Reading the latest AL player and DM guidance I can find, I do not see clearly that my newest add-on player can use his leonin in AL campaigns. Am I seeing correctly that players have to commit to a specific campaign like Forgotten Realms, Eberron, etc., and cannot bring in Species like ones found in settings that are not AL legal? Yes, I suspect he might be a gimmick master since just he MC’ed from fighter into Barbarian and talked about how broke his PC is and is going to be. Since the other players are predominantly new to the game l have player balance concerns.
The following books can be used to create your pc but only the player character chapters for the Realms. Players Handbook 2014, Players Handbook 2024, Basic Rules 2024, Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants, Book of Many Things, Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons, Locathah Rising, Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse, Planescape: Sigil and the Outlands, Sword Coast Adventure’s Guide, Spelljammer Adventurers in Space, Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, and Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. If there is difference in rules, you always use the latest.
Leonin is from Theros so it is not a legal Realms species.
Reading the latest AL player and DM guidance I can find, I do not see clearly that my newest add-on player can use his leonin in AL campaigns. Am I seeing correctly that players have to commit to a specific campaign like Forgotten Realms, Eberron, etc., and cannot bring in Species like ones found in settings that are not AL legal? Yes, I suspect he might be a gimmick master since just he MC’ed from fighter into Barbarian and talked about how broke his PC is and is going to be. Since the other players are predominantly new to the game l have player balance concerns.
From the Adventurer's League Player's Guide 14.0*
Step 0: Choose Your Campaign. You may choose to attach your character to the Forgotten Realms, Eberron, Ravenloft, or Dragonlance campaign. Your choice affects a few rulebook options available to you and limits your adventures to those attached to a specific campaign or available to more than one campaign. Once your choice is made, you cannot change it for that character after you’ve played your first adventure.
So first off, as JasperDM pointed out, Leonins are from the Theros campaign setting, which means they are not allowed. Then, if they were allowed, they still would not be able to take feats, classes, sub-classes, origins, etc. from another setting. They would only be allowed to take those which are part of the Theros campaign setting.
*The current version is actually 14.2, but I don't currently have access to Discord to retrieve it. As a dot increment the changes to it are going to be primarily edits and clarifications, so I very much doubt that they have changes such as including the Theros campaign setting or allowing people to mix and match features across the settings.
EDIT and Post Script: Even if the Theros campaign is added in 14.2, the character would only be legal in AL adventure/campaigns set in Theros. I very much doubt they lifted the rule confining characters to given campaigns in a simple dot update.
Theros is not an AL legal source in any campaign (None of the MTG cross over settings are AL legal - no Theros, no Strixhaven, no Ravnica ... also no Acquisitions Inc but it isn't MTG). These books are not legal in ANY AL game. Anything from these books that is not republished in a source legal for the campaign is not usable.
For example, Centaurs, Satyrs, and Tritons from Theros were all republished in MPMM (Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse) ... this makes those species currently legal in all AL campaigns since that source is available to all campaigns. Leonins are NOT a legal race for AL play in any campaign.
If the player wants to play a "cat" species then Tabaxi would be an option. However, if they are looking for some benefit from Leonin mechanics then they have to look elsewhere in an AL game.
I'd also point out that AL is expected to be fully 2024 rules in all games within a few weeks (I think 2 months from the PHB release). This means that builds like fighter/barbarian for using the old GWM are a bit less attractive since GWM no longer has -5/+10 ... it adds proficiency to damage instead with no penalty on to hit and also requires a minimum 13 strength (even if the character is not using strength for to hit and damage - eg battle smith artificer or a blade pact warlock with a magic greatsword) and level 4 to take as a feat ... so folks planning to use it often need to adjust how they build the character.
Reading the latest AL player and DM guidance I can find, I do not see clearly that my newest add-on player can use his leonin in AL campaigns. Am I seeing correctly that players have to commit to a specific campaign like Forgotten Realms, Eberron, etc., and cannot bring in Species like ones found in settings that are not AL legal? Yes, I suspect he might be a gimmick master since just he MC’ed from fighter into Barbarian and talked about how broke his PC is and is going to be. Since the other players are predominantly new to the game l have player balance concerns.
Marked with the sign of the Z!
started with White Box Original D&D
The following books can be used to create your pc but only the player character chapters for the Realms. Players Handbook 2014, Players Handbook 2024, Basic Rules 2024, Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants, Book of Many Things, Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons, Locathah Rising, Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse, Planescape: Sigil and the Outlands, Sword Coast Adventure’s Guide, Spelljammer Adventurers in Space, Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, and Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. If there is difference in rules, you always use the latest.
Leonin is from Theros so it is not a legal Realms species.
No Gaming is Better than Bad Gaming.
This is a list of offical WOTC races. The underline are from not realms
AARAKOCRA, AAISMAR v 24, ASTRAL ELF v e, AUTOGNOME,
BUGBEAR v, CENTAUR, CHANGELING, DEEP GNOME v
DHAMPIR RAVENLOFT v, DRAGONBORN 24, DROW v e 24, DUERGAR v
DWARF v 24, ELADRIN FEY ELF v e, ELF DROW v e 24, ELF HIGH v e 24
ELF WOOD v e 24, FAIRY, FERAL TIEFLING SCAG v, FIRBOLG
GENSAI AIR v, GENSAI EARTH v, GENSAI FIRE v, GENSAI WATER v
GHOSTWISE HALFLING SCAG, GIFF, GITHYANKI, GITHZERAI
GNOME FOREST v 24, GNOME ROCK v 24, GOBLIN v,GOLIATH 24
GRUNG, HADOZEE,HALF-ELF v e 2014, HALF-ORC v 2014, HALFLING 24
HALFLING LOTUSDEN Wildemount, HALFLING MARK OF HEALING Eberron ,HALFLING MARK OF HOSPITALITY Eberron, HARENGON
HEXBLOOD Ravenloft v, HOBGOBLIN v, HUMAN 24,KALASHTAR Eberron, KENDER Dragonlance
KENKU, KOBOLD v, LEONIN Theros v, LIZARDFOLK
LOCATHAH, LOXODON Ravnica, MINOTAUR,ORC v 24
OWLIN Strixhaven v, PLASMOID v, REBORN RAVENLOFT, SATYR
SEA ELF v e, SHADAR-KAI SHADOWFELL ELF v e,SHIFTER v ,SIMIC HYBRID Ravnica v
TABAXI v, TIEFLING v 24, THRI-KEEN v, TORTLE
TRITON v, VEDALKEN Ravnica, VERDAN Acquisitions, WARFORGE Eberron
WINGED TIEFLING SCAG v, YUAN-TI v
No Gaming is Better than Bad Gaming.
So first off, as JasperDM pointed out, Leonins are from the Theros campaign setting, which means they are not allowed. Then, if they were allowed, they still would not be able to take feats, classes, sub-classes, origins, etc. from another setting. They would only be allowed to take those which are part of the Theros campaign setting.
*The current version is actually 14.2, but I don't currently have access to Discord to retrieve it. As a dot increment the changes to it are going to be primarily edits and clarifications, so I very much doubt that they have changes such as including the Theros campaign setting or allowing people to mix and match features across the settings.
EDIT and Post Script: Even if the Theros campaign is added in 14.2, the character would only be legal in AL adventure/campaigns set in Theros. I very much doubt they lifted the rule confining characters to given campaigns in a simple dot update.
Theros is not an AL legal source in any campaign (None of the MTG cross over settings are AL legal - no Theros, no Strixhaven, no Ravnica ... also no Acquisitions Inc but it isn't MTG). These books are not legal in ANY AL game. Anything from these books that is not republished in a source legal for the campaign is not usable.
For example, Centaurs, Satyrs, and Tritons from Theros were all republished in MPMM (Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse) ... this makes those species currently legal in all AL campaigns since that source is available to all campaigns. Leonins are NOT a legal race for AL play in any campaign.
If the player wants to play a "cat" species then Tabaxi would be an option. However, if they are looking for some benefit from Leonin mechanics then they have to look elsewhere in an AL game.
I'd also point out that AL is expected to be fully 2024 rules in all games within a few weeks (I think 2 months from the PHB release). This means that builds like fighter/barbarian for using the old GWM are a bit less attractive since GWM no longer has -5/+10 ... it adds proficiency to damage instead with no penalty on to hit and also requires a minimum 13 strength (even if the character is not using strength for to hit and damage - eg battle smith artificer or a blade pact warlock with a magic greatsword) and level 4 to take as a feat ... so folks planning to use it often need to adjust how they build the character.