I didn't notice any changes to the AL program. The Mulmaster locale does look pretty cool.
caecafortuna wrote:
The options for starting equipment are different. Tyranny of Dragons allowed buying everything with maximum gold; this one seems to be packages only.
I haven't found anything online about the "Elemental Evil Player's Companion" which is mentioned in this guide.
Didn't see anything in downtime for spell copying. That has been a major point of discussion.
TheBreen wrote:
Of interesting note - the DM rewards have changed:
Home Game Rewards. A DM running home play (the for-sale published adventures, including Lost Mine of Phandelver) receives a DM reward after each episode he or she runs for a group. The DM receives 300 XP and 150 gp times the tier of play.......
D&D Expeditions and D&D Epics Rewards. A DM running D&D Expeditions or D&D Epics play receives a DM reward after each adventure he or she runs for a group. A double-length adventure typically 6–8 hours long) earns double this reward. The DM receives 200 XP and 100 gp times the tier of play.....
Hmm.... Can't say I am happy with this particular change, as I have many players at my FLGs who play the same character on Tuesday (Expeditions) and Wednsday (Encounters/Casual Play), bouncing between them as needed. Our Expeditions also take 2 sessions (2 weeks) to complete as they are in the same 2 1/2hr time slot.
We do not recommend returning with the same character to play Princes of the Apocalypse or Lost Mine of Phandelver after you’ve exited from one of those adventures. If you do so, you must enter the adventure again at the beginning of a chapter.
Barimen wrote:
According to the AL admins, it is slated to be released tomorrow.
caecafortuna wrote:
Kalani wrote:
Kalani wrote:
I suppose it's possible that min-maxers might want to start with the ToD story origin to get the most out of their starting gear, if EE and later seasons require that starting characters take packages based on class/background packages.
Look! We've found a possible reason for making a ToD character!
Coredump00 wrote:
OP didn't include a link. Here it is:
http://media.wizards.com/2015/downloads/dnd/DDALPG_EEv1.pdf
RCanine wrote:
To the Admins:
Thank you so much for allowing streaming online play to count as public play!
Oraibi wrote:
Coredump00 wrote:
The Elemental Evil player's guide is out on DriveThru RPG.
For those concerned about how this guide would grant EE characters a major advantage over ToD characters - such is not the case. The guide includes 4 new races/subraces, one racial feat (deep gnome), and a moderate number of new spells.
New Races
- Aaracockra (banned in AL)
- Deep Gnome (subrace)
- Genasi
- Goliath
Of the new (AL-legal) races, none are overtly powerful. I am fond of the Air Genasi, and Goliath myself.
In respect to the aaracockra - flight as a starting character is interesting. I can understand their reasons for banning this race in OP for that reason alone (as it could disrupt adventures, and would result in a lack of race diversity).
It has been a long time since PCs could make a flying character at L1. IIRC, the 2E Avariel elf was the last time this occured and that was in the 80s-90s (I forget when it was released). Sure, we have had other winged races at L1, but none of them had a true flight speed until much later (eg. Dragonwrought Kobold, Winged Template, etc).
I imagine I will be seeing lots of Maximilian’s Earthen Grasp.
caecafortuna wrote:
New Spells
Here are my favorite spells from the EE story origin. I am only going to list my favorites from spell levels 1-4, as these will be the only spells we will see for the first half of the season.
- Absorb Elements (1st): This is essentially the shield spell for energy damage. Extremely good when facing multiple dice of damage such as from a fireball or dragon breath.
- Aganazzar's Scorcher (2nd): Burning Hands cast as a 30ft line of fire (deals 3d8 vs. 3d6 damage). I prefer scorching ray myself.
- Catapult (1st): This is a fun spell, although 3d8 bludgeoning damage vs. a single target is meh. The good thing about this spell though is that it can be fired from unexpected trajectories
- Create Bonfire/Control Flame (Cantrip): These two cantrips could be used in tandem as a utility walling effect.
- Dust Devil (2nd): A weaker flaming sphere, that deals bludgeoning damage and has an added push effect. Best used as a utility spell (thanks to the obscurement/push).
- Earthbind (2nd): Situational, but exceedingly useful against flying targets. Good contingency spell.
- Earth Tremor (1st): AoE prone effect. Useful if you have a grappler.
- Elemental Bane (4th): Very potent. Grants 2d6 vulnerability to the target and removes their resistance to a single element.... Comparable to the Elemental Adept feat.
