When to take DM Rewards (mainly magic items)

[Dalebert]

Obviously a question for other AL players.

The sooner you assign a reward, the longer you can use and benefit from it.
The later you assign it, the more rare it can be and thus generally better.
If you wait, you might need it and not have it and it might help you out of a rough spot.
However, if you wait, your magic item count remains lower in case something drops you want and you aren't demoted on the list of people who can claim it.

When do you it? Am I over-thinking it? Prolly.

[rooneg]

Obviously a question for other AL players.

The sooner you assign a reward, the longer you can use and benefit from it.
The later you assign it, the more rare it can be and thus generally better.
If you wait, you might need it and not have it and it might help you out of a rough spot.
However, if you wait, your magic item count remains lower in case something drops you want and you aren't demoted on the list of people who can claim it.

When do you it? Am I over-thinking it? Prolly.

Strangely, I have also over thought this ;-)

For XP or gold or downtime, you should wait until it will have an impact. Will this push you to the next level, buy you something sweet or let you burn downtime on something? If not, don't do it.

For Magic Items you need to consider three things: 1) Will this keep me from getting something nice at the table because I have too many items. 2) Will I potentially find something better/equivalent and avoid having to burn the reward and saddle the PC with an untradable item. 3) How much benefit will I get immediately from this item?

For example, my newest PC is an Eldritch Knight that started at level 5 due to DM rewards. I'm eventually going to give him a Headband of Intellect via Dedicated DM so he can turn his 13 INT (it's only that high due to multiclassing concerns) into a 19 INT, but I'm holding off for the first few adventures he's in because I'd like to get him a couple of rare items (some to use, some to trade to Fai Chen for a weapon and/or shield) and it's easier to do that if I have few items myself. I'll probably give him his headband once I've picked up my second or third item (i.e. sometime part way through TotalCon) and from then on stop min/maxing my magic items and play it straight.

On the other hand, for the same PC I had originally intended to use my "Great Upheaval DM" reward to give him a magic weapon, but I ended up deciding I'd rather wait for a +2 from Fai Chen than saddle him with a +1 he can never trade. Instead I'll stick the +1 on some PC that is less into combat, so they'll have a good backup weapon they can use forever.

[Dalebert]

Oops! I totally was referring to magic item rewards specifically. My bad. Will edit.

I agree about the other rewards though. I actually don't like to rush my character through the levels too fast because you miss out on games you can play. It effectively shortens his career. I tend to save them for when I'm really close to leveling but fall just short. And I'm more reluctant to use them when it will actually advance me a tier. I tend to prefer to get one last game out of that tier rather than skipping ahead and being banned from that tier of adventures.

[rooneg]

Oops! I totally was referring to magic item rewards specifically. My bad. Will edit.

I agree about the other rewards though. I actually don't like to rush my character through the levels too fast because you miss out on games you can play. It effectively shortens his career. I tend to save them for when I'm really close to leveling but fall just short. And I'm more reluctant to use them when it will actually advance me a tier. I tend to prefer to get one last game out of that tier rather than skipping ahead and being banned from that tier of adventures.

Yeah, I have two Tier 1 PCs that are on the verge of leveling out. I'm making a third one now (probably starting her at level 3 this time, because level 1 and 2 are for chumps, but I want to have a Tier 1 around for a while) so I'll have an extra lying around if the other two level out of Tier 1 part way through TotalCon. The numbers are close enough that it could definitely happen accidentally.

[Dalebert]

I always skip level one with rewards and often level 2 as well depending on the character. Often multiclassed characters feel subpar and incomplete until at least 3; maybe 4. I jumped my bard sorcerer to 4 right away because sorcerer without metamagic? Pfft! They're trivial amounts of xp so they don't shorten your career noticeably. Instead you get to spend nearly the same number of games in tier 1 competent instead of constantly fearing for your life.

[rooneg]

Also, for what it's worth, I think the "controlling total magic item count because i might miss out on something cool" aspect of this is overblown. Presumably you're not burning Dedicated DM (or Epic DM) rewards for something you don't actually want, right? It's one thing when you're starting a PC from scratch and want to get them a core set of items so they can play with the big boys. It's another when you've played this character through the various levels and have naturally accumulated a bunch of items. At that point any issues you get with magic item count are deserved, and since the item you're adding via DM rewards is cool enough that you're always going to want it anyway going from item 4 to item 5 in order to have access to the new hotness seems like a small price to pay.

[Dalebert]

Also, for what it's worth, I think the "controlling total magic item count because i might miss out on something cool" aspect of this is overblown.

I probably am over-thinking it a little. For the most part, I'm picking fairly ideal items for the characters so I don't need to get drops as much and that balances out. There's a certain strategy though. Something really ideal could drop, perhaps something I'm not eligible to assign, and I might have hedged myself out by already having items. Some people pointedly avoid assigning anything until later when the really good items drop in the rare and very rare categories specifically so they can get the ideal drop when it happens. It's just a choice of "Do I want several more minor items or one or two really good ones?" Both choices are valid. It probably depends on the character.

With my druid, he's already gotten Winged Boots as a drop and they're excellent for a primarily casting focused druid--flight without concentration, probably the best uncommon magic item in AL. I was planning to assign Red Dragon Scale Mail +1 to him and a Belt of Dwarvenkind. He's water genasi so he doesn't have darkvision and the other perks are really nice also. So he'll be pretty well fleshed out. If I never get another drop, that's fine. I'll probably assign both of those as soon as he's tier 2 and eligible.

But I don't feel guilty at all if I choose to hold out for a drop first. I've earned those DM Rewards. I see no reason why they should necessarily impede me from getting drops when I'm playing. I tend to be very reasonable about such things, turning down an item I'd like if it's just much more appropriate for another character, for instance.

[rooneg]

I probably am over-thinking it a little. For the most part, I'm picking fairly ideal items for the characters so I don't need to get drops as much and that balances out. There's a certain strategy though. Something really ideal could drop, perhaps something I'm not eligible to assign, and I might have hedged myself out by already having items. Some people pointedly avoid assigning anything until later when the really good items drop in the rare and very rare categories specifically so they can get the ideal drop when it happens. It's just a choice of "Do I want several more minor items or one or two really good ones?" Both choices are valid. It probably depends on the character.

Yeah, I think it's fair to avoid assigning items until you've played a little of Tier 2, so you can have a better shot at actually getting rare items, but mostly it'll depend on the item count you've already got. If you're sitting on a pile of uncommon items from tier one adding one more rare once you hit Tier 2 isn't going to make a big difference, you're already probably not getting those rares unless the table is nice to you.


With my druid, he's already gotten Winged Boots as a drop and they're excellent for a primarily casting focused druid--flight without concentration, probably the best uncommon magic item in AL. I was planning to assign Red Dragon Scale Mail +1 to him and a Belt of Dwarvenkind. He's water genasi so he doesn't have darkvision and the other perks are really nice also. So he'll be pretty well fleshed out. If I never get another drop, that's fine. I'll probably assign both of those as soon as he's tier 2 and eligible.

Umm, I don't think you can assign that Red Dragon Scale Mail to a Tier 2 PC, it's a Very Rare item, needs to be Tier 3 for that.


But I don't feel guilty at all if I choose to hold out for a drop first. I've earned those DM Rewards. I see no reason why they should necessarily impede me from getting drops when I'm playing. I tend to be very reasonable about such things, turning down an item I'd like if it's just much more appropriate for another character, for instance.

Oh, I never feel guilty about this stuff. It's all part of the game, and the DM rewards are there for a reason.

[Dalebert]

Umm, I don't think you can assign that Red Dragon Scale Mail to a Tier 2 PC, it's a Very Rare item, needs to be Tier 3 for that.

WTF? It dropped in a tier 2 so I just assumed it was rare! Ugh. It's gonna be forever before I can assign it to my druid.

[rooneg]

WTF? It dropped in a tier 2 so I just assumed it was rare! Ugh. It's gonna be forever before I can assign it to my druid.

Yeah, I almost did the same thing with my Wizard/Cleric. It's not obvious. Amusingly, the Tier 1 magic item in that Epic is also not tier appropriate, so if you wanted to assign it via Epic DM you can't give it to a Tier 1 character. Let's hope the loot from this season's second epic is better suited for DM rewards ;-)

[Dalebert]

It kinda makes sense. It's an epic so the rewards are better than for a regular game. What doesn't make sense to me is that they don't make an exception to the usual "tier appropriate" rules. But it's not something I'm gonna die on a cross to change.

[rooneg]

It kinda makes sense. It's an epic so the rewards are better than for a regular game. What doesn't make sense to me is that they don't make an exception to the usual "tier appropriate" rules. But it's not something I'm gonna die on a cross to change.

You can make a reasonable argument that the rules should be centered around the tier the item was awarded in, as opposed to the rarity of the item, but hey, for now it is what it is.