Quick Character Question.....

[lonelynoose]

After reading the Tortle Package thread I realized that I might be running an illegal Druid. I'm running a Ghostwise Halfling Druid but a number of his spells are from the Elemental Evil sourcebook. Since the halfling is from SCAG and the spells from EE. Does this make the character illegal? I'd rather keep the spells and might just convert to a variant human.

Or am I just trippin'?

 

[NeverLucky]

You only get one +1 source beyond the Player's Handbook, from which you can pick character options (race, class, spells, feats, etc; there are exceptions, read the AL Player's Guide for more details). In this case, you are selecting your race from one source (SCAG), while selecting spells from another (EEPG), which is not allowed unless you have some special documentation allowing it (this is unlikely to be the case). If your character is 4th level or lower, you can rebuild them however you want to fix the discrepancy. If your character is higher level than that, you should make the minimum changes necessary to make your character legal.

Now it's up to you to judge what the minimum changes are in this case, but my opinion is that since druids can swap their spells each day when they rest, the simplest change is to swap your spells again at the next long rest and never select EEPG spells again.

 

[Pauper]

I'm going to disagree on the 'up to you to judge the minimum changes' text, though I agree with the rest.

Since druids don't have 'spells known', but rather prepare spells daily from the full spell list, the simplest solution is just to remove the EE spells from your spells prepared and replace them with spells from the Player's Handbook (since SCAG doesn't have druid spells). This doesn't even require a rebuild, thus is less of a change than any change that does.

Admittedly, the admins don't define what 'minimum change' means in the context of this rule, but I'd have to think that a change in spells for a class that doesn't have a 'spells known' list would be less significant than a change to race, class, or similar mechanical game effect that would otherwise require a rebuild to change.

Edit: the logic behind this ruling includes preventing a player from simply preparing or otherwise selecting an illegal spell by the +1 rule and then using it to justify giving the character a 'free rebuild' because of it, especially if the player argues that the simplest rebuild is to change out the character's +1 resource for the one from which the illegal spell was chosen -- this will become far more tempting, I'm sure, once Xanathar's is out. Example: player with a bard character advances in bard and 'swaps out' his only EE spell for a spell that appears in XGtE but not EE. "Oops, made a mistake! Guess the simplest fix is to change my +1 to Xanathar's!"

--
Pauper

 

[ccs]

By the rules, yes, your character is illegal.

The simplest solution is to just never select those spells again.

Now, 2 questions:
Has anyone your playing with noticed your illegal choices?
Do/Would they care?

 

[Pauper]

Has anyone your playing with noticed your illegal choices?

The DM, at minimum, should have noticed, since AL DMs are tasked with running AL games according to both the D&D and AL rules. The player might want to point this out to the DM, in the event the DM is unfamiliar with these rules.

Do/Would they care?

They should, not only because it will lead to fewer headaches for those players if they take advantage of the 'shared world'/portability of AL play and find out their characters have been illegal for much of their play experience.

I am not generally going to advocate that a DM or play location ignore AL rules, though I can accept that for some groups (e.g.: a group that plays a private home game where no player ever goes to another AL game hosted anywhere else and no new players are invited), the impact of not understanding all the AL rules is not as significant.

Some people are fond of saying that there is no 'AL police', but this is flawed -- the DM is intended to be the 'AL police' which is why the DM is empowered to resolve rules disputes at the table. How seriously the DM wants to take that role is up to each individual DM, though.

--
Pauper

 

[lonelynoose]

Thanks for all the info. I now understand the reasoning behind not being able to change characters willy nilly. Thanks Pauper.

What's crazy is that I changed this character at 4th lvl, so this was the first game that I ran this illegal character. Also what blows is that I used the 20 downtime days to get the character to 5th lvl, just for the Epic. I'd personally rather change the race instead of the spells, the spells are what provide the 'flavor' for the character. I know the AL Local Coordinator pretty well, I'm sure if I discussed with him he could allow me a pass. I just didn't realize the character was illegal at all. We'll see.

To answer CCS: Nobody noticed and I don't think they'll care. If it's an issue I'll just change the spells.
'

 

[CapnZapp]

Why would the DM notice?

If you never actually cast the spells, how could he or she even detect you prepared them...?

Sent from my C6603 using EN World mobile app

 

[Pauper]

If you never actually cast the spells, how could he or she even detect you prepared them...?

It seems unlikely that the character never cast the spells, given that the OP says the spells were significant to the "flavor" of the character.

Ultimately, though, it's the player's responsibility to bring a legal character to the table. DMs are authorized to confirm the legality of AL characters, but as you say, if there's no reason to suspect an illegal character, then a DM can be forgiven for not requiring a review.

An epic, though? That's a pretty good time for a DM to just give all the characters a once-over, just to be sure.

--
Pauper

 

[ccs]

To answer CCS: Nobody noticed and I don't think they'll care. If it's an issue I'll just change the spells.
'

There you go. If they won't care, carry on.
If somebody cares, or you take your illegal character elsewhere, change the spells for as long as needed.

 

[lonelynoose]

I definitely used the spells and didn't use the GW Halflings most noticeable trait, telepathic speech. Which is another reason why I hope I can change my race. I guess my reduced movement speed was noticeable though.

To the organizers benefit our table at the Epic was last minute. I had my ticket but there were 5 others that were waitlisted. They threw two extra tables together, found a player/DM that had run the Epic before and we were able to play. Albeit the Epic started 20 mins late and tried the patience of the 60+ players already there. The FLGS made some more money and everyone got to play. We would have ended on time but the Fai Chen table took almost an hour. Great experience all together though.