I am new to DDAL. As such, some questions come to mind and would appreciate assistance.
Situation: I am attending an online gaming event in a few weeks. There will be a variety of DDAL sessions. Some are season 10, others are from a variety of past seasons. I will be sticking with tier 1 sessions, of course. Sessions are planned to run four hours and cover a single module (i.e., DDAL 10-00).
Background: Zero experience with DDAL, but I have played 5e and I have D&D experience goes back to BECMI and 1e. My experience has been face-to-face with a few online sessions of games among friends.
Questions:
1. I plan to run two characters, one for S10 sessions and another for the other seasons. I plan to run the non-S10 character through modules from multiple different prior seasons. Is that allowed / does this approach make sense?
2. For the S10 portion, how does leveling work? I am unclear whether character gain a level after each module or if they get XP and level when they level? I am mainly concerned from the standpoint that I plan to do a couple "level 1-2" modules and then a general tier 1. I know the tier 1 is "appropriate" for levels 1-4 inclusive, but having a character beyond 1st level might be helpful.
3. For older season modules, do characters get XP or level at all? There's a reference to historic modules in the players' guide that says characters don't get certain rewards. Again, my concern here is more about having a less squishy character in the later sessions. And, of course, to make sure the character gets whatever they are "entitled" to.
4. The player's guide, V10.3, says that novice PCs/tier 1 start with inspiration and a potion of healing due to renown. Is that for every adventure, including their first?
5. The player's guide, V10.3, says that players who are members of various factions get a ring of XYZ. Can characters simply start as part of a faction and get this item to start their first module?
5. The player's guide, V10.3, says that adept players gain access to basic magic items and can choose as many as they want up to their magic item limit. So...free trip to the magic item store?
Sorry for all the questions that I am sure seem obvious to some. Thank you in advance for your kind and informative answers.
There are 3 basic campaigns. Season 10. Pre Season 10 and Red wizards. Your Season 10 is basically locked into Season 10 content. Pre-season can play in Season 1 to 9 and most CCC modules.
All seasons are doing milestones. Generally you level after each module.
2A. Modules are set a certain level. Tier 1 is most level 3 but modules for level 1, level 1-2 are present. If you bring in a level 1 in level 3 module no problem. Same with a level 4 in level 1 module. All modules have formula. APL of module is generally 5 pc of x level. You add up all the party levels/pc. Then check the formula. The DM will adjust the encounters. Oh 3 pcs at level 1 in a APL 3 module. You are very weak, drop some monsters, reduce the hit points of monsters etc. 7 pcs of level 4 in APL 3. Add monsters. Add hit points to monsters.
PreSeason 10 are milestones. Generally 1 level per module.
Everyone Season 10, Preseason 10, Red Wizard at every session gets potion and Inspiration.
If you have the safe haven background and choose the faction.
Adept pcs are tier 2 (5 to 10 level). They can have up to 3 magic items. So yes free trip to the magic store. Remember you can hot swap your items. Drop a magic item in the inventory for one you just found.
I am new to DDAL. As such, some questions come to mind and would appreciate assistance.
Situation: I am attending an online gaming event in a few weeks. There will be a variety of DDAL sessions. Some are season 10, others are from a variety of past seasons. I will be sticking with tier 1 sessions, of course. Sessions are planned to run four hours and cover a single module (i.e., DDAL 10-00).
Background: Zero experience with DDAL, but I have played 5e and I have D&D experience goes back to BECMI and 1e. My experience has been face-to-face with a few online sessions of games among friends.
Questions:
1. I plan to run two characters, one for S10 sessions and another for the other seasons. I plan to run the non-S10 character through modules from multiple different prior seasons. Is that allowed / does this approach make sense?
Yes. That is typically how it works. You can run a "historical" character in any season 1-9 content and most CCCs. CCCs are convention created content and are usually made by authors other that WotC. Approved CCC modules are listed in the content catalog though that sometimes isn't as up to date as it could be.
Having one character for season 10 and one for historical is the best approach.
2. For the S10 portion, how does leveling work? I am unclear whether character gain a level after each module or if they get XP and level when they level? I am mainly concerned from the standpoint that I plan to do a couple "level 1-2" modules and then a general tier 1. I know the tier 1 is "appropriate" for levels 1-4 inclusive, but having a character beyond 1st level might be helpful.
Both S10 and historical characters use milestone leveling. Basically, after completing a module appropriate for the character (S10 for S10, S1-9 for historical ... and associated CCCs or Hard covers), the character is given the option to level up. They do not have to level up if they don't want to (for example, if you wanted to keep the character in tier 1 you aren't forced to level from 4->5). If the module contains a magic item, every character in the party has the option to take a copy of the magic item. However, the total number of magic items that a character is allowed to possess is dependent on tier. Tier 1 - levels 1-4 - 1 magic item, Tier 2 - levels 5-10 - 3 magic items, Tier 3 - levels 11-16 - 6 magic items, tier 4 - level 17-20 - 10 magic items. If something drops that you would like you can swap it when it drops, you can't save them up until you have more space to carry more magic items. Finally, gold rewards are limited to a maximum in each level. 80 gp in tier 1, 240 gp in tier 2 and I don't recall the amounts for tier 3 and 4. The gold found in the modules is not kept. The reason for these limits is to try to level the playing field between tables at different stores playing different modules. (For example, there are some tier 2 modules where a character could walk out with more than 10,000gp each, a character which played that module ended up much better off than a character who played something else which is what happened in season 7 and earlier resulting in a large disparity at times in the resources of characters at the same level but played with different DMs playing different content).
TL;DR - module rewards - level up, magical item, specific amount of gold limited by tier.
3. For older season modules, do characters get XP or level at all? There's a reference to historic modules in the players' guide that says characters don't get certain rewards. Again, my concern here is more about having a less squishy character in the later sessions. And, of course, to make sure the character gets whatever they are "entitled" to.
The same leveling and rewards system is used for all characters on all modules. You CAN play a historical character in season 10 content BUT they receive no rewards for doing so. If you migrate a S10 character to historical after tier 1 either by playing a historical module or dreams of the red wizards they can no longer receive rewards from S10 modules. I think that is about it though ... the idea is to create a separation between historical and S10 and encourage folks to create new S10 characters for the new content.
4. The player's guide, V10.3, says that novice PCs/tier 1 start with inspiration and a potion of healing due to renown. Is that for every adventure, including their first?
That is for every adventure. However, they are not cumulative. If the potion isn't used during the adventure it is lost though the character will receive a new one at the start of their next adventure. The same is true for inspiration.
5. The player's guide, V10.3, says that players who are members of various factions get a ring of XYZ. Can characters simply start as part of a faction and get this item to start their first module?
Unfortunately no. The rewards for faction membership start at level 5 in tier 2. You can get multiple renown items at level 5 in tier 2 but you don't receive any items in tier 1. Just the potion and inspiration.
5. The player's guide, V10.3, says that adept players gain access to basic magic items and can choose as many as they want up to their magic item limit. So...free trip to the magic item store?
Yes :) though the tier 2 limit on magic items is 3 and you will likely have an item from the modules you play in tier 1 plus possibly another from the module you play to enter tier 2 going from 4->5. So basically, it typically amounts to one or two additional magic items like a +1 weapon, ring of protection or +1 shield depending on what you already have. The main reason for this is again play balance since creatures that are resistant or immune to non-magical weapon damage start to appear more frequently in tier 2 and this gives characters that rely on weapons or armor an opportunity to pick up something that will help keep them effective.
Sorry for all the questions that I am sure seem obvious to some. Thank you in advance for your kind and informative answers.
No worries :)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I am new to DDAL. As such, some questions come to mind and would appreciate assistance.
Situation: I am attending an online gaming event in a few weeks. There will be a variety of DDAL sessions. Some are season 10, others are from a variety of past seasons. I will be sticking with tier 1 sessions, of course. Sessions are planned to run four hours and cover a single module (i.e., DDAL 10-00).
Background: Zero experience with DDAL, but I have played 5e and I have D&D experience goes back to BECMI and 1e. My experience has been face-to-face with a few online sessions of games among friends.
Questions:
1. I plan to run two characters, one for S10 sessions and another for the other seasons. I plan to run the non-S10 character through modules from multiple different prior seasons. Is that allowed / does this approach make sense?
2. For the S10 portion, how does leveling work? I am unclear whether character gain a level after each module or if they get XP and level when they level? I am mainly concerned from the standpoint that I plan to do a couple "level 1-2" modules and then a general tier 1. I know the tier 1 is "appropriate" for levels 1-4 inclusive, but having a character beyond 1st level might be helpful.
3. For older season modules, do characters get XP or level at all? There's a reference to historic modules in the players' guide that says characters don't get certain rewards. Again, my concern here is more about having a less squishy character in the later sessions. And, of course, to make sure the character gets whatever they are "entitled" to.
4. The player's guide, V10.3, says that novice PCs/tier 1 start with inspiration and a potion of healing due to renown. Is that for every adventure, including their first?
5. The player's guide, V10.3, says that players who are members of various factions get a ring of XYZ. Can characters simply start as part of a faction and get this item to start their first module?
5. The player's guide, V10.3, says that adept players gain access to basic magic items and can choose as many as they want up to their magic item limit. So...free trip to the magic item store?
Sorry for all the questions that I am sure seem obvious to some. Thank you in advance for your kind and informative answers.
2A. Modules are set a certain level. Tier 1 is most level 3 but modules for level 1, level 1-2 are present. If you bring in a level 1 in level 3 module no problem. Same with a level 4 in level 1 module. All modules have formula. APL of module is generally 5 pc of x level. You add up all the party levels/pc. Then check the formula. The DM will adjust the encounters. Oh 3 pcs at level 1 in a APL 3 module. You are very weak, drop some monsters, reduce the hit points of monsters etc. 7 pcs of level 4 in APL 3. Add monsters. Add hit points to monsters.
No Gaming is Better than Bad Gaming.
Yes. That is typically how it works. You can run a "historical" character in any season 1-9 content and most CCCs. CCCs are convention created content and are usually made by authors other that WotC. Approved CCC modules are listed in the content catalog though that sometimes isn't as up to date as it could be.
Having one character for season 10 and one for historical is the best approach.
Both S10 and historical characters use milestone leveling. Basically, after completing a module appropriate for the character (S10 for S10, S1-9 for historical ... and associated CCCs or Hard covers), the character is given the option to level up. They do not have to level up if they don't want to (for example, if you wanted to keep the character in tier 1 you aren't forced to level from 4->5). If the module contains a magic item, every character in the party has the option to take a copy of the magic item. However, the total number of magic items that a character is allowed to possess is dependent on tier. Tier 1 - levels 1-4 - 1 magic item, Tier 2 - levels 5-10 - 3 magic items, Tier 3 - levels 11-16 - 6 magic items, tier 4 - level 17-20 - 10 magic items. If something drops that you would like you can swap it when it drops, you can't save them up until you have more space to carry more magic items. Finally, gold rewards are limited to a maximum in each level. 80 gp in tier 1, 240 gp in tier 2 and I don't recall the amounts for tier 3 and 4. The gold found in the modules is not kept. The reason for these limits is to try to level the playing field between tables at different stores playing different modules. (For example, there are some tier 2 modules where a character could walk out with more than 10,000gp each, a character which played that module ended up much better off than a character who played something else which is what happened in season 7 and earlier resulting in a large disparity at times in the resources of characters at the same level but played with different DMs playing different content).
TL;DR - module rewards - level up, magical item, specific amount of gold limited by tier.
The same leveling and rewards system is used for all characters on all modules. You CAN play a historical character in season 10 content BUT they receive no rewards for doing so. If you migrate a S10 character to historical after tier 1 either by playing a historical module or dreams of the red wizards they can no longer receive rewards from S10 modules. I think that is about it though ... the idea is to create a separation between historical and S10 and encourage folks to create new S10 characters for the new content.
That is for every adventure. However, they are not cumulative. If the potion isn't used during the adventure it is lost though the character will receive a new one at the start of their next adventure. The same is true for inspiration.
Unfortunately no. The rewards for faction membership start at level 5 in tier 2. You can get multiple renown items at level 5 in tier 2 but you don't receive any items in tier 1. Just the potion and inspiration.
Yes :) though the tier 2 limit on magic items is 3 and you will likely have an item from the modules you play in tier 1 plus possibly another from the module you play to enter tier 2 going from 4->5. So basically, it typically amounts to one or two additional magic items like a +1 weapon, ring of protection or +1 shield depending on what you already have. The main reason for this is again play balance since creatures that are resistant or immune to non-magical weapon damage start to appear more frequently in tier 2 and this gives characters that rely on weapons or armor an opportunity to pick up something that will help keep them effective.
No worries :)