Adventure league info

[Chewychunga]

ive read a bunch of times that AL stops around lvl 16. why?
i also saw that theres different storys or something people have depending on when they made there char?
is there any other things someone new to the game might want to know about AL?
and does online games count as AL? or whats needed for it to count as AL?
and finally what are some problems with AL?

[CaptainSarathai]

It kind of depends. I might not be understanding your question.

99.9% of what you'll find with AL is going to be run in a brick-and-mortar store. The store will record what adventure or encounter you participated in, and any magic items gained, which helps keep players honest. If you show up with an 8th level character rocking 4 magic items, the organizers at that store will need to see some ID.

The idea is that you build a Lvl1 character and show up at a store. During League seasons, there will be the main adventure (right now it's Strahd, I believe) and also any past adventures that have been run. So if the main adventure is being run at Level4 and you're bringing a Level1 character, the theory is that they'll find someone running a Level1 table for you to play at.

You are allowed to run an adventure 1 time per character, which is why they record it.

It peters out around 16th level because a lot of the adventures only go that high, and the timeframe means that you're going into a new season around there anyway.

Different seasons allow different character rules. Sometimes SCAG material is allowed. Other times not. Certain Backgrounds or options tied to the current adventure are also allowed. I've never tried running a past character in a current season, so I don't know if those rules apply to all characters, or just characters created during the current season.
All characters are only allowed to use Arrays or Point-buy, no rolling your stats. UA is also not allowed.

To count towards AL, you need to be playing a store that records AL results. The advantage is that you don't have to play at the same store every week.

The downside is that AL is great on paper and tough in practice. It's run weekly, and there's usually only 1 DM, and usually only 1 store in your area anyway.
If you miss a week, you fall behind. You fall behind or start late, you probably won't find a lower level table, so you're out.

Really, my experience with AL has usually been that the store just sponsors a weekly gaming group. They play AL, but it wouldn't be any different than playing a homebrew with the same group. The group is the same people every week. The idea of a "jump in, jump out" format seems cool, until you get out in the world and realize that there's only one group for AL that fits your schedule and is in your region, and that they only run the single table. It's best use is finding new people to invite to a home campaign.

[Chewychunga]

ahh ok thanks for all the info..
i didnt know it was brick and mortar store only i was thinking that anyone could run the games as long as all the rules were followed,
i also thought it was the players who each recoreded the items but needed some type proof that they had actually gotten the items
ya i looked up the stores in my area.. closest one playing is 30 miles from me.. not going to drive that far once a week
was really hoping i would be able to setup or play on a legal AL online game
would really open up the options and playtimes for everyone i believe
sites like roll20 are great for it

[Aembrosia]

I will echo a lot of what Captain Sarathai had to share; with my own additional tidbits.

I have been playing under the AL format for a year now, I am currently DMing the current season's hardcover book, Storm King's Thunder, in a brick and mortar store.

Yes, AL stops at level 16, unfortunately. We havent written very many modules for t4(levels 17-20) there are a few author only games that you could theoretically play at a convention. We were happy to hear recently that a t4 module will be released for the current season for public play sometime in the next four or five months maybe sooner.

So the internal content for t4 either has not been written or has not been approved for circulation yet - this, however, has not stopped some from weaseling their way into AL legal t4 nonetheless. Between the Wizards of the Coast hardcover adventures: Out of The Abyss and the new Storm King's Thunder we can push into some albeit limited t4 content. Spoilers.

You seem to be mentioning story origins, that has largely been abolished to this date but a remnant of it lingers on. They have put a limit on the number of supplemental books you can use in addition to the players handbook, that number is 1; and there are 2 available resources to pick from. This is to prevent power creep. I personally feel that this decision and reasoning is pants on head crazy dumb.

Someone new to DND particularly fifth edition should be told that the game mechanics are trying to be fast. Someone new to AL should be told that the adventures favor characters tailor made to kill things dead in a munchkin-like fashion. You should be told that it wants to be a drop in anywhere find a game kind of organization but it is not. If/when you find a store near you expect the game to be played on a wednesday at 7pm, it doesnt have to be, but it probably is. Ask the store when they play. Dont be surprised if the person behind the counter doesnt know. Come in on that day and ask the people with dnd books if they are playing AL and if they have any room tonight in tier 1. Odds are 99.99% they will say no, we have 6 or 7 players and we're in tier 2. Ask them for guidance on where you should be looking they should tell you facebook.

You are really lucky if you find a group. If you find a group never leave it. So you can join us as part of the problem.

Yes! you can play AL legal games online many do so using Fantasy Grounds or Roll20 but you dont have to use those. You could just skype call in a group or something. The important parts that make it legal are all of the players having DCI numbers playing characters that have only played games published by Adventurers League, Hardcovers released by wizards of the coast with fifth edition (which is 6 books), or AL approved modules written by baldman games. Anything on the "Adventurer's League" tab if you open up w w w dot dmsguild dot com.

There are not enough DM's waiting in the wings for 1 new person to show up on a random night to invite that person into the fold.

There are not enough players willing to interupt the campaign they were playing to reroll characters and start over with the random person that walked in that night looking to start a new hobby.

Humans are selfish and flawed in many other ways.

The staff responsible for creating the rules around balance, fairness, and honesty often make choices that hinder people that were going to play honest anyway and do nothing to prevent people that were going to cheat; which was the goal i dont know if I made that clear. Its actually really easy to cheat.

The wide variety of rules that have been made for AL are scattered all over the place its super hard to find and obey all of them. A rule that is clear to you might not be clear to someone else and you can get in an argument about it on facebook until an admin comes and closes the thread without clarifying the subject. You can still find old rules that no longer apply.

Okay. Im done complaining. Thanks for initiating the vent.

I have highlighted the most relevant information to you.

[Chewychunga]

lol thanks for the laugh... that reminds me of a number of games that ive played over the years
few questions
what are DCI numbers and how do i get one?
currently only 1 extra book is allowed (plus phb) does this go for char creation? or entire game? was thinking wizard learing spells from multiple books
and talking about rules all over the place... ya WOW.. reason i made this thread
Thanks for everything tho :)

[Aembrosia]

A DCI number is really easy to get. Head on over to https://accounts dot wizards dot com/
click create account enter some true or BS information dealers choice they'll make you an account and it will be given a DCI number. Voila. You're ready to go.

The extra 'books' are sword coast and elemental evil. If you pick elemental evil you can be the Goliath race. If you pick sword coast you can have the Purple Dragon Knight fighter class archetype. You can never be a Goliath fighter Purple Dragon Knight because you only get to have one of those books. Presumably shortly after Volo's Guide to Monsters is released you could be a firbolg that is not allowed to be an arcane cleric because its from sword coast.

Part two of question two: "or entire game" in reference to wizard. If you are a sword coast + phb wizard you can not choose to learn elemental evil spells as you level up, but you can find spellbooks or scrolls that contain those spells and then copy them down with normal copying spells rules.

[Grubble]

Allow me to offer up a different, not so doom and gloom, experience.

At our store, we will see anywhere from 1-5 new people each week show up. We are currently running ~6 tables of various level ranges, which has maxed our space. We're also going to start running a second night a week to try to accommodate more players. Not every place is a one table close knit group as the previous poster made it sound.

[Aembrosia]

DOOM! DOOOOM I SAY!

That's pretty great. I live in one of the top twenty most populated cities in the united states. The best I've seen is 3 tables a night. I don't intend to imply anything. Just sharing. I'm not being sarcastic at all.

[Arkhios]

To be entirely honest, WOTC should learn from example: Pathfinder Society runs waaaaay more smoothly, has more scenarios to run, and is whole lot less restrictive when it comes to character creation.

If WOTC wanted for AL to skyrocket in popularity, they should follow Paizo's footsteps and cease from that ridiculous attempt of making AL some kind of sports event that only amasses at big conventions.

Allowing home games being official and providing an official database for adventure records to be reported by DM's and accessible by players would be a huge improvement.

Here in Finland, at conventions AL hosts probably 4 tables at most, while Pathfinder Society hosts easily 20 and the biggest annual convention hosts about 30.000 visitors for a weekend. That's like fly's feces compared to "bellybutton of the world" a.k.a. United States, but in comparison those numbers speak for themselves.

[Dalebert]

I play AL games in NH and we have a pretty good experience overall. We're growing and getting increasingly organized. We work pretty hard to be accommodating to new people because we want to make a good impression and for them to have fun. More people means more games and more options for everyone.

[CaptAl]

My current AL game is played in a store with 7 tables on Wednesday night and 2 on Monday night. Every table is full and there's a waiting list of new people looking for a game. I live between Cincinnati and Dayton Ohio, but only live about 5 miles from my FLGS. I got lucky.

It's usually easiest to get in on a table when a new season starts. Storm Kings Thunder started a little over a month ago, so you'd be starting behind if you started now.

AL is pretty newb friendly. But it also seems to usually play out as a loot grab/murder hobo game. Not a ton of role playing, lots of push on to the next fight.

There's good and bad, but it may be possible to find a few like minded people to get your own homebrew game started with people you meet there.

[Chewychunga]

ok so ive got the dci number and a char that im wanting to build what else do i need to get started?
and how can you verify all the chars in a group are legal other than checking every stat and spell? or this up to honesty
is there any tutorials or anything? or a check list of needed items??
I plan on playing a few games on Roll20 if that matters

[CaptainSarathai]

ok so ive got the dci number and a char that im wanting to build what else do i need to get started?
and how can you verify all the chars in a group are legal other than checking every stat and spell? or this up to honesty
is there any tutorials or anything? or a check list of needed items??
I plan on playing a few games on Roll20 if that matters

It's on honesty, iirc. The DM can ask to look at your sheet though, and players will also keep you honest (I have seen someone running a Goliath with SCAG cantrips and called them out).
Out of curiosity, how much D&D have you played?
You're gonna need all the stuff you'd normally need for a game. Dice or Roll20, PHB, CharSheet, the usual...

Just remember that pre-gens like AL are not a place for character development. It's kind of annoying, but you really are building a one-dimensional murder-hobo kill-bot character. On the bright side, I usually take that as an opportunity to go buck-wild and break the game as best I know how. Better to smash it open when it's *not* the DM's own pride and joy, and when nobody else can really expect to "quietly talk things over for RP purposes."
AL does seem kinda "hardcore" - the fights and e counters are made to kill ya dead, which sucks because dead character = restart at L1

[Gastronomie]

I've played in AL and I decided it wasn't my thing. Too modular, too generic, and also too murder-hobo, like Sarathai already mentioned.

TBH I think joining games hosted on the internet is better.