- Frostbite (Cantrip): Disadvantage is good. One of the better save cantrips.
- Gust (cantrip): Shove as a STR save instead of an opposed check. It has its uses
- Ice Knife (1st): So few non-fire spells at low levels. AoE cold is good.
- Magic Stone (cantrip): Reliable magic weapon damage at 1st level. Cast as a bonus action. Respectable damage. Sky blue or gold. Bring a sling. Druid/Warlock only (as if these classes weren't already poached for cantrips).
- Maximillians Earthen Grasp (2nd): Points for visceral imagery. Decent reusable restrain effect, damage on casting and as an action.
- Melf's Minute Meteors (2nd): Superior to scorching ray in overall damage and good duration. Scorching ray is superior in single-turn damage however. Bonus action damage is rare for wizards.
- Skywrite (2nd, ritual): Long distance utility spell.
- Snilloc's Snowball Swarm (2nd): Small radius cold AoE (mini fireball)
- Storm Sphere (4th): Points for visceral imagery. Ranged attack lightning bolts with good duration.
- Thunderclap (cantrip): Burst damage as a cantrip. Extremely loud. If you are surrounded though, you should be using your action to escape.
- Vitrilolic Sphere (4th): I have always loved this spell. Large radius acid AoE.
- Wall of Water (3rd): Interesting utility spell. More useful if you cast cold spells (or have the frostbite cantrip).
Barimen wrote:
@Skerrit: You may not be aware of this, but there was an ommission in the Tyranny of dragons storyline appendix.... It no longer lists Hoard of the Dragon Queen (Appendix A) as an option
I suspect this was not an omission, but a deliberate choice, but we'll see.
--
Pauper
CoreyartustheSecond wrote:
My own quick rundown of changes, most of which have already been noted:
- The Monster Manual is now listed as an allowed rules source; this allows rangers to use the beasts in that book for their animal companions and druids to use those same beasts as wild shape options. Note that the existence of the MM as an explicit rules source means that other monster sources not listed are implicitly not allowed.
- All characters choose the class/background packages for their starting equipment rather than rolling or receiving max wealth.
- Unlike Phlan, where only one temple exists, Mulmaster has multiple temples (Bane, Loviatar, Tempus, Mystra, Tymora, and possibly Waukeen). Note that a number of these deities are evil. Also note that a Tyranny of Dragons character who is an Acolyte of one of these deities can use her Acolyte feature in that temple.
- Faction-specific downtime activities are included. Note that these downtime activities are tied to the city of Mulmaster, so may not be applicable if your group is still playing Tyranny of Dragons adventures set in or around Phlan. Note that the Tyranny of Dragons appendix also mentions this, in that ToD adventures do not have faction benefits for rank 3 faction members.
- DMs do now receive gold in addition to XP and downtime as part of their DM reward for running sessions. (Does this mean that DDEX 1-2 and DDEX 1-3 should still give 300 XP plus 100 gp, or should they now be 'reset' to conform with the other Season 1 modules at 200XP+100gp per tier?)
- Online streaming play is considered public play as long as the stream is publically accessible through a website or application. So a group doing a private online game via a virtual tabletop would not necessarily get the benefit of being considered public play, unless they have a way for 'the public' to discover and join their game.
- The Tyranny of Dragons storyline season appendix does not list Appendix A of Horde of the Dragon Queen as an allowed rules source. This may be deliberate.
Not a lot of changes, all told.
Kalani wrote:
Thanks for the clarification.
Barimen wrote:
Oraibi wrote:
A Fighter with certain backgrounds who takes a specific set of items can still sell a light crossbow and chainmail armor for a total of 50gp, which will buy a set of scale mail armor and the background can still provide 10gp (or more) which will buy a shield. So, 18 AC out the gate for DEX fighters without using heavy armor. 
(Not sure if there is a real benefit here, unless you are a human (variant) with the medium armor master feat....)
Pauper wrote:
So where could I find the elemental evil adventure itself should I wish to run it at home and not through AL? Can I purchase the module at my local store?
Yes, its for sale at your FLGS
Skerrit wrote:
Skerrit wrote:
Skerrit wrote:
It should also be noted that the DMG is still not an official rules source for AL, in either storyline season. It continues to be listed an an optional resource for DMs.
--
Pauper
The Character Advancement section still notes that a character can go up a level "at the end of a long rest or at the end of a session."
Will note that the rule just below it under Leveling and Tiers of Play ("You can level your character after completing a long rest, or at the end of an episode or adventure.") is the rule to use.
--
Pauper
Skerrit wrote:
Coredump00 wrote:
It's a good thing we got the player's guide now, so that we have time for HQ to correct any/all errors before the next season starts.
Am I the only one who is grateful we are going over the new guide with a fine tooth comb, if only for this very reason?
@Skerrit: Seeing as you are passing things up the chain anyway, would you mind asking if they could make a note about season 1 characters being allowed to purchase starting gear.
That omission makes me worry that newer DMs may remove gear/treasure from season 1 characters, not realizing that the S1 player's guide allowed PCs to purchase starting gear using maximum wealth for their class.
I have no problem with S2+ Tyranny characters being limited to starting gear, but there should be a mention that starting wealth options were legal in S1.
Kalani wrote:
That works. It just needs to be mentioned somewhere. Especially if similar (small) changes are made in S3 or S4.
The last thing we want is DMs to unwittingly remove legal features from a character and cause bad blood as a result. It would not only undermine the premise of the OP environment, but it would reflect badly on the DM, FLGS, and Wizards themselves.
Regarding this passage in the ALPG FAQ
We do not recommend returning with the same character to play Princes of the Apocalypse or Lost Mine of Phandelver after you’ve exited from one of those adventures. If you do so, you must enter the adventure again at the beginning of a chapter.
Kalani wrote:
Skerrit wrote:
Skerrit wrote:
Coredump00 wrote:
MasterNamer wrote:
Kalani wrote:
Not really. The character was only played briefly in EP1 and EP 2 of Hoard before I ended up taking over the table. Not much treasure to be had at that point in the adventure (I cannot recall gaining any in fact). Dusting the character off, I was mistaken - they are only 2nd level (I thought they were 3rd).
I have since made other characters which have benefited from my DM awards (a 5th level gnome entertainer wizard (conjurer) who styles himself as a bard, and a 4th level half-elf paladin of tiamat who hates the cult of the dragon with a passion).
Btw everyone, I believe the module is called "Princes of the Apocalypse" and is currently available for pre-purchase (at a discount even! 20% off on amazon.ca) with a release date of April 7th 2015. Cover art looks pretty darn cool.
Kalani wrote:
Noctaem wrote:
Skerrit wrote:
Kalani wrote:
Kalani wrote:
Pauper wrote:
TheBreen wrote:
Kalani wrote:
Raddu76 wrote:
TheBreen wrote:
Noctaem: The free Adventure pdf will only include some part from the main Princes of the Apocalypse book. Its not due out now until the 16th and its only available via your store organiser (who gets the link sent to them about how to get it). This is for Encounters play (which is now also apparently all play that happens on a Wednesday).
The Princes of the Apocalypse Hardback is the Hardback for the EE storyline. (There is not 2 hardbacks like for the previous TOD storyline). It comes out I think around about April 7th. Thus is you are running a home AL game you would need to wait until April 7th to start this, as the free pdf version cannot be played outside of the store.
Skerrit wrote:
Doesn't look like aasimar and eladrin are included since hardly any DMG rules are allowed.
It is possible there are more playable races in the Players Companion or in the other book. The ALPG mentions rules options being available, except for Aurokocra. I think that was a avian-humanoid race, so it probably has a flying mechanic which would explain why it is banned in organized play. But there may be other races.
I just think it is dumb to include tieflings as a playable race but not their 'holy' counterparts.
I want Kenku's to be a playable race. They are a non-flying avian race.
No I think you are reading it correctly - I misread the bold text. I thought it said beginning of the chapter, not beginning of a chapter. Fatigue makes you see funny things.
I was told (by some admins) that this was only a recommendation and not mandatory.
Ravix wrote:
A Regional Coordinator said that they discussed it with Chris Tulac and Robert (Raddu) yesterday and were told that is was just a recommendation.
From what I can see there is going to be a fairly large FAQ with a bunch of clarification on a lot of these talking points.
Ravix wrote:
The ALPG is pretty much law as far as the Organized Play is concerned. These are *not* merely guidelines.
I have seen so many times in LFR where people *wanted* a ruling to come down and they *assumed* the ruling would come down, so they just said "Well, it's obviously going to be this way, so go ahead and play that way." and that's *WRONG*. If the ALPG says something, it's the letter of the law. If you (as a DM or oganizer) are ignoring something the ALPG is saying then you are *not* playing Adventurer's League and characters at your table(s) are not AL legal.
Obviously, context matters. If an AL admin says something and they say that that something supercedes the ALPG, then that's that.
Undrhil wrote:
Boomer wrote:
caecafortuna wrote:
Undrhil wrote:
Raddu76 wrote:
Kalani wrote:
Pauper wrote:
Raddu76 wrote:
Raddu76 wrote:
First off, thanks to all involved making AL a thing. I do appreciate it.
Now my question regarding Player log sheets. Per the new doc, "Each player is responsible for maintaining his or her own adventure logsheet". I completely understand that the main purpose for this log is so if the player wants to take their character to another location, they need this to validate the character. We have several, if not the majority, of our players who have no desire to do that, they just want to play at our store.
So, since the keeping of the log is the players responsibility, and if some choose not to keep the log yet stay in-house, where we know them and their character, is there a foul if they choose not to keep the log? Tracking XP, Gold, Downtime, and Renown can all be tracked on their Character sheets.
We have our Elemental Evil season kickoff meeting on the 18th and I will go over all of this with them. They will be told all about the log sheets and their purpose, but in the end I plan on making them aware that filling it out is their responsibility, not the DM's. If they choose not to, that is their choice, but they cannot take their character out-of-store to play.
Am I off-base in my line of thought?
Regards,
Trevor
That would mean they are effectively playing a home game and could not ever play anywhere else than at your store. If that's what they want to do, there is no mechanism to force them to fill out there paperwork.
Skerrit wrote:
Raddu76 wrote:
Thank you all for your replies! Again, keep up the good work.
Trevor
I actually do sign my players logsheets in the DM Name/ DCI Number area. People seem comfortable with me doing it . There really is no need for me to do it, and honestly I really do it just to make sure people are filling in their sheets right. Most people here use pencil (even when I recommend pen), and Ive still got some players missing putting numbers down etc. Occasionaly Ill have a player who puts ALL of their Separate Characters on the same logsheet, which was a nightmare to unrap.
Yes, I have got into the habit of signing off from other OP campaigns, and its something that I would like to keep going .
Tyranthraxus wrote:
ALHazred: I totally agree. My actual real first name is Matthew and Im really against having my name shorted to Matt (and also the fact the there is another local AL Gm called Matt which has created a lot of confusion). So I make sure I check out the sheets as Im signing. Ive had people put exp earned in the gold column and suddenly they are spending 100's of gold pieces in town.
Kalani wrote:
delroland wrote:
Both HQ and the Admins are generally against handing out renown as that is specifically awarded for deeds done during play. Those PCs with the most renown should be the ones who decide the future of thier faction, not the a brand new PC made with DM credit who's never played before (or very little).
Greg Marks
DnDAL Associate Resource Manager
Undrhil wrote:
AFAIK, you are supposed to keep your DM rewards from each adventure separate. You can't break them up and hand the XP to one character, and the downtime and gold to another. Its an all/nothing prospect, and one character gets the full reward (XP, GP, and downtime).
You assign these rewards on an episode/adventure basis, so you could asign one award to one character, and a different award to a different character - or both awards to the same character. You can also bank your awards, but they would be listed like this:
- Feb 12, Tales Tree's Tell (200 Xp, 10 downtime) - Awarded to [character name]
- Feb 19, HotDQ, Ep7 (600 XP, 10 downtime) - Not yet awarded.
- Feb 27, Tyranny in Phlan (400 XP, 10 downtime) - Awarded to [character name]
You might just keep a short list, and cross off the awards as you use them, write the awards on your character logsheets (with the date of the session listed), or anything in between. My character logsheets have entries which look like this:
- Adventure Name: HotDQ Ep7
- Session #: DM
- Date: Date that the module was run as DM
- DM Name & DCI: My name/DCI
- Adventure Notes/Downtime Activity: DM Reward; +600 Xp, +10 Downtime.
Either way, only one character can benefit from a single DM reward.
Skerrit wrote:
My experience was about 2 sessions per level for 1-3, then about 3 sessions for level 4, then 3 or 4 to get to lv 5. That would = 1800g Which gets your character starting equipment plus plate armor and 6 healing potions. In return for you DMing 12 gaming sessions. Seems fair to me.
The Black Dragon Mask is an odd one...Our table killed Rezmir in ep 6, which was a possible place to catch her( I think)...episode 6 says nothing about the chest that is in episode 8. If you go back to the appendix, Rezmir's stats include wearing the Mask, and it is listed as part of her equipment.
A 2nd level character claimed the item and got the Cert, so they might very well rebuild to whatever they want to play and take that same character into EE this week. I can already picture the theoretical Dragonborn character with darkvision, a fast recharging breath weapon, and resistance to 2 elements and waterbreathing.
Byakugan01 wrote:
Byakugan01 wrote:
Skerrit wrote:
CahPahkah wrote:
RCanine wrote:
CahPahkah wrote:
As we have said previously - the only thing we have is a comment by the module designers themselves, and a few forum posts from Greg and/or Robert (burried somewhere in the AL threads).
Here is an excerpt of what Steve Winters (module designer for HotDQ) said:
Kobold Press - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
Steve Winter wrote:
Ravix wrote:
Enevhar_Aldarion wrote:
Undrhil wrote:
ZHDarkstar wrote:
Kalani wrote:
FYI, the module is out now for those who were waiting.
Kalani wrote:
Kalani wrote:
Coredump00 wrote:
Coredump00,
An even easier way to look at it is this: Each season's Encounters are the episodes/chapters of the published adventure that are meant for characters of 1st to 4th level. If Episode 5 of HotDQ was meant to be played by 4th level characters, it would have been part of the free Encounters program, but it is not. Therefore, it is meant for characters of 5th level and up, which by definition in the PHB is Tier 2.
PoA encounters ends at the start of level 5
Kalani wrote:
I guess our table goes with rule 0 then.
If the DM allows a first level character to play in tier 2, then the DM's ruling is final for that session.
I only asked about the tiers once, when 4 of us had reached level 4 but 2 characters had reached level 5 because they did an extra Expedition. I wanted to know if the rest of us could 'Catch up' to the 5th level characters and was told no because he said the adventure was tier 1 OR 2. He said since we weren't REQUIRED to be 5th to play we werent allowed to catch up. I guess this was around the time we finished the Caravan to WD. Which might have instead meant that the 5th level characters were supposed to be 'zoned out'? fwiw I really hated the caravan episode...it was so tedious and illogical imo.
Enevhar_Aldarion wrote:
Ravix wrote:
Ravix wrote:
Yeah, I was under the impression that any AL modules run on Wednesday could be reported as "Encounters" even if it was an Expeditions module.
They really should call Wednesday "Adventurer's League" Night and allow you to run any AL mod, if that is not already the case. Being able to schedule high level AL play on Wednesday will be good for when there are lulls in the release schedule. For instance, the new PotA Encounters adventure mentions that it's possible to complete the module well before the end date of the season. In that case, the players could continue bringing in their level 5+ characters on Wednesday and play through the (old or new) Tier 2 AL mods. Otherwise, that will be a few weeks of no Encounters, unless they decide to start the module over or something.
Pauper wrote:
Undrhil wrote:
At my store we simply run casual play tables concurrently with encounters.
When a table levels out of encounters - that table just continues the adventure in the printed book while another table rotates in to run encounters.
At the start of this season I have 2 encounters tables, 2 rise of Tiamat tables, 2 hoard tables, and 1 expeditions table for our Wednesday night slot.
Encounter is Wednesday night only, running the Encounters adventure. If you run it at another time, in the store you can report it as casual play or Expeditions.
I've seen it said in other places that anything run on Wednesday nights counts as Encounters.
Is that correct? Or did it change from last season?
Pauper wrote:
No. Only the Encounters module counts as encounters.
You can run Expeditions and Casual Play events on any day (inc. Wednesday). You can run encounters at the same time as either/both of the above.
In fact that is what I am doing at my store. 2 encounters tables, 4 casual play tables and 1 expedition table in our Wednesday night slot (in addition to 1-2 expedition tables in our Tuesday slot)
That would contradict what quite a few RCs have been telling me and should be cleared up across the board then.
Enevhar_Aldarion wrote:
Kalani wrote:
Coredump00 wrote:
ZHDarkstar wrote:
Coredump00 wrote:
@Ravix - How did you manage to copy/paste those FB posts. I spent 20mins trying to copy one of Roberts posts, and was unable to. (Did you print screen?)
It's a program I have called Puush.
Incredibly handy. I spent forever looking for those posts and there was a whole thread on it at one point but I can't seem to find it anymore.
ZHDarkstar wrote:
Kalani wrote:
Hello,
About the temple of elemental evil material. I have a 4th level character in adventure league who was created in January. Can I recreate the character to be a goliath? I was told that the new material could not be used for character created before March but I wanted to double check. The ruleing seemed too petty to be real.
Thanks
Hagaurd wrote:
rjczarnec wrote: