DDAL 2014 Character Options Will be Playable in AL After the 2024 Release

[Maxperson]

Half elves and half orcs. Knowledge, Nature, and Tempest cleric domains. Conjuration, Enchantment, Necromancy, and Transmutation wizard schools. Possibly some Feats.

Yay! 4 pages worth of 2014 PHB is still usable!!!! And half-elves/orcs are probably not going to be usable from the 2014 PHB. They will probably put in some lame version of the half-race thing they tested in the UA.

 

[Maxperson]

Not unless they explicitly replace them in the new PHB, which I doubt they'll do. And no, generic "mixed ancestry characters" rules don't do that.

I still have trouble believing that some people were so convinced this wouldn't be the case.

They aren't getting replaced, so not really.

I'm curious as to why you think that general rules on making a half-race PC doesn't replace half-elves and half-orcs. It seems to me that rules on how to create half-elves and half-orcs(among every other combination) would be the new standard.

 

[Maxperson]

Oh, I definitely read it and thought, "what on earth is a new player going to make of needing to choose between the 2014 ranger, the Tashas ranger, and the 2024 ranger?" Happy to have been mistaken, frankly.

I don't think you were mistaken. AL is a different beast than regular play. The tweet was only for AL. They have claimed that 2024 will be fully compatible with the 2014 rules, which means that you can still pick 2014 classes and subclasses if you want to. At least outside of AL. If you can't pick 2014 races and classes to play with the 2024 rules, then their claim of backwards compatibility is bupkis.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I'm curious as to why you think that general rules on making a half-race PC doesn't replace half-elves and half-orcs. It seems to me that rules on how to create half-elves and half-orcs(among every other combination) would be the new standard.

Because it isn’t a half elf writeup. It’s a way to build any mixed ancestry character. They’re distinct rules objects, one is not an update of the other.

It no more replaces the original writeup than the phb2024 replaces subclasses not appearing in the book, unless the text of the new phb explicitly says that the mixed ancestry mechanics presented replace existing specific writeups.

 

[Maxperson]

Because it isn’t a half elf writeup. It’s a way to build any mixed ancestry character. They’re distinct rules objects, one is not an update of the other.

It no more replaces the original writeup than the phb2024 replaces subclasses not appearing in the book, unless the text of the new phb explicitly says that the mixed ancestry mechanics presented replace existing specific writeups.

You might be right. We'll see, though. They might count it as the update.

 

[jgsugden]

You think they'd destroy the sales of SCAG, Xanathar's and Tasha's?
Because all of those sell very well and remain relevant in both 2024 and 2014

Sell very well? They still have some sales, but as they replace the content in them with updated versions the sales will disappear.

 

[Parmandur]

Sell very well? They still have some sales, but as they replace the content in them with updated versions the sales will disappear.

They ate still in print and selling week to week, and per the OP remain AL legal gor the foreseeable future.

 

[bedir than]

Sell very well? They still have some sales, but as they replace the content in them with updated versions the sales will disappear.

There's currently no plan to replace 90% of those three books that sell with zero marketing

 

[jgsugden]

There's currently no plan to replace 90% of those three books that sell with zero marketing

If you look at the Amazon Sales numbers: they're not significant. If you talk to game store owners, you'll see that the sales for books like these drop off over time and become problematic. They are not selling enough to warrant shelf space, but you don't look like a professional store if you don't have the full 5E line available - and you take a hit if people find that you don't carry things that they expect you to carry, even if there is not enough turnover to warrant space on the shelf.

Sword Coast was once top 20 in the best seller list, but is over 2,500 down in the best sellers list - meaning it is in that wacky zone of trivial sales.

There are some great blogs from store owners, like the one from Black Diamond Games in Concord (CA), that discuss the challenges around Board Games, D&D, Pathfinder, Pokemon, Magic, Lorcana, etc... selling. It is interesting stuff, even in you do not ever plan to run a game store.

 

[Charlaquin]

How would this work with classes not getting subclasses abilities at the same level (2014 vs 2024)?

Classes have been back to getting subclass abilities at the same levels as the 2014 versions for several packets now, with the only exception being that all subclasses now start at 3rd level.