Half-Orc bladesinger in AL?

[NecroDancer]

I was looking at the bladesinger school and I thought it seemed really cool however I'm not a big fan of elves/half-elves. I was wondering if a half-orc bladesinger would be allowed in the Adventure League because SCAG says the DM could be allowed to lift the restriction. As for the fluff the reasons behind a half-orc bladesinger are as follows.

Mackenzie (the half-orc bladesinger) was always surrounded by books, his parents both met at Candlekeep and aspired to raise him with the same passion for learning. While reading texts one night he came upon the mention of bladesinging, Mackenzie, spurred by curiosity, spent almost all his funds to travel to Myth Drannor to continue researching bladesinging.

Mackenzie soon learned that the art of bladesinging was kept a secret to non-elves and after 5 ten-days of unsuccessful attempts to learn more about it he was prepared to leave empty handed. However he was contacted by a bladesinger who worked for the Zhentarim and offered to teach him in exchange for a few favors. Mackenzie readily agreed as he naively saw the Zhentarim as another merchant company (as powerful one but still just merchants).

Now Mackenzie, an apprentice bladesinger, travels the lands looking for knowledge of the Zhentarim to figure out just what he got himself into. Even though Mackenzie regrets his agreement with the Zhentarim he knows he would do it again if he had the chance and is becoming increasingly interested with the knowledge the Zhentarim has hidden away.

[jaappleton]

I don't think it'd be allowed in AL. I've never played AL, but from what I've heard, they're sticklers about that stuff.

[suplee215]

Sadly, I believe the "if your DM allows it" rules are only for "home games". AL follows strict guidelines for the Forgotten Realms.

[RickAllison]

JUst checked the AL website, and the race restriction is secure for both Bladesinger and Battlerager.

[MeeposFire]

Sadly for you FR is one of the settings where the racial restriction is actually enforceable. The sidebar talks specifically that the racial restriction is based on FR and it would be OK to allow other races in other settings but since this game would take place in FR it kind of leaves you high and dry without DM intervention which in AL is probably not supposed to happen in this case.

[Naanomi]

I bet there is a cert out there to allow it, but not as a standard option

[Zman]

I don't think that'll work for AL, but I might suggest Half Orc Abjurer, with a One level Fighter dip at 1st level.

Con profiency, wear heavy armor, take Defense, and Sword and Board with eventually 21 AC, attack with greenflame Blade, and you're a full caster. Pick up Warcaster asap at 5th and enjoy.

Abjurer with its shield has effectively just as much HP as a Fighter does.

[DracoKnight]

I don't think that'll work for AL, but I might suggest Half Orc Abjurer, with a One level Fighter dip at 1st level.

Con profiency, wear heavy armor, take Defense, and Sword and Board with eventually 21 AC, attack with greenflame Blade, and you're a full caster. Pick up Warcaster asap at 5th and enjoy.

Abjurer with its shield has effectively just as much HP as a Fighter does.

I played basically this build, except I went Eldritch Knight 7 before swapping into Wizard. I kicked all sorts of @$$ :smallbiggrin:

[rooneg]

I bet there is a cert out there to allow it, but not as a standard option

I'm pretty sure there is no such cert. They typically do things like allow access to stuff that's in the fluff for the realms but not allowed due to it being in an illegal source (i.e. Death Domain Clerics, or Aasimar before Volo's Guide was a thing) or due to other AL rules disallowing it (i.e. Aarokocra). They don't typically allow you to do things that go against the fluff of the realms (like non-elf Bladesingers).

[NecroDancer]

Darn, I understand why the restriction is there but I feel like it's crazy that only elfs can bladesing in FR I mean there has to be a group of non-elves that have learned how to bladesing.

[rooneg]

Darn, I understand why the restriction is there but I feel like it's crazy that only elfs can bladesing in FR I mean there has to be a group of non-elves that have learned how to bladesing.

I'm not saying I've got an encyclopedic knowledge of realms lore, but from what I remember elves in the realms would consider teaching bladesong to a half elf to be controversial. Teaching a non-elf would be pretty much out of the question. Bladesingers in the realms are really wrapped up in this whole "the very epitome of what it means to be an elf" sort of thing, it was part of why the 2e kit was so incredibly busted, you were assumed to be balancing it by requiring them to have paladinesque sort of role playing requirements (i.e. "I must drop everything and go rescue that elf in peril/retrieve that lost elvish artifact/fight those drow/etc").

[RickAllison]

Darn, I understand why the restriction is there but I feel like it's crazy that only elfs can bladesing in FR I mean there has to be a group of non-elves that have learned how to bladesing.

So I looked into the fluff a little more, and it does make sense with the setting. Apparently the Bladesong was not just created by the elves, but they consider it an extension and representation of the elvish race. They refuse to have any general teaching of the Bladesong, keeping it as taught from a master to a single Apprentice at a time. While there are likely non-elf bladesingers (most probably starting from humans taught by half-elves), the nature of it as an extension and culmination of what it means to be an elf (combining martial prowess, art, music, and magic) means that anyone seen to be "defiling" it would be hunted down.

So if I want to play a non-elf Bladesinger in the ForgottenRealms, I would use a flaw that I am hunted as an abomination by the general organization!

Edit: Shadow Monk'd

[D.U.P.A.]

Maybe if the other half of the orc is elf (if such thing is even possible), but I doubt elves would allow to teach bladesinging to anything orcish. Elvish genasi would probably have more chance.

[RickAllison]

Maybe if the other half of the orc is elf (if such thing is even possible), but I doubt elves would allow to teach bladesinging to anything orcish. Elvish genasi would probably have more chance.

I could see a rather tragic backstory leading up to a half-orc backstory. The orcs capture a half-elf Bladesinger, someone who isn't quite as steel-hearted as the old masters, and want to learn everything they can. Since none of them are smart enough to be wizards (well, a few but that -2 to Int does not bode well for them), they send out a child from one of their raids in the human lands (so half-orc) to learn as they torture the captive. The half-elf doesn't just teach the half-orc the Bladesong, however, but elvish culture and teachings. When the child is older and has seemed to learn the Bladesong, the war-chief comes to him and says that his final test is to destroy his teacher. So the half-orc tries to break the half-elf out, but the teacher gives his life to protect his apprentice, imploring him to pay their bond forward.

The half-orc goes out into the world, an advocate for orc-elf relations and holding strictly to elvish teachings about the Bladesong. His journey as a party member is to find someone to teach, someone worthy to learn the forbidden practice.

[Naanomi]

Maybe if the other half of the orc is elf (if such thing is even possible), but I doubt elves would allow to teach bladesinging to anything orcish. Elvish genasi would probably have more chance.
In classic DnD cosmology, there are no elf/orc hybrids. Even if the fantasy-genetics would allow it, their Gods would not

[Biggstick]

Build a High Elf Bladesinger.

Make it to tier 2.

Die during the session.

Have a level 9 Druid cast Reincarnate on you.

Pray for a lucky roll (57-60!!).

[tsuyoshikentsu]

Or just, y'know, commit suicide over and over until you get that lucky roll. Lord knows you have the gold for it in AL.