races), or all characters of those races should have to abide by them.

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Pauper

The Goliath's possible lack of restriction, depending on what you make your +1, just strikes me as an odd snag to an otherwise common sense rule that is too much trouble to patch, and harmless if you leave it in. It'd be too difficult ask anyone with an already-extant Goliath PC from Season 2 to go back and edit their backstory, and possibly switch factions (losing out on four seasons of faction progress).

For the Assimar characters, the certs are supposed to be unique rewards, and I see no issue allowing those characters to continue being unique.

 

[Pauper]

It'd be too difficult ask anyone with an already-extant Goliath PC from Season 2 to go back and edit their backstory, and possibly switch factions (losing out on four seasons of faction progress).

That seems reasonable, but it leaves open the possibility that someone could create a new Goliath PC, decide that, since the races are identical between the EEPG and Volo's Guide, there's no point in choosing Volo's Guide as the +1, and thus 'dodge' the directive that the admins have set to aid the setting.

And if it makes sense to impose this on new EEPG Goliath PCs, there's no reason to exempt prior-season EEPG Goliath PCs, especially since 'season' isn't a meaningful term anymore.

And if you're going to do this to Goliaths, you should also do it, out of fairness and consistency, for Aasimar PCs created using the admin cert.

It's a valid question to ask, 'what does a DM do with a player who refuses to follow this guidance?' If it boils down to that the character must have the background or not be able to play, then I can see where the admins wouldn't want to impose that kind of barrier on play, but then again, why have the restriction if it's not going to be enforced?

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Pauper

 

[kalani]

The restrictions only apply to characters which have Volos guide as their +1 book. Yes this means there is little reason to play a Volos golith

 

[Nutation]

The admins have said you should update your character to the new aasimar (however Volo's guide doesn't count as your +1 and since you are a cert-aasimar, you don't have the additional background/faction restrictions either)

It does mean that, in order to continue playing my certed aasimar properly, I'll have to buy the Volo's Guide. Something I was not planning to do.

 

[Anthraxus]

It does mean that, in order to continue playing my certed aasimar properly, I'll have to buy the Volo's Guide. Something I was not planning to do.

I haven't seen an "Official announcement" on what you can do with a certed Aasimar, but I have seen the admins say that you *can* update to the Volo's version if you want.

 

[kalani]

 

[kalani]

With that being said - if you don't have access to Volo's Guide, the AL police isn't going to penalize you for using the DMG version. However, if/when you get access to the Volo's version, it is recommended that you upgrade (since the Volo's version is better anyway).

 

[Pauper]

However, if/when you get access to the Volo's version, it is recommended that you upgrade (since the Volo's version is better anyway).

And if you are already updating your certed aasimar to the Volo's version for the mechanics, it's pretty much a no-brainer to update your background to match as well.

Edit: After a discussion last night with some local admins, I'll amend my statement above to say that, while I still think it's a no-brainer to take on the background info, as it incorporates the material in Volo's Guide that's different from the material in the DMG, if the cert allows it, it would not be required to do so.

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Pauper

 

[gyor]

Somebody really liked the old 3E Epic Level Handbook write-up of him? As far as I know, that's the only place where the Cat Lord was ever posited to be a deity.



Sadly, that would violate AL rules, as the Cat Lord doesn't have an official write-up in a source cited by the ALPG, and thus isn't a legal option as a deity choice for clerics. (I'd thought Sharess was at least mentioned in teh PH, though, but if not, then she's not legal, either, nor would Bast of the Egyptian/Mulhorandi pantheon.) Keep in mind, though, that just because the tabaxi have a 'designated' deity, doesn't mean all tabaxi have to worship that deity -- dwarves and elves can worship and even serve as clerics to the Faerunian pantheon, ignoring the pantheons headed by Moradin and Corellon, respectively, so nothing prevents a tabaxi cleric from doing the same.



True, so it's interesting to note that the direction to use the backgrounds in the Volo's Guide document aren't restricted to characters that only use Volo's Guide as their +1. Likewise, the requirement that characters of these races must be part of a faction, and that faction is listed in the document, also do not appear to be restricted to just characters made from Volo's Guide. My guess would be that Goliaths (and admin-created Aasimar using the appropriate cert) would also need to abide by the background material in the addendum, even though their rules sources are not technically Volo's Guide.



Well, some of it is based on the monster races generally trending toward evil, so some is just a re-statement of the existing rules on alignment and factions. (And adding a bit more restriction -- after all, you may claim your hobgoblin isn't evil, but who in the Harpers is going to believe you?)

The one race that is generally available outside of Volo's Guide has no faction restrictions, so I don't see that as being terribly limiting.



As a DM, I'm actually happy that I have some campaign documentation that backs up my desire to keep things relatively 'canon' within the campaign. So if you say your yuan-ti pureblood is from X and moved to Najara, unless X is Chult, I'm going to say, 'nope, yuan-ti aren't from there'.

With that said, the backstories are pretty generic and are thus malleable; I'm putting together a hobgoblin wizard who got run out of the High Moor when he discovered that his gift didn't run toward the evocation mastery that is the expected path of all hobgoblin wizards serving Maglubiuyet. Nothing in the published AL document is going to make my character unplayable.

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Pauper

I talked to Matt Sernett, the guy who wrote the AL background elements over twitter, and he said AL hadn't ruled on Cat Lord being a legal deity, but it should be fine as lobg as you chose the right Alignment.

He also pointed out some interesting stuff about Sharess' history, and that this Cat Lord refers to the original MM II Cat Lord.

I had a 4e inspired idea anyways, Sharess & Llira in 4e were Sune's Exarchs, her highest, most powerful servants and as such got at least some worship, honour, and respect in Sune's temples.

So I'll just put Sune as the deity, but focus the majority of prayers towards Sharess, with maybe some towards Llira, Haleni Celilani, Mulhorandi Gods, and even a few dark deities/Archfiends such as Lovitar and Malcanthet when undercover as well. In fact I'm thinking of an Aasimar from Mulhorand whose Angellic guide is Sharess, as his distant ancestor. She's also the one he made his Fey pact Tomelock pact with in her aspect as Zandilar the Dancer, and with the Spy background, Sharess is his contract, via his dream visions.

He'll be a Harper obviously, he's already a spy.

 

[Pauper]

He also pointed out some interesting stuff about Sharess' history, and that this Cat Lord refers to the original MM II Cat Lord.

Interesting -- the MMII Cat Lord was referred to as a 'Lord of Balance', but I'm not sure that was ever really defined in D&D terms. The character became significant in Gygax's fiction, specifically the Gord the Rogue novels, but I wouldn't consider those canon for D&D much less the Forgotten Realms. Your mileage may vary, of course.

So I'll just put Sune as the deity, but focus the majority of prayers towards Sharess, with maybe some towards Llira, Haleni Celilani, Mulhorandi Gods, and even a few dark deities/Archfiends such as Lovitar and Malcanthet when undercover as well.

That seems reasonable -- in a society with a pantheon of gods, many gods are placated or at least paid lip service to even if they are not the worshipper's patron. There's no issue with making prayers to any deity, even one in your own head, in AL -- the issue is that mechanically, you've got to have a patron that's listed in a rules source, which if you choose Sune, meets that requirement.

Not entirely sure what Malcanthet's status is in 5e, Realms or otherwise -- given that she has a number of rivals to her crown, it wouldn't surprise me if she'd been overthrown during the Sundering, but I've got no data either way.

In fact I'm thinking of an Aasimar from Mulhorand whose Angellic guide is Sharess, as his distant ancestor. She's also the one he made his Fey pact Tomelock pact with in her aspect as Zandilar the Dancer, and with the Spy background, Sharess is his contract, via his dream visions.

He'll be a Harper obviously, he's already a spy.

That all sounds kosher -- not sure how much of it you'll actually get to use in play, given how AL works in most places, but sounds like a fun background.

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Pauper