So I was having a discussion with someone on a different thread and realized that it was very much off topic and in the wrong forum. The discussion was regarding Wild Surges and what DMs could do if they were being used by players who were either using it to seek attention or to grief the table.
Two of us made suggestions on the thread, and mine were called house rules, while the other was considered to be DM adjucation. To be honest, I didn't see enough of a difference between the approaches, so I figured there was an AL DM document that I wasn't privy to.
The ALPG *does* indicate rules for character creation and what characters are 'legal' at AL tables. But is there something which clearly states, or even sets basic guidelines, for what a DM is entitled to do when running his table? We're not talking about bringing custom classes or races...we're talking about ways to keep a potentially disruptive scenario under control.
http://dndadventurersleague.org/2014/12/dming-and-dm-empowerment/
That's probably what Oraibi is referring to. Essentially, what Kalani said in another thread is correct. The DM applies the rules; he doesn't make them.
The positive is that a player can know that unambiguous rules will be fairly applied. The negative is that there will be DMs who don't wish to follow these rules and feel that since they are the DM they can do what they want.
Here are a few important excerpts from the above link, which I believe sums up my comments in a variety of threads (including the one which prompted this thread in particular).
DMing and Empowerment
- DMs are expected to follow all of the rules in the Player’s Handbook and Player’s Guidewhen running games.
- DMs cannot impose any additional restrictions or permit characters to use any additional rules.
- DMs who create their own rules and who depart from the text of adventures significantly destroy the common experience of the game and the portability of characters.
Where there are no rules, or where the rules leave something unclear, it is up to the DM to decide how to handle a situation......
- For example, a player may want his or her character to swing from a chandelier during a combat, casting a spell as the character does so. The Player’s Handbook does not have a clear rule for that situation. The DM could rule it is not possible, call for a Strength (athletics) check to hang onto the chandelier, call for a Dexterity (acrobatics) check to swing from it, and/or rule that the character has disadvantage on the spell attack (or the foe has advantage on its saving throw) due to the motion of the chandelier during the casting.
- Adding and Subtracting Foes: Do add or subtract foes of the same type from a combat to keep the challenge level appropriate to the group. Don’t add foes of a different type or switch out combat encounters entirely.
- Changing the Intended Difficulty of a Combat: Do try to keep combats at the intended level of difficulty when modifying them; make sure combats written to be easy for the group remain easy and combats written to be difficult remain difficult.
- Adding Encounters: Be very careful when adding encounters. Most adventures are written to be played in a certain amount of time. If you add encounters, you run the risk that the players will not have time to finish the actual adventure.
- Cutting-off Encounters: Similarly, be very careful when cutting-off encounters. If you are pressed for time, such as when a convention slot is ending or a store is closing, you can waive the last few rounds of a combat that the characters will obviously win or narrate through an encounter.
- Eliminating Encounters: Don’t eliminate encounters.
- Modifying Encounters: For the same reasons, avoid modifying encounters. However, do modify them to account for the characters’ actions.
- Subtracting Rewards: Be careful in reducing wealth and magic items, as tempers can run high when that happens. However, if circumstances warrant, NPCs can withhold rewards, and the authorities can fine characters.
- Adding Rewards: Don’t add any rewards to adventures, and don’t award rewards that the characters did not earn.
Adjudication is 'none of us present really get what the heck the rules text is saying, so the GM is going to decide what it means' or 'none of us present can agree on one single reading of what the heck the rules text is saying, so the GM is going to decide what it means'
House rules is 'we know what it means - and were ignoring it for something else'
Is that true? Comparing Battlemaster Fighter to Paladin, or Warlock to Sorceror, the encounter / always on powers feel like they overshadow the daily resources of the compared-to classes. This may simply be an issue with the classes, not the game, but I think it will be challenging for authors.
Avross wrote:
talking about DM ruling VS house ruling, those very ambuguious issues in the rules (I don't want to start a other threath about them) like crossbow expert, character level VS class level for cantrip/invocation requirement, additional damage (from Hex or elemental affinity for example) on multiple attack (magic missile, eldritch blast, scorching ray) etc...
in some circle those ambiguious rules are clear : crossbow expert say you IGNORE the loading property so you IGNORE the loading property clear and simple. hand crossbow is a one hand weapon, so it's a one hand weapon, no where it sais you need a free hand to load it (specially that you ignore the loading property) so at this table this is clear and it's not an houserule or anything.
While
on other tables it doesn't make sense that the crossbow get magically loaded even with the feat, so you still need an empty hand to put the bolt on the crossbow and for them this is clear and not a houserule. But since this reasoning come from logic instead of being from RAW, then on other table it would be consider houseruling.
But then when a player from one table join the other table (the guy travel to a different city for X reason) those ruling can change a well performing character into a non fonctional character.
OR on the amount of time that wild mage can use there wild mage ability. some DM rule it that everytime you cast a spell you activate your wild mage abilities (refresh your tide of chaos or roll a d20) making the wild mage fun and interesting to use, then you got other DM who foret about it or think that refreshing tide of Chaos everytime you can a spell is too powerfull and do not let you use it, again this change the character concept and playability.
Same goes with some enchantment spell like suggestion on what is reasonable or not, with illusion on how monster react to the illusion.
Is there any tool to help AL DM to use a standard set of ruling to standardise the different table. I know because of those incertainty, I force myself to avoid those class/subclass/feat etc... even if I got some interesting character concept that I would love to play using those abilities, I keep those for home game, but I think it counter productive to create a public game some everyone can join and participate, but limit character concept because the developper were unable to make clear ruling.
Pauper wrote:
Avross wrote:
RCanine wrote:
Undrhil wrote:
As an Expeditions DM, I love having Wild Sorcs on my table. I want to see them blow party members up! or give some flowers to the monsters 
Avross wrote:
Undrhil wrote:
No player has the right to demand that the DM does (or does not) take this action. Repeated requests and/or whining will not affect the DM's choice (and may in fact strengthen it)." Or something like that...with a note at the bottom that I am happy to discuss these definitions either before or after a session.
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Arslan1
In respect to Wildsurge, I take a middle road in an attempt to balance the wild mages desires to feel magical (and benefit from their class abilities) alongside other players feeling of disruption.
My Ruling (Feel free to steal)
Wildsurge: Check for Wildsurge each time you cast a 1st level or higher sorcerer spell. Once you have successfully triggered a surge (rolled a 1) you must complete a long rest or wait until next session before you can trigger another surge.
Kalani wrote:
As a DM I really dislike the Wild Sorceror because it just makes my job harder. Every other class is more or less self-contained, but the Wild Sorceror continually requires some DM judgement call. As such, it'd probably rule the following:
- Roll for your Wild Magic Surge ability every time you cast a spell.
- For Tides of Chaos, treat it just like your Wild Magic Surge ability, but it triggers on a 4 or lower instead of just a 1.
- Just tell me what happens; don't cheat; don't waste too much time.
- This all ends if I get annoyed and tell you to stop.
Seriously, with a 5% chance to happen, Wild Magic Surge is not going to happen very often. If I did the math right, it takes 14 casts to have a 50% chance of triggering at least one wild surge. I see no reason why a player that is not obnoxious shouldn't just roll for it every time.
Undrhil wrote:
Pauper wrote:
Kalani wrote:
I missed that detail sorry. The asterix point is correct.
Sorcerer Spell: Any spell on your list of Known Sorcerer Spells.
Wizard Spell: Any spell prepared from a Wizard's spellbook as one of their INT mod + Wizard Level spells.
Cleric Spell: Any cleric domain spell, and any spell prepared as one of your WIS mod + Cleric level spells
Warlock Spell: Any spell on your list of Known Warlock Spells, or any spell cast from an Invocation.
For reference, please see Multiclassing. In particular the following:
Spells Known & Prepared (phb p164)You determine what spells you know and can prepare for each class individually, as if you were a single-classed member of that class. If you are a ranger 4/wizard 3, for example, you know three 1st-level ranger spells based on your levels in the ranger class. As 3rd-level wizard, you know three wizard cantrips, and your spellbook contains ten wizard spells, two of which (the two you gained when
you reached 3rd level as a wizard) can be 2nd-level spells. If your Intelligence is 16, you can prepare six wizard spells from your spellbook.
Each spell you know and prepare is associated with one of your classes, and you use the spellcasting ability of that class when you cast the spell. Similarly, a spellcasting focus, such as a holy symbol, can be used only for the spells from the class associated with that focus.
Fair points. In response, I'd recommend you update your own rule to clarify that it only applies when casting sorcerer spells, as specified by the Wild Mage sorcerer class ability.
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Pauper
Pauper wrote: