I am trying to make heads or tails of whether or not my character can remain Lawful Evil under the current rules of Adventure League.
I first scribed the character to be Lawful Evil in Season 7 where the only contingency is that they had to belong to one of two factions: Lords' Alliance or Zhentarim.
Now, with Season 8, there are a bunch of changes. Lets start with the basics, per the ALPG8.2:
Alignment. Evil characters aren't allowed in D&D Adventurers League play unless your character is a member of either the Lords' Alliance or Zhentarim faction. These characters may be lawful evil.
Okay, so far so good. He was part of the Lords' Alliance faction so he's covered. Except:
Step 6: Select a Faction (Optional)
Your character can be a member of a faction if they have the **Safe Haven** background feature (Faction Agent background, Sword Coast Adventurers Guide).
But my character doesn't have the Safe Haven background. He has the **Bad Reputation** background from being a pirate (something that plays heavily in how the character is portrayed).
In the ALFAQ8.2:
Is this Guidance Retroactive?
Campaign Documents are effective as of its effective date on the cover page, but aren't retroactive unless an entry states as much. It does, however, supersede previously issued guidance to the same effect.
So he shouldn't have to change retroactively.
But on the official [Adventurers League website][1], it talks about the change to factions and lists the following
So what does this mean for characters that already have a faction? Well, it's pretty easy:
you can leave your faction (normal rules apply)
you can stay in your faction by exchanging your current background feature with Safe Haven, the feature used by the Faction Agent background (from Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide). You may do this regardless of your level, just as how your alignment might change as your story progresses.
factions will no longer be providing magic items, nor will the mentor functions exist
remember that characters with a lawful evil alignment are required to be members of either the Zhentarim or the Lords' Alliance, and Adventurers League play does not allow neutral evil or chaotic evil alignments in play
Which would seem to be a required retroactive change. Now, this comes from the website and not the official FAQ, but I would still take it as being authoritative.
So that leaves three possibilities:
1. Nothing retroactive; character stays as is - a mean and evil pirate. 2. Retroactively he no longer has a Bad Reputation, but instead has to have the Safe Haven background making still evil, but no longer strikes fear into people when he approaches. 3. Retroactively he stays a pirate with a Bad Reputation background, but loses his faction affiliation and can no longer be evil.
He would have to be a safe haven background with the rest of the pirate background OR he can be not-evil
There's quite a few people who aren't exactly happy about this =/. However, the campaign guidance is retroactive as far as factions are concerned. So if you want to keep your renown/evil alignment/faction then you have to have the safe haven background feature (not the whole background just the feature. And honestly most DMs <including me> have been honoring the "proper" feature since the safe haven feature doesn't do much of anything).
Based on the citations and what I have heard, I think you have to change your background feature to safe haven so that you can remain in a faction. They don't seem to have removed the requirement that evil characters must be in a faction in order to be playable.
That said, I don't really see any issues with your character continuing to play as if they had a bad reputation. It is generally just a role play aspect to the character.
"No matter where you go, people are afraid of you due to your reputation. When you are in a civilized settlement, you can get away with minor criminal offenses, such as refusing to pay for food at a tavern or breaking down doors at a local shop, since most people will not report your activity to the authorities."
Note that the text here says "most people" will not report your activities ... which means the application of this feature is entirely up to the DMs discretion. In addition, depending on where you are ... Moonsea, Chult, Waterdeep ... your "reputation" may or may not have spread that far at the DMs discretion. Since you have had this background from level 1 ... it would be ludicrous to think that a level 1 character would have such a world spanning vile reputation that would in any way instill fear in people across the entire forgotten realms. More likely, you just look mean so they think it better just to ignore you :)
Anyway, for AL play just change the feature to Safe Haven and otherwise remain the mean evil pirate that you have always been .. :)
What i dont get is why the change is even needed. Was it overpowered to be in a faction and get a background feature? Do people abuse background features? Do they want people to leave factions dispite dispite the watetdeep faction immersion? Why not just say factions as normal but no faction purchases?
Can I Make a Custom Background? You can create a custom background for your character by following the rules in the PHB, but you can’t create custom background features.
PHB:
You might want to tweak some of the features of a background so it better fits your character or the campaign setting. To customize a background, you can replace one feature with any other one, choose any two skills, and choose a total of two tool proficiencies or languages from the sample backgrounds.
Finally, the "bad reputation" feature is not a variant "rule" it is a variant "background" ... meaning just another choice of background that could be made if you chose the sailor as your base background ... so I think it is fine for AL. Though if the OP wants to remain in AL as a lawful evil character, they still have to be in the faction and as a result will have to switch bad reputation for safe haven under the season 8 rules.
Finally, the "bad reputation" feature is not a variant "rule" it is a variant "background" ... meaning just another choice of background that could be made if you chose the sailor as your base background ... so I think it is fine for AL. Though if the OP wants to remain in AL as a lawful evil character, they still have to be in the faction and as a result will have to switch bad reputation for safe haven under the season 8 rules.
This interpretation seems a bit strained to me. You could apply your definition to some of the other variant rules. For example could just as easily say, "Variant Human Traits" aren't variant "rules" they're variant "human traits". This is provably false because variant human traits are specifically exempted from the no variant rules rule and thus acknowledged as a rule.
When you start to stretch, and in my opinion break, AL rules like this, the DM is well within his or her rights to make a ruling and disallow your character. I'm not saying that will happen, only that it is a risk, and that your character loses some of its portability.
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I am trying to make heads or tails of whether or not my character can remain Lawful Evil under the current rules of Adventure League.
I first scribed the character to be Lawful Evil in Season 7 where the only contingency is that they had to belong to one of two factions: Lords' Alliance or Zhentarim.
Now, with Season 8, there are a bunch of changes. Lets start with the basics, per the ALPG8.2:
Okay, so far so good. He was part of the Lords' Alliance faction so he's covered. Except:
But my character doesn't have the Safe Haven background. He has the **Bad Reputation** background from being a pirate (something that plays heavily in how the character is portrayed).
In the ALFAQ8.2:
So he shouldn't have to change retroactively.
But on the official [Adventurers League website][1], it talks about the change to factions and lists the following
Which would seem to be a required retroactive change. Now, this comes from the website and not the official FAQ, but I would still take it as being authoritative.
So that leaves three possibilities:
1. Nothing retroactive; character stays as is - a mean and evil pirate.
2. Retroactively he no longer has a Bad Reputation, but instead has to have the Safe Haven background making still evil, but no longer strikes fear into people when he approaches.
3. Retroactively he stays a pirate with a Bad Reputation background, but loses his faction affiliation and can no longer be evil.
How does this all shake out?
[1]: http://dndadventurersleague.org/in-which-we-talk-about-factions/
He would have to be a safe haven background with the rest of the pirate background OR he can be not-evil
There's quite a few people who aren't exactly happy about this =/. However, the campaign guidance is retroactive as far as factions are concerned. So if you want to keep your renown/evil alignment/faction then you have to have the safe haven background feature (not the whole background just the feature. And honestly most DMs <including me> have been honoring the "proper" feature since the safe haven feature doesn't do much of anything).
Based on the citations and what I have heard, I think you have to change your background feature to safe haven so that you can remain in a faction. They don't seem to have removed the requirement that evil characters must be in a faction in order to be playable.
That said, I don't really see any issues with your character continuing to play as if they had a bad reputation. It is generally just a role play aspect to the character.
"No matter where you go, people are afraid of you due to your reputation. When you are in a civilized settlement, you can get away with minor criminal offenses, such as refusing to pay for food at a tavern or breaking down doors at a local shop, since most people will not report your activity to the authorities."
Note that the text here says "most people" will not report your activities ... which means the application of this feature is entirely up to the DMs discretion. In addition, depending on where you are ... Moonsea, Chult, Waterdeep ... your "reputation" may or may not have spread that far at the DMs discretion. Since you have had this background from level 1 ... it would be ludicrous to think that a level 1 character would have such a world spanning vile reputation that would in any way instill fear in people across the entire forgotten realms. More likely, you just look mean so they think it better just to ignore you :)
Anyway, for AL play just change the feature to Safe Haven and otherwise remain the mean evil pirate that you have always been .. :)
What i dont get is why the change is even needed. Was it overpowered to be in a faction and get a background feature? Do people abuse background features? Do they want people to leave factions dispite dispite the watetdeep faction immersion? Why not just say factions as normal but no faction purchases?
You should never have had the Bad Reputation feature anyways. Bad Reputation is a variant background feature. From the ALFAQ,
"Can I use the Variant and Optional Rules in the PHB/DMG? The only optional or variant rules available for use are:
• Variant: Customizing Ability Scores (PHB)
• Variant Human Traits (PHB) • Half-Elf Variants (SCAG)
• Option: Human Languages (SCAG)
• Tiefling Variants (SCAG)
• Variant: Playing on a Grid (PBR)
• Variant: Skills with Different Abilities (PHB)
Without specific campaign documentation, any other variant or optional rules, such as Variant: Quasit Familiar (MM) are not available for use."
ALFAQ 8.2
Can I Make a Custom Background?
You can create a custom background for your character by following the rules in the PHB, but you can’t create custom background features.
PHB:
You might want to tweak some of the features of a background so it better fits your character or the campaign setting. To customize a background, you can replace one feature
with any other one, choose any two skills, and choose a total of two tool proficiencies or languages from the sample backgrounds.
Finally, the "bad reputation" feature is not a variant "rule" it is a variant "background" ... meaning just another choice of background that could be made if you chose the sailor as your base background ... so I think it is fine for AL. Though if the OP wants to remain in AL as a lawful evil character, they still have to be in the faction and as a result will have to switch bad reputation for safe haven under the season 8 rules.
This interpretation seems a bit strained to me. You could apply your definition to some of the other variant rules. For example could just as easily say, "Variant Human Traits" aren't variant "rules" they're variant "human traits". This is provably false because variant human traits are specifically exempted from the no variant rules rule and thus acknowledged as a rule.
When you start to stretch, and in my opinion break, AL rules like this, the DM is well within his or her rights to make a ruling and disallow your character. I'm not saying that will happen, only that it is a risk, and that your character loses some of its portability.