So the rule is in general, PHB+1. In specifics, we're allowed to use the faction agent background without SCAG counting as our +1 because we've got specific permission in the player guide to do so. There's mention that you can use features with specific campaign documentation, so as a hypothetical. If I made an Aasimar warlock for say, Curse of Strahd. Perfectly legal, PHB+1... What if I used Curse of Strahd's background 'Haunted One'? Would that make him an illegal character, with CoS counting as the +1, or would it count as campaign documentation?
Also, why do we still have the PHB+1 rule anywho? I can understand where it's coming from, but for the most part it just feels needlessly restrictive on certain features.
1) Backgrounds are excluded from the +1 rule as far as I know.
"Background. Choose or create a background using the Player’s Handbook or other campaign resources. Additional resources are permitted in the Adventurers League Content Catalogue (ALCC)." ALPG 9.1
"Custom Backgrounds You can create a custom background for your character by following the rules in the PHB, but you can’t create custom background features." ALFAQ 9.0
You can build custom backgrounds following the PHB rules using the PHB and other campaign resources. You can't make up background features though you have to choose existing ones from the AL approved resources (for example, some of the guild adept adventures include both backgrounds and background features that aren't eligible for AL use as far as I know). Using the haunted one background would not count as your +1.
2) Making an Aasimar warlock in season 9 doesn't define your +1 due to the special rules about Aasimar and Tiefling characters in season 9. In previous seasons, building an Aasimar character would have meant choosing Volo's as your +1.
3) The reason for the restriction in AL comes from WotC as far as I understand it. The reasoning is that WotC creates source books that are fun and interesting and want to be used but they don't test every possible option for balance considerations. By imposing the +1 rule they still leave a lot of options while limiting the possibilities for players to choose the optimal race from one resource and the optimal class from another.
A good example might be the yuan-ti pure blood hexblade warlock. It could work quite well thematically in some ways but the yuan-ti pure blood already has some strong features that synergize extremely well with a hexblade warlock. Is it OP? Probably not, but it is a bit above the power curve for most character options. I am sure there are other combinations that bump the power level when combined. Another good one are the melee cantrips from SCAG. These cantrips can significantly boost some melee builds that typically only have one attack (rogues/clerics etc). Allowing these cantrips with any race combinations from Volo's and any class combinations from XGtE could again open up character options that could be significantly above the average "power" level. Anyway, I can see the reasoning behind the +1 rule and don't find it a big deal even if it does limit some choices.
On the other hand, the +1 rule does limit some thematically appropriate choices like shadar kai elf with hexblade warlock or shadow sorcerer. Elves from the plane of shadow might be expected to choose either or both of these classes but the elf is from MToF and the class archetypes from XGtE.
Thank you very much! The Aasimar is coming to town, though now I wonder what I should use as his +1 book. I know Xanathar's has some -beautiful- spells. Thank you very much, your input is helpful as always.
Thank you very much! The Aasimar is coming to town, though now I wonder what I should use as his +1 book. I know Xanathar's has some -beautiful- spells. Thank you very much, your input is helpful as always.
Wait ..... I can't have a Volo's Guide race and a PHB class/subclass combo ...... and and still use the spells in Xanathar's Guide? Or SCAG for that matter. I feel like I've seen tons of AL players breaking that rule.
Thank you very much! The Aasimar is coming to town, though now I wonder what I should use as his +1 book. I know Xanathar's has some -beautiful- spells. Thank you very much, your input is helpful as always.
Wait ..... I can't have a Volo's Guide race and a PHB class/subclass combo ...... and and still use the spells in Xanathar's Guide? Or SCAG for that matter. I feel like I've seen tons of AL players breaking that rule.
A wizard can manage it by purchasing scrolls or copying spells from spellbooks in adventures they play. However, you can't learn cantrips from scrolls only choosing them as part of your character advancement so those must come from PHB or your +1. The same is true for all the other classes that have to choose spells rather than just copy them.
I've goofed a few times myself, often choosing cantrips. I have an Arcana cleric (from SCAG with booming blade) and I picked Toll the Dead as one of my cantrips until I realized it was from Xanathar's and had to change it. I've done that a couple of times with different characters. Another example was taking absorb elements on a sorcerer using a Volo's race. Absorb elements is also XGtE. I just changed them when I noticed them. If you run into someone who has made a similar mistake then perhaps politely point it out. Folks make mistakes all the time and it is often not intentional. Sites like D&D Beyond or other character sheet generators don't rigorously apply the +1 rule and usually just give a list of spells to choose from so it is pretty easy to mix them up.
However, one that will often get noticed is a character using booming blade/green flame blade without SCAG as their +1. You could play a swashbuckler rogue with these spells (since swashbuckler was released in SCAG) or an arcane trickster with SCAG as your +1 but not a Mastermind, Scout or Inquisitive since they are from XGtE.
Anyway, spell choices are one of the easier things to mess up when applying a +1
In the ALPG for season 9, it says that for season 9 you can play an aasimar without Volo's counting as your +1 if you take them up on the winged offer at level 5. I'm playing an aasimar hexblade this season.
Thank you very much! The Aasimar is coming to town, though now I wonder what I should use as his +1 book. I know Xanathar's has some -beautiful- spells. Thank you very much, your input is helpful as always.
Wait ..... I can't have a Volo's Guide race and a PHB class/subclass combo ...... and and still use the spells in Xanathar's Guide? Or SCAG for that matter. I feel like I've seen tons of AL players breaking that rule.
A wizard can manage it by purchasing scrolls or copying spells from spellbooks in adventures they play. However, you can't learn cantrips from scrolls only choosing them as part of your character advancement so those must come from PHB or your +1. The same is true for all the other classes that have to choose spells rather than just copy them.
I've goofed a few times myself, often choosing cantrips. I have an Arcana cleric (from SCAG with booming blade) and I picked Toll the Dead as one of my cantrips until I realized it was from Xanathar's and had to change it. I've done that a couple of times with different characters. Another example was taking absorb elements on a sorcerer using a Volo's race. Absorb elements is also XGtE. I just changed them when I noticed them. If you run into someone who has made a similar mistake then perhaps politely point it out. Folks make mistakes all the time and it is often not intentional. Sites like D&D Beyond or other character sheet generators don't rigorously apply the +1 rule and usually just give a list of spells to choose from so it is pretty easy to mix them up.
I have only DMed one AL adventure, and have played -- maybe -- 50-some sessions. So I will clarify my earlier comment and admit that most people aren't trying to cheat. It's an honor system game and I have had a few glitched PC choices. In general 99% of the DDAL community in DC/MD/VA are very nice.
If I play a Fighter (Eldritch Knight), do I have to use the DMG as my +1?
If so... I don't think I'll be playing one in AL.
The fighter class is in the PHB. Eldritch Knight is an archetype of the fighter class that is also in the PHB. So you would still have the option of selecting another source as your +1.
I'll also note that the DMG is NOT a valid choice for a +1. Oathbreaker paladins aren't AL legal for example and neither are specific races if they only appear in the DMG.
I was at the MAGFEST convention this past weekend. I had a blast. Got to play varying tiers and season and met some nice people.
I noticed a few egregious PC choices that broke the PHB + 1 rule.
- One was a female Shadar-Kai Elf (from MToF) whom had 6 levels of Death Cleric (she said the Death domain (from the DMG), not Grave domain twice at the table), as well as 3 levels of Barbarian with the Path of the Zealot (from XGtE). So that's PHB + 3.
- Another one was a male Tabaxi (from VGtM) who was some combination of Mastermind Rogue (from SCAG and VGtM) who knew most of the Bladesong cantrips (from SCAG).
There were other minor examples, but those two in particular I had expected the DM to question them about the choices.
I still loved the whole convention experience, but I really wanted to break the PHB + 1 rules after seeing the Tabaxi in action with Booming Blade. My PC for that session was a Half-Elf Hexblade 9 / Bard 1 (he'll eventually go the College of Whispers route).
EDIT: I also made the point of NOT calling out the players (nor alerting the DM). That'd be a jerk move in my opinion, and they were team players and weren't doing anything to hurt anyone else's fun.
I was at the MAGFEST convention this past weekend. I had a blast. Got to play varying tiers and season and met some nice people.
I noticed a few egregious PC choices that broke the PHB + 1 rule.
- One was a female Shadar-Kai Elf (from MToF) whom had 6 levels of Death Cleric (she said the Death domain (from the DMG), not Grave domain twice at the table), as well as 3 levels of Barbarian with the Path of the Zealot (from XGtE). So that's PHB + 3.
- Another one was a male Tabaxi (from VGtM) who was some combination of Mastermind Rogue (from SCAG and VGtM) who knew most of the Bladesong cantrips (from SCAG).
There were other minor examples, but those two in particular I had expected the DM to question them about the choices.
I still loved the whole convention experience, but I really wanted to break the PHB + 1 rules after seeing the Tabaxi in action with Booming Blade. My PC for that session was a Half-Elf Hexblade 9 / Bard 1 (he'll eventually go the College of Whispers route).
EDIT: I also made the point of NOT calling out the players (nor alerting the DM). That'd be a jerk move in my opinion, and they were team players and weren't doing anything to hurt anyone else's fun.
I.T.
I wouldn't call folks out but I do tend to ask if I don't understand something.
In the case of death cleric for example, there was apparently a cert available several years ago which allowed the player to create a death cleric character.
Extra Life is also a source of a lot of different certificates for specific exceptions to character creation. There was apparently an extra life cert that let you create a shadar kai elf without having to take MtoF as your +1. Another person seems to have picked up certs for both Tabaxi and Swashbucker so that they could build a tabaxi rogue using the SCAG cantrips. Extra Life is a charity but I don't know how they determine what certs it is allowed to provide. From what I have read the Extra Life campaign in the fall of 2019 gave out quite a few certs like this.
Since you are more likely to run into AL players at conventions who are more "dedicated" :), I would guess that most of these builds were AL legal through certs. I usually find the best approach saying something like "Cool character! I'd like to build something similar ... how did you do it?" :) .. at which point they will probably tell you all about the cool certs they picked up by donating to the Extra Life charity :) ... or not :)
3) The reason for the restriction in AL comes from WotC as far as I understand it. The reasoning is that WotC creates source books that are fun and interesting and want to be used but they don't test every possible option for balance considerations. By imposing the +1 rule they still leave a lot of options while limiting the possibilities for players to choose the optimal race from one resource and the optimal class from another.
Reading between the lines a little I'm pretty sure the reason is to make new/low-budget players feel like they're on an even playing field with long-time players that have a huge collection of books. The +1 rule really doesn't do much for balance; it's trivial to put together a relatively OP build using only the Player's Handbook and/or Xanathar's Guide since race choice rarely makes as much of an impact as class features, spells and feats.
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So the rule is in general, PHB+1. In specifics, we're allowed to use the faction agent background without SCAG counting as our +1 because we've got specific permission in the player guide to do so. There's mention that you can use features with specific campaign documentation, so as a hypothetical. If I made an Aasimar warlock for say, Curse of Strahd. Perfectly legal, PHB+1... What if I used Curse of Strahd's background 'Haunted One'? Would that make him an illegal character, with CoS counting as the +1, or would it count as campaign documentation?
Also, why do we still have the PHB+1 rule anywho? I can understand where it's coming from, but for the most part it just feels needlessly restrictive on certain features.
1) Backgrounds are excluded from the +1 rule as far as I know.
"Background. Choose or create a background using the Player’s Handbook or other campaign resources. Additional resources are permitted in the Adventurers League Content Catalogue (ALCC)." ALPG 9.1
"Custom Backgrounds
You can create a custom background for your character by following the rules in the PHB, but you can’t create custom background features." ALFAQ 9.0
You can build custom backgrounds following the PHB rules using the PHB and other campaign resources. You can't make up background features though you have to choose existing ones from the AL approved resources (for example, some of the guild adept adventures include both backgrounds and background features that aren't eligible for AL use as far as I know). Using the haunted one background would not count as your +1.
2) Making an Aasimar warlock in season 9 doesn't define your +1 due to the special rules about Aasimar and Tiefling characters in season 9. In previous seasons, building an Aasimar character would have meant choosing Volo's as your +1.
3) The reason for the restriction in AL comes from WotC as far as I understand it. The reasoning is that WotC creates source books that are fun and interesting and want to be used but they don't test every possible option for balance considerations. By imposing the +1 rule they still leave a lot of options while limiting the possibilities for players to choose the optimal race from one resource and the optimal class from another.
A good example might be the yuan-ti pure blood hexblade warlock. It could work quite well thematically in some ways but the yuan-ti pure blood already has some strong features that synergize extremely well with a hexblade warlock. Is it OP? Probably not, but it is a bit above the power curve for most character options. I am sure there are other combinations that bump the power level when combined. Another good one are the melee cantrips from SCAG. These cantrips can significantly boost some melee builds that typically only have one attack (rogues/clerics etc). Allowing these cantrips with any race combinations from Volo's and any class combinations from XGtE could again open up character options that could be significantly above the average "power" level. Anyway, I can see the reasoning behind the +1 rule and don't find it a big deal even if it does limit some choices.
On the other hand, the +1 rule does limit some thematically appropriate choices like shadar kai elf with hexblade warlock or shadow sorcerer. Elves from the plane of shadow might be expected to choose either or both of these classes but the elf is from MToF and the class archetypes from XGtE.
Thank you very much! The Aasimar is coming to town, though now I wonder what I should use as his +1 book. I know Xanathar's has some -beautiful- spells. Thank you very much, your input is helpful as always.
Wait ..... I can't have a Volo's Guide race and a PHB class/subclass combo ...... and and still use the spells in Xanathar's Guide? Or SCAG for that matter. I feel like I've seen tons of AL players breaking that rule.
I think people are kind of lax with it, to be honest? At least from what I've seen.
A wizard can manage it by purchasing scrolls or copying spells from spellbooks in adventures they play. However, you can't learn cantrips from scrolls only choosing them as part of your character advancement so those must come from PHB or your +1. The same is true for all the other classes that have to choose spells rather than just copy them.
I've goofed a few times myself, often choosing cantrips. I have an Arcana cleric (from SCAG with booming blade) and I picked Toll the Dead as one of my cantrips until I realized it was from Xanathar's and had to change it. I've done that a couple of times with different characters. Another example was taking absorb elements on a sorcerer using a Volo's race. Absorb elements is also XGtE. I just changed them when I noticed them. If you run into someone who has made a similar mistake then perhaps politely point it out. Folks make mistakes all the time and it is often not intentional. Sites like D&D Beyond or other character sheet generators don't rigorously apply the +1 rule and usually just give a list of spells to choose from so it is pretty easy to mix them up.
However, one that will often get noticed is a character using booming blade/green flame blade without SCAG as their +1. You could play a swashbuckler rogue with these spells (since swashbuckler was released in SCAG) or an arcane trickster with SCAG as your +1 but not a Mastermind, Scout or Inquisitive since they are from XGtE.
Anyway, spell choices are one of the easier things to mess up when applying a +1
In the ALPG for season 9, it says that for season 9 you can play an aasimar without Volo's counting as your +1 if you take them up on the winged offer at level 5. I'm playing an aasimar hexblade this season.
I have only DMed one AL adventure, and have played -- maybe -- 50-some sessions. So I will clarify my earlier comment and admit that most people aren't trying to cheat. It's an honor system game and I have had a few glitched PC choices. In general 99% of the DDAL community in DC/MD/VA are very nice.
If I play a Fighter (Eldritch Knight), do I have to use the DMG as my +1?
If so... I don't think I'll be playing one in AL.
The fighter class is in the PHB. Eldritch Knight is an archetype of the fighter class that is also in the PHB. So you would still have the option of selecting another source as your +1.
I'll also note that the DMG is NOT a valid choice for a +1. Oathbreaker paladins aren't AL legal for example and neither are specific races if they only appear in the DMG.
Oh. I thought the Eldritch Knight was in the DMG. I guess I should open my books once in a while. :P
Thanks.
I was at the MAGFEST convention this past weekend. I had a blast. Got to play varying tiers and season and met some nice people.
I noticed a few egregious PC choices that broke the PHB + 1 rule.
- One was a female Shadar-Kai Elf (from MToF) whom had 6 levels of Death Cleric (she said the Death domain (from the DMG), not Grave domain twice at the table), as well as 3 levels of Barbarian with the Path of the Zealot (from XGtE). So that's PHB + 3.
- Another one was a male Tabaxi (from VGtM) who was some combination of Mastermind Rogue (from SCAG and VGtM) who knew most of the Bladesong cantrips (from SCAG).
There were other minor examples, but those two in particular I had expected the DM to question them about the choices.
I still loved the whole convention experience, but I really wanted to break the PHB + 1 rules after seeing the Tabaxi in action with Booming Blade. My PC for that session was a Half-Elf Hexblade 9 / Bard 1 (he'll eventually go the College of Whispers route).
EDIT: I also made the point of NOT calling out the players (nor alerting the DM). That'd be a jerk move in my opinion, and they were team players and weren't doing anything to hurt anyone else's fun.
I.T.
I wouldn't call folks out but I do tend to ask if I don't understand something.
In the case of death cleric for example, there was apparently a cert available several years ago which allowed the player to create a death cleric character.
Extra Life is also a source of a lot of different certificates for specific exceptions to character creation. There was apparently an extra life cert that let you create a shadar kai elf without having to take MtoF as your +1. Another person seems to have picked up certs for both Tabaxi and Swashbucker so that they could build a tabaxi rogue using the SCAG cantrips. Extra Life is a charity but I don't know how they determine what certs it is allowed to provide. From what I have read the Extra Life campaign in the fall of 2019 gave out quite a few certs like this.
Since you are more likely to run into AL players at conventions who are more "dedicated" :), I would guess that most of these builds were AL legal through certs. I usually find the best approach saying something like "Cool character! I'd like to build something similar ... how did you do it?" :) .. at which point they will probably tell you all about the cool certs they picked up by donating to the Extra Life charity :) ... or not :)
Reading between the lines a little I'm pretty sure the reason is to make new/low-budget players feel like they're on an even playing field with long-time players that have a huge collection of books. The +1 rule really doesn't do much for balance; it's trivial to put together a relatively OP build using only the Player's Handbook and/or Xanathar's Guide since race choice rarely makes as much of an impact as class features, spells and feats.
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