D&D 5E A First Look at Tasha’s Lineage System In AL Player’s Guide - Customizing Your Origin In D&D

The new player’s guide for the D&D Adventurers League has been released. Appendix 1 includes the new info from Tasha’s Cauldron on customizing your origin. It‘s a one-page appendix.

The D&D Adventurers League now uses this variant system from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything since it allows for a greater degree of customization. For ease of reference, the relevant information is included as an appendix to this document and doesn’t count against the PH + 1 rule.

You can do any of the following (obviously the full document has more detail):

1. Move your race ability score increases wherever your want to. “...take any ability score increase you gain in your race or subrace and apply it to an ability score of your choice.”​

2. Replace each language from your race with any language from a set list.​

3. Swap each proficiency for another of the same type.​

4. Alter behaviour/personality race-based descriptions.​

Its not clear if that’s the whole Lineage system or just part of it. You can download the player’s guide here.

 

[GlassJaw]

It doesn't. It lets you move around ability scores and proficiencies, and that's it. Aarakocra still get wings, Tritons still get swimming, and elves still get darkvision.

Fine. It only mostly removes the choice.

I don't like the idea of race having no effect on your ability scores. Sure it's a sacred cow but it's a good one that makes the choice meaningful.

 

[ChaosOS]

It makes me wonder why not just get rid of all of them and say, "Hey, look, every PC gets an additional 3-4 proficiencies for weapons, armors, tools, kits, or whatever." Don't worry about anything that might (shocker) define your PC or its race. Just make everything a la carte and stuff yourselves.

Out of all of the feature swaps I consider the weapon/tool proficiencies to be the most important for worldbuilding after languages. Why does my elf raised by humans have a genetic longsword proficiency? What if dwarves in my world are associated with different tools than what the PHB prescribes? Yes, obviously as a DM I can houserule these kinds of things, but it's better to just have a page that says "The base racial proficiencies are the most common assumptions of these races, just like backgrounds you can customize them"

 

[Dausuul]

You sometimes have to make a choice that’s not optimal when you want to play a concept.

Why do so many people seem to think "choose between having a cool concept and being effective" is a good thing?

 

[TwoSix]

Fine. It only mostly removes the choice.

I don't like the idea of race having no effect on your ability scores. Sure it's a sacred cow but it's a good one that makes the choice meaningful.

Here's the issue. I'm assuming by "meaningful" you mean that the race choice impacts your stats, which will necessarily steer the race towards some classes and away from others.

Fundamentally, a large portion of the player base want race to have an impact on class choice, and some races to be stronger with some classes than with others. And a significant portion of the player base wants the choices of race and class to be independent of each other, so that any race can play any class with equal facility.

There's no real way (I can see) to square that circle. It's no different of a conceptual argument than occurred when they lifted race-class restrictions in 3E, it's simply the parameters that have changed.

 

[Not a Hobbit]

Why do so many people think "having one less point in your chosen ability is not being effective?"

 

[TwoSix]

Why do so many people think "having one less point in your chosen ability is not being effective?"

Because math? As I said in a post a few back, I know it doesn't bother everybody to play a 14 Str fighter. But it sure as hell bothers me, and I don't seem to be the only one.

 

[WayOfTheFourElements]

Here's the issue. I'm assuming by "meaningful" you mean that the race choice impacts your stats, which will necessarily steer the race towards some classes and away from others.

Fundamentally, a large portion of the player base want race to have an impact on class choice, and some races to be stronger with some classes than with others. And a significant portion of the player base wants the choices of race and class to be independent of each other, so that any race can play any class with equal facility.

There's no real way (I can see) to square that circle. It's no different of a conceptual argument than occurred when they lifted race-class restrictions in 3E, it's simply the parameters that have changed.

While I'm won't be using the new seed (I spout from Odin's loins) system, I'm happy it will be available to those who want it. Every gaming table should be unique. Conformity suffocates.

 

[DemoMonkey]

Thank you WayoftheFourElements, I had not seen that part.

I would have been happier if the ASI had been "+2/+1 in the recommended stats, or +1 in any two stats of your choice." I think maintaining the "flavour" of the different fantasy races through stat differentiation is a greater plus than minus. I am in the camp that limitations - even if they make some combinations sub-par - make character design and worldbuilding better.

 

[Cadence]

Because math? As I said in a post a few back, I know it doesn't bother everybody to play a 14 Str fighter. But it sure as hell bothers me, and I don't seem to be the only one.

I wonder if there's any difference (on average) on this between those who played a long time with rolled stats and those who didn't. (Did rolled stats get people used to not being optimal? Did rolled stats give people a burning hatred of not being optimal?). If I was more anxious to avoid work it would be fun to write a big survey and do a discriminant analysis/CART/whatnot to see what falls out.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Because math? As I said in a post a few back, I know it doesn't bother everybody to play a 14 Str fighter. But it sure as hell bothers me, and I don't seem to be the only one.

And soon the same people will feel the same way about non-dwarf wizards. The math says they are better. So I don't know how this is an improvement.