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

[CapnZapp]

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.

How so?

The restrictions weren't created out of concerns for these particular races - they just get swept along together with all the other Volo races.

That is: having an Aasimar or Goliath enter town didn't make the villagers bring out the pitchforks before, so AL doesn't remove that choice. Just pick a different +1 than Volo and you can keep not having to explain their presence.

An Orc not so much. (Although had a previous source offered background-less Orcs, I'm sure AL would honor that offer too)

Correct. Though Goliath and Deep Gnome can be picked from two different sources (EEPG or VGtM/SCAG respectively).

I was going to ask "how can you treat VGtM and SCAG as a single source", but now I'm thinking you mean:

Goliath can be picked from either EEPG or Volo.
Svirfs can be picked from either EEPG or SCAG.

 

[Pauper]

That is: having an Aasimar or Goliath enter town didn't make the villagers bring out the pitchforks before, so AL doesn't remove that choice. Just pick a different +1 than Volo and you can keep not having to explain their presence.

Except that doesn't make any sense. A Goliath is a Goliath -- what about the character is notable within the campaign world to differentiate between 'oh, that's a Volo's Goliath' versus 'ooh, that's an EEPG Goliath'? More to the point, even though the 'restrictions' of the Volo's Goliath are about as minimal as you can get -- you can still belong to any faction, though you must be a faction member, your home is in Thesk, and you're not with your tribe anymore (that last of which is pretty much a given since you're adventuring and not, say, hunting aurochs on the Great Glacier), if you can avoid them by taking an EEPG Goliath, especially since the EEPG Goliath at least gives you access to other character options if you want them (specifically the spells in the EEPG), why wouldn't you?

Also, I'm a bit disappointed in the 'this is why the villagers don't run you out of town' explanation for why the backgrounds exist. It seems to me that the folks who wrote the document had some interesting ideas to tie some of the races into the ongoing story -- the Goblin background, for instance, is very clearly tied to a particular event in the Realms. But a number of backgrounds aren't that specific -- the Kenku, Tabaxi, Triton, and Bugbear backgrounds are just generic flavor, plus a faction restriction, which tells me that somebody probably just spit them out to make a deadline. If there was some other way to create one of these races (and there's no guarantee that WotC won't publish another book later on that 'expands' one or more of these races, just as they've now done for the Aasimar and Goliaths), why wouldn't you, if only to avoid taking on the generic background material?

If the background material is intended to be meaningful, generic or not, then it should be meaningful for all characters created with a race from the reference doc, not just those that don't have another source option.

--
Pauper

 

[Warmaster Horus]

My main problem with making Volo's PCs have a specific background is that the story reasons behind those restrictions are lost on 95% of players. They have no idea what or where Thesk or Njara are. It certainly strips quite a bit of player agency out of choosing one of those races. What if I want to play a Tabaxi paladin who's family has been in the Realms for generations after their ancestors were freed from a crazed mad Enchanter's menagerie in Amn and now is in the Order of the Gauntlet? Nope.

That said, it is AL and not a private game so limitations are necessary to keep consistency in some areas. So that I understand and can live with.

 

[CapnZapp]

If the background material is intended to be meaningful, generic or not, then it should be meaningful for all characters created with a race from the reference doc, not just those that don't have another source option.

Well, I believe adhering to WotC policies as well as prior commitments trumps verisimilitude.

That is, AL seems nicely willing to spend effort on making things seem real. As real as can be within a certain set of constraints.

If you got what you wanted, I could easily see a Repuap forumist complaining about his existing Goliath character no longer being legit without joining a faction, wrecking his elaborate made up background story.

You just can't win them all. Time to accept that maintaining compatibility and continuity was deemed a bigger issue than verisimilitude this time!

 

[CapnZapp]

My main problem with making Volo's PCs have a specific background is that the story reasons behind those restrictions are lost on 95% of players. They have no idea what or where Thesk or Njara are. It certainly strips quite a bit of player agency out of choosing one of those races. What if I want to play a Tabaxi paladin who's family has been in the Realms for generations after their ancestors were freed from a crazed mad Enchanter's menagerie in Amn and now is in the Order of the Gauntlet? Nope.

That said, it is AL and not a private game so limitations are necessary to keep consistency in some areas. So that I understand and can live with.

As far as I could see browsing that doc, the only real limit was 1) you must choose a faction and 2) these are the factions for you.

Everything else is fluff. I can't see somebody penalizing you for never bringing up Thesk or Njara. I can't see you ever having to explain yourself if all you talk about is Amn. Or that enchanter. Or your paladin mentor or whatever.

As long as you choose an allowed faction I can't see how anything else can get you sanctioned.

Do note nobody's forcing you to be an especially good agent for your faction. I can't imagine anyone taking you to task if you play your character pretty much like any other faction-less character.

 

[Remathilis]

Goliath can be picked from either EEPG or Volo.
Svirfs can be picked from either EEPG or SCAG.

This.

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[skerritthegreen]

It feels to me a bit like the Admins of AL are approaching their jobs as Admins as if they are just DMs for a really big D&D group, and that makes me feel a bit uncomfortable about the future of AL.

Please that this document was written and provided by WOTC and its employees for AL, and was not written by the AL Admins. WOTC wanted these races to fit into the story (and future stories) and this is the way they choose to do so.

 

[jasper]

Can a player respect his character to Volo if under 5th level?

 

[CapnZapp]

Can a player respect his character to Volo if under 5th level?

Since the Character Rebuilding rules prevent you from changing your character's name, I'd say, no you can't respec into Volothamp Geddarm

 

[NeverLucky]

Can a player respect his character to Volo if under 5th level?

Since story origin is not a thing anymore, nothing prevents you from doing so. Just pick Volo as your +1 and take out anything that comes from other +1 sources.