As a DM if you're doing Dragon Heist, how much homebrewing or modifications can you make? Can you change faction missions, or the monsters in them? Can you change NPCs, or make some NPCs more important?
One of the main goals of D&D Adventure League is to give players across the fandom something of a shared experience, so that maybe they can have cool stories to share with others who have played the same adventures, increasing the social aspect of the game.
That being said, there's a decent amount of room to change things up. I've been known to mix around some of the faction missions or swap out a monster here or there for a similar CR monster that I think fits the adventure better. As long as XP and loot payouts stay consistent, there's not too big of an issue with changing some things.
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"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
Technically you can’t. Fine for a home game but I would watch doing it at say your local game store. Personally I wouldn’t change anything because if as a player I found out there was a change, and we had a tpk, player death, what not which generally occur due to DMs changing encounters and not understanding balance... I would totally ignore that death then and if it was a convention or regular thing let the moderator know.
Technically you can’t. Fine for a home game but I would watch doing it at say your local game store. Personally I wouldn’t change anything because if as a player I found out there was a change, and we had a tpk, player death, what not which generally occur due to DMs changing encounters and not understanding balance... I would totally ignore that death then and if it was a convention or regular thing let the moderator know.
In an example provided earlier, monsters of the same CR that provide the same XP would be acceptable exchanges. Assuming the new monster, again equal CR/XP, gets a tpk, would all those deaths be ignored?
Technically you can’t. Fine for a home game but I would watch doing it at say your local game store. Personally I wouldn’t change anything because if as a player I found out there was a change, and we had a tpk, player death, what not which generally occur due to DMs changing encounters and not understanding balance... I would totally ignore that death then and if it was a convention or regular thing let the moderator know.
In an example provided earlier, monsters of the same CR that provide the same XP would be acceptable exchanges. Assuming the new monster, again equal CR/XP, gets a tpk, would all those deaths be ignored?
Since you posted this in the Adventurer's League forum, I am assuming you are not simply playing a home game with a private group.
The example provided earlier is something that is, point blank, not a legal thing to do in AL. To answer your original question, there is zero room for homebrew & modifications to an AL game.
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You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
Since you posted this in the Adventurer's League forum, I am assuming you are not simply playing a home game with a private group.
The example provided earlier is something that is, point blank, not a legal thing to do in AL. To answer your original question, there is zero room for homebrew & modifications to an AL game.
Having been running AL games for a few seasons now and doing the things I mentioned above without having the D&D police kick down the door at my LGS and arrest me.....I'm going to go with "it's fine."
Again, the main goal of AL is to give the community a shared sense of story. As long as the XP and loot remains consistent, and the major story beats are followed, there is nothing wrong with altering parts of the adventure on what is nearly a cosmetic level. At the end of the day, the log sheets are going to basically be the same as any other game.
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"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
Here's the thing. D&D AL is pretty much just a set of guidelines that were created to allow random groups of people to play together at store and convention locations while keeping everyone in roughly the same power level and scope. It is a way to sort of have a "living game world" much like the Living Greyhawk or other D&D enterprises of the past, but to skip out on the vast amounts of policing, record keeping, and weird gamesmanship that those sorts of programs fostered.
The main draw with AL is that you can take your character from any AL structured table and sit down at any other level appropriate AL structured table and be able to seamlessly play, as everyone there is running under the same framework and expectations. That's about all the main goal of AL accounts for.
Now, what is the difference between a 5th level character that was built under AL guidelines and played from 1st-5th level at various tables, and a 5th level character that was made from scratch here on D&D Beyond character generator using AL character creation rules of PHB +1 when both show up to convention table somewhere to play? The answer is basically nothing. Both players will get to play and have fun. There is no real enforcement method in place to screen out fresh high level characters, and even if the DM actually cares about log sheets, those are as easy to write up as anything else pre-game as well. The same holds true with running the game. If you think an identical CR monster is a better fit for your table than what is printed, or, in the case of Dragon Heist, you like some of the faction missions that go with factions your players didn't select, there is no harm in swapping some things out so long as the main story is unaffected and the XP and loot values remain the same. There is no actual enforcement arm of the gaming industry that will come after you for making some slight adjustments here and there.
Since you posted this in the Adventurer's League forum, I am assuming you are not simply playing a home game with a private group.
The example provided earlier is something that is, point blank, not a legal thing to do in AL. To answer your original question, there is zero room for homebrew & modifications to an AL game.
Having been running AL games for a few seasons now and doing the things I mentioned above without having the D&D police kick down the door at my LGS and arrest me.....I'm going to go with "it's fine."
Again, the main goal of AL is to give the community a shared sense of story. As long as the XP and loot remains consistent, and the major story beats are followed, there is nothing wrong with altering parts of the adventure on what is nearly a cosmetic level. At the end of the day, the log sheets are going to basically be the same as any other game.
You're not following the rules of AL then. The goal of AL is not the shared sense of story; that's just the goal of D&D, and all RPGs in general. The goal of AL is for all AL games to be following the same actual rules, regardless of DM/players/location; for an individual to be able to have the same gameplay experience at any AL table around the world.
If you want to use modifications/homebrew, that's fine, but you are no longer playing in accordance with the rules OR spirit of Adventurer's League. You are playing a private game. If your LGS is hosting these games, they are not hosting Adventurer's League; they are hosting a private league.
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You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
You're not following the rules of AL then. The goal of AL is not the shared sense of story; that's just the goal of D&D, and all RPGs in general. The goal of AL is for all AL games to be following the same actual rules, regardless of DM/players/location; for an individual to be able to have the same gameplay experience at any AL table around the world.
If you want to use modifications/homebrew, that's fine, but you are no longer playing in accordance with the rules OR spirit of Adventurer's League. You are playing a private game. If your LGS is hosting these games, they are not hosting Adventurer's League; they are hosting a private league.
See, you say that, but there is quite honestly no enforceable committee or structure to back that assertion.
What makes an AL game an AL game is the following:
Characters participating are created using the PHB +1 rule.
Treasure and experience payouts do not deviate from those established in the adventure.
The general story structure of the adventure being run is followed.
Beyond that, nothing else really matters and the WotC event reported will sanction it just like it will anything else.
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"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
"Nobody is stopping me, so it must be okay" is basically what you're saying. Just because nobody stops you deviating from the AL rules does not mean it is right for you to do so.
A Dragon Heist campaign in Adventurer's League, is meant to be run the same way no matter where in the world your table is.
You can do whatever you want in your private games. You can do whatever you want in games with your local community. You can do whatever you want in any game anywhere, but it is disingenuous to assert that it is perfectly fine to ignore the rules of Adventurer's League and still call it a legal Adventurer's League game. When people share negative experiences with AL, what you are doing is usually the reason.
See this is why I'm posting, because it seems the rules for alteration a little muddy....
If you take one thing away from this thread, please let it be this: the rules for alteration, for an Adventurer's League game, are not muddy at all. They are crystal clear; don't do it. Every decision WoTC makes when it comes to AL (seasonal changes) is in the interest of having these games run in a unified way.
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You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
The rules regarding alteration in AL are quite clear:
From the season 8 ALDMG:
Being the Dungeon Master You have the most important role—facilitating the enjoyment of the game for the players. You provide the narrative and bring the game to life. You’re Empowered. Make decisions about how the group interacts with the adventure; adjust or improvise as needed. It’s more important that you and the players are having fun than you stick to letter of the adventure. Everyone Should Shine. Don’t allow any one player to dominate the table. Everyone should get the opportunity to shine. Feel free to adjust the encounters and adventure to make this happen. Keep the Adventure Moving. This is mostly for convention play where you’re participating in a timed slot. When the game gets bogged down, provide hints and clues to your players facing puzzles or engaging in combat and roleplay interactions to help move them along.
An AL DM has a lot of leeway. Their goal is to create a fun and interesting adventure for the players at the table. If there is a group of 3 first level players in a tier 1 APL 4 adventure they are beyond very weak. They won't have fun if every single encounter results in them dying. On the other hand, if you have a group of 7 level 4s in a tier 1 APL 1 adventure they are beyond very strong and also likely won't have much fun with the adventure as written even with the suggested adjustments. The job of the AL DM is to take the content, ideally modify it as little as possible, but still provide a fun, exciting role playing experience for the players at the table. This requires the ability for the DM to go beyond the limits listed in the module in order to provide a positive experience for the players.
That said, the key element is "It’s more important that you and the players are having fun than you stick to letter of the adventure."
A DM who changes things up to create a killer TPK module for the characters isn't "creating fun for the players". A DM who makes a module too easy is also not doing their job and a DM who changes around monsters or other adventure elements just because they feel like it is also not playing AL. The ideal goal is to play the module as written with as few modifications as possible to create a fun and interesting experience for the players. However, the DM has very wide leeway (which is required) to make this happen. The bottom line is that if the players are having fun and the DM is mostly following the script then all is good.
So, if you are playing an AL game and have some issues with the choices the DM might be making in running the module then maybe have a chat with them. However, keep in mind -
1) If there are players at the table who have already played the module on other characters the DM could choose to mix up the encounters or chance around the puzzles a bit so that the narrative theme stays the same but the specifics of what needs to be solved change so that all the players can equally participate (most DMs won't bother with this level of adjustment but it is certainly allowed).
2) If the party is either particularly strong or weak due to APL or the presence of unbalancing magic items (I am looking at you ... Staff of the Magi and Cloak of Invisibility on the Season 8 evergreen list ... whoever had that bright idea needs therapy) .. then the DM could change up AC, HPs or even creatures in particular encounters to keep the module fun and interesting even if the characters are a bit more powerful than expected.
This is actually one of the big problems I hope they address in AL. Even the above posts states changing hp / ac ,an absolute No No, as being allowed under rules. There are far too many bad DMs out there to trust them to modify encounters and that’s why there’s lot of player deaths / fudging in current AL.
The modules should have clear guidelines for adjusting the encounter based on APL and number of players. Each encounter should have a tier 1-2 and tier 3-4 encounter, + adjustments for each player over 4 (for instance add an extra goblin for each player over four). Pathfinder Society does this and it works tremendously well for balancing encounters even in that broken system.
This is actually one of the big problems I hope they address in AL. Even the above posts states changing hp / ac ,an absolute No No, as being allowed under rules. There are far too many bad DMs out there to trust them to modify encounters and that’s why there’s lot of player deaths / fudging in current AL.
The modules should have clear guidelines for adjusting the encounter based on APL and number of players. Each encounter should have a tier 1-2 and tier 3-4 encounter, + adjustments for each player over 4 (for instance add an extra goblin for each player over four). Pathfinder Society does this and it works tremendously well for balancing encounters even in that broken system.
Most modules generally have balancing guidelines. AL modules will be designed for a specfic tier of play (1->4) and have an intended APL (average party level) for a party of 5 within that tier. Then based on the actual group of characters 3-7, and their actual levels, the party can be rated from very weak to very strong and there will typically be suggested balance changes for each level of difficulty.
Unfortunately, in real play, this can often not be sufficient for the following reasons:
1) Are the PCs "optimized" or "role play" characters? For example, a level 6 battlemaster ffighter built for ranged combat with crossbow expert and sharpshooter might be very different from a level 6 happy go lucky, little bit of every magic, human cleric/druid/warlock/sorcerer/wizard wearing heavy armor. Character level is not usually enough by itself to figure out exactly how effective a party will be.
2) Some characters will have magic items and others may not. This gets particularly problematic if playing tier 3+ in a party of 7 and most of the group has a Staff of the Magi and Cloak of Invisibility. These items can effectively make the characters much more powerful than just their level might indicate.
3) The luck of the dice. The goal of playing D&D is not for the DM to inflict a TPK if they can. D&D is supposed to be fun and TPKs are generally not that. As a result, depending on which way the dice go, it is up to the DM to adjust things to keep in interesting without going over the top whether this requires easier or harder opponents.
This is actually one of the big problems I hope they address in AL. Even the above posts states changing hp / ac ,an absolute No No, as being allowed under rules. There are far too many bad DMs out there to trust them to modify encounters and that’s why there’s lot of player deaths / fudging in current AL.
The modules should have clear guidelines for adjusting the encounter based on APL and number of players. Each encounter should have a tier 1-2 and tier 3-4 encounter, + adjustments for each player over 4 (for instance add an extra goblin for each player over four). Pathfinder Society does this and it works tremendously well for balancing encounters even in that broken system.
I am confused, the "above post" you reference is directly quoting the Adventurer's League DM rules ... which you seem to contradict as "an absolute No No" without providing an actual source for these rules that state otherwise. Where are these rules that state no modification whatsoever?
I came across this thread because I am researching running AL games at my office, and I am interested in the genuine rules, not what people "feel" is better or not.
I mean, it's right there in the rules that the DM is empowered to "adjust or improvise as needed." I'm not sure why this is even an issue. It is impossible, due to the nature of divergent play, for every table to have the exact same gaming experience. However, as long as the general story of the adventure remains unchanged, at least gamers, as a whole, can develop a sort of "shared community of similar experiences" that fosters the sort of dialog and togetherness that WotC is promoting with AL league in the first place.
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"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
The absolute No No is fudging dice Rolls and manipulating stat blocks. That kind of bad play comes at home gams, not an AL table. The improvising is meant for coming up with DCs that aren’t listed, trying to adapt to player considerations if they’re reasonable and still geared towards ending the adventure, and tweaking encounters to match the number of players.
The problem with tweaking encounters is the guidelines of a “very weak” to “very strong” are ultimately up to the DMs subjective ratings. And many, many DMs have a poor concept of balance / optimization. The reality is the encounter guidelines in xanathars / dmg take into account players with magic items of certain rarities. In fact, since season 8 the player magic item count follows the suggest guidelines for magic items pretty close. So there is no reason for a DM to adjust the encounters when the writers should Ben doing so. Who cares if a pc has a staff off the magi. It’s not like you’re goin g modify the encounter to negate that... oh wait you are that’s bad dm 101. Also, the dice do fall where they fall so be it.
The absolute No No is fudging dice Rolls and manipulating stat blocks. That kind of bad play comes at home gams, not an AL table. The improvising is meant for coming up with DCs that aren’t listed, trying to adapt to player considerations if they’re reasonable and still geared towards ending the adventure, and tweaking encounters to match the number of players.
The problem with tweaking encounters is the guidelines of a “very weak” to “very strong” are ultimately up to the DMs subjective ratings. And many, many DMs have a poor concept of balance / optimization. The reality is the encounter guidelines in xanathars / dmg take into account players with magic items of certain rarities. In fact, since season 8 the player magic item count follows the suggest guidelines for magic items pretty close. So there is no reason for a DM to adjust the encounters when the writers should Ben doing so. Who cares if a pc has a staff off the magi. It’s not like you’re goin g modify the encounter to negate that... oh wait you are that’s bad dm 101. Also, the dice do fall where they fall so be it.
In most of the AL stories they have an actual guide for what constitutes "Very weak" to "very strong" there is no interpretation on the DM's side, it's basically just a math problem. Here it is, this comes from the AL Adventure Suits of the Mist, this is in every AL adventure I've seen. So saying you're a bad DM if you adjust the encounters is ridiculous to me as AL literally gives you a guide in how to do so.
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As a DM if you're doing Dragon Heist, how much homebrewing or modifications can you make? Can you change faction missions, or the monsters in them? Can you change NPCs, or make some NPCs more important?
One of the main goals of D&D Adventure League is to give players across the fandom something of a shared experience, so that maybe they can have cool stories to share with others who have played the same adventures, increasing the social aspect of the game.
That being said, there's a decent amount of room to change things up. I've been known to mix around some of the faction missions or swap out a monster here or there for a similar CR monster that I think fits the adventure better. As long as XP and loot payouts stay consistent, there's not too big of an issue with changing some things.
Great, thank you!
wow, i didn't know you could do that!
I did NOT eat those hikers.
Technically you can’t. Fine for a home game but I would watch doing it at say your local game store. Personally I wouldn’t change anything because if as a player I found out there was a change, and we had a tpk, player death, what not which generally occur due to DMs changing encounters and not understanding balance... I would totally ignore that death then and if it was a convention or regular thing let the moderator know.
In an example provided earlier, monsters of the same CR that provide the same XP would be acceptable exchanges. Assuming the new monster, again equal CR/XP, gets a tpk, would all those deaths be ignored?
Since you posted this in the Adventurer's League forum, I am assuming you are not simply playing a home game with a private group.
The example provided earlier is something that is, point blank, not a legal thing to do in AL. To answer your original question, there is zero room for homebrew & modifications to an AL game.
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
Having been running AL games for a few seasons now and doing the things I mentioned above without having the D&D police kick down the door at my LGS and arrest me.....I'm going to go with "it's fine."
Again, the main goal of AL is to give the community a shared sense of story. As long as the XP and loot remains consistent, and the major story beats are followed, there is nothing wrong with altering parts of the adventure on what is nearly a cosmetic level. At the end of the day, the log sheets are going to basically be the same as any other game.
See this is why I'm posting, because it seems the rules for alteration a little muddy....
Here's the thing. D&D AL is pretty much just a set of guidelines that were created to allow random groups of people to play together at store and convention locations while keeping everyone in roughly the same power level and scope. It is a way to sort of have a "living game world" much like the Living Greyhawk or other D&D enterprises of the past, but to skip out on the vast amounts of policing, record keeping, and weird gamesmanship that those sorts of programs fostered.
The main draw with AL is that you can take your character from any AL structured table and sit down at any other level appropriate AL structured table and be able to seamlessly play, as everyone there is running under the same framework and expectations. That's about all the main goal of AL accounts for.
Now, what is the difference between a 5th level character that was built under AL guidelines and played from 1st-5th level at various tables, and a 5th level character that was made from scratch here on D&D Beyond character generator using AL character creation rules of PHB +1 when both show up to convention table somewhere to play? The answer is basically nothing. Both players will get to play and have fun. There is no real enforcement method in place to screen out fresh high level characters, and even if the DM actually cares about log sheets, those are as easy to write up as anything else pre-game as well. The same holds true with running the game. If you think an identical CR monster is a better fit for your table than what is printed, or, in the case of Dragon Heist, you like some of the faction missions that go with factions your players didn't select, there is no harm in swapping some things out so long as the main story is unaffected and the XP and loot values remain the same. There is no actual enforcement arm of the gaming industry that will come after you for making some slight adjustments here and there.
You're not following the rules of AL then. The goal of AL is not the shared sense of story; that's just the goal of D&D, and all RPGs in general. The goal of AL is for all AL games to be following the same actual rules, regardless of DM/players/location; for an individual to be able to have the same gameplay experience at any AL table around the world.
If you want to use modifications/homebrew, that's fine, but you are no longer playing in accordance with the rules OR spirit of Adventurer's League. You are playing a private game. If your LGS is hosting these games, they are not hosting Adventurer's League; they are hosting a private league.
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
See, you say that, but there is quite honestly no enforceable committee or structure to back that assertion.
What makes an AL game an AL game is the following:
Beyond that, nothing else really matters and the WotC event reported will sanction it just like it will anything else.
"Nobody is stopping me, so it must be okay" is basically what you're saying. Just because nobody stops you deviating from the AL rules does not mean it is right for you to do so.
A Dragon Heist campaign in Adventurer's League, is meant to be run the same way no matter where in the world your table is.
You can do whatever you want in your private games. You can do whatever you want in games with your local community. You can do whatever you want in any game anywhere, but it is disingenuous to assert that it is perfectly fine to ignore the rules of Adventurer's League and still call it a legal Adventurer's League game. When people share negative experiences with AL, what you are doing is usually the reason.
If you take one thing away from this thread, please let it be this: the rules for alteration, for an Adventurer's League game, are not muddy at all. They are crystal clear; don't do it. Every decision WoTC makes when it comes to AL (seasonal changes) is in the interest of having these games run in a unified way.
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
The rules regarding alteration in AL are quite clear:
From the season 8 ALDMG:
Being the Dungeon Master
You have the most important role—facilitating the enjoyment of the game for the players. You provide the narrative and bring the game to life.
You’re Empowered. Make decisions about how the group interacts with the adventure; adjust or improvise as needed. It’s more important that you and the players are having fun than you stick to letter of the adventure.
Everyone Should Shine. Don’t allow any one player to dominate the table. Everyone should get the opportunity to shine. Feel free to adjust the encounters and adventure to make this happen.
Keep the Adventure Moving. This is mostly for convention play where you’re participating in a timed slot. When the game gets bogged down, provide hints and clues to your players facing puzzles or engaging in combat and roleplay interactions to help move them along.
An AL DM has a lot of leeway. Their goal is to create a fun and interesting adventure for the players at the table. If there is a group of 3 first level players in a tier 1 APL 4 adventure they are beyond very weak. They won't have fun if every single encounter results in them dying. On the other hand, if you have a group of 7 level 4s in a tier 1 APL 1 adventure they are beyond very strong and also likely won't have much fun with the adventure as written even with the suggested adjustments. The job of the AL DM is to take the content, ideally modify it as little as possible, but still provide a fun, exciting role playing experience for the players at the table. This requires the ability for the DM to go beyond the limits listed in the module in order to provide a positive experience for the players.
That said, the key element is "It’s more important that you and the players are having fun than you stick to letter of the adventure."
A DM who changes things up to create a killer TPK module for the characters isn't "creating fun for the players". A DM who makes a module too easy is also not doing their job and a DM who changes around monsters or other adventure elements just because they feel like it is also not playing AL. The ideal goal is to play the module as written with as few modifications as possible to create a fun and interesting experience for the players. However, the DM has very wide leeway (which is required) to make this happen. The bottom line is that if the players are having fun and the DM is mostly following the script then all is good.
So, if you are playing an AL game and have some issues with the choices the DM might be making in running the module then maybe have a chat with them. However, keep in mind -
1) If there are players at the table who have already played the module on other characters the DM could choose to mix up the encounters or chance around the puzzles a bit so that the narrative theme stays the same but the specifics of what needs to be solved change so that all the players can equally participate (most DMs won't bother with this level of adjustment but it is certainly allowed).
2) If the party is either particularly strong or weak due to APL or the presence of unbalancing magic items (I am looking at you ... Staff of the Magi and Cloak of Invisibility on the Season 8 evergreen list ... whoever had that bright idea needs therapy) .. then the DM could change up AC, HPs or even creatures in particular encounters to keep the module fun and interesting even if the characters are a bit more powerful than expected.
This is actually one of the big problems I hope they address in AL. Even the above posts states changing hp / ac ,an absolute No No, as being allowed under rules. There are far too many bad DMs out there to trust them to modify encounters and that’s why there’s lot of player deaths / fudging in current AL.
The modules should have clear guidelines for adjusting the encounter based on APL and number of players. Each encounter should have a tier 1-2 and tier 3-4 encounter, + adjustments for each player over 4 (for instance add an extra goblin for each player over four). Pathfinder Society does this and it works tremendously well for balancing encounters even in that broken system.
Most modules generally have balancing guidelines. AL modules will be designed for a specfic tier of play (1->4) and have an intended APL (average party level) for a party of 5 within that tier. Then based on the actual group of characters 3-7, and their actual levels, the party can be rated from very weak to very strong and there will typically be suggested balance changes for each level of difficulty.
Unfortunately, in real play, this can often not be sufficient for the following reasons:
1) Are the PCs "optimized" or "role play" characters? For example, a level 6 battlemaster ffighter built for ranged combat with crossbow expert and sharpshooter might be very different from a level 6 happy go lucky, little bit of every magic, human cleric/druid/warlock/sorcerer/wizard wearing heavy armor. Character level is not usually enough by itself to figure out exactly how effective a party will be.
2) Some characters will have magic items and others may not. This gets particularly problematic if playing tier 3+ in a party of 7 and most of the group has a Staff of the Magi and Cloak of Invisibility. These items can effectively make the characters much more powerful than just their level might indicate.
3) The luck of the dice. The goal of playing D&D is not for the DM to inflict a TPK if they can. D&D is supposed to be fun and TPKs are generally not that. As a result, depending on which way the dice go, it is up to the DM to adjust things to keep in interesting without going over the top whether this requires easier or harder opponents.
I am confused, the "above post" you reference is directly quoting the Adventurer's League DM rules ... which you seem to contradict as "an absolute No No" without providing an actual source for these rules that state otherwise. Where are these rules that state no modification whatsoever?
I came across this thread because I am researching running AL games at my office, and I am interested in the genuine rules, not what people "feel" is better or not.
I mean, it's right there in the rules that the DM is empowered to "adjust or improvise as needed." I'm not sure why this is even an issue. It is impossible, due to the nature of divergent play, for every table to have the exact same gaming experience. However, as long as the general story of the adventure remains unchanged, at least gