is there anything I can/should know? I've played a number of home brewed 5e games.
I will be starting at 5th level, which sounds great to me. Any suggestions on what to avoid or what to shoot for in AL games as opposed to a home brewed game?
thanks.
Read the AL player's guide if you haven't already. Follow the rules for character creation outlined there. FYI, you're only supposed to start at level 1. I'm guessing the DM is letting you create a level 5 character so you can participate in, and survive, t2 adventures. This isn't AL legal, and the other players might have a problem with this.
The DM is also somewhat limited in how far off the rails you can go, so it's usually best not to let yourself get too sidetracked from your main mission. Otherwise, it's pretty similar to most homegames.
Are there any AL rules about playing someone elses PC?
IOW could I let my friend play my PC in a game? Does it matter if I will also be playing in the same game. (A different PC of course...)
As characters are linked to your DCI number - by a strict ruling, you cannot share characters. Many would consider running two of your characters at the same table cheating for several reasons:
- You are gaining XP, renown, and treasure with two of your characters simultaneously. Other players have to run the adventure on two separate nights to gain the same advantage.
- You have double the chances of getting a sought-after magic item (assuming all else is equal).
The latter reason alone makes me extremely hesitant to allow this, especially if certs are involved.
AL is pretty fun.
You shouldnt be playing 5th level though. That pretty much craps on every other player there that took about 20+ sessions to get to lv 5.
Things to be aware of...
if its like our FLGS, it will be loud. That was the hardest thing for me to get used to. Also the relative low magic nature of the organized campaigns compared to home games.
Other than that, try to be patient with the actual newbies. Many are likely to cycle in and out, and we all want more people to play DnD 
Weird, I view AL as being relatively high magic compared to my home game.
Kalani wrote:
Yes on paper. You write your DCI number on your adventure log. By rights, a DM is well within their power to say only the player whose DCI number matches the one on the log can play said character.
This is especially true if said player is also playing another character at the same table. Many players could rightfully complain that the player is using their friend in order to double their chances of getting magic items.
I can see those being valid concerns. I only thought of it as a possible way that the OP was 'starting' with a 5th level character. Got me thinking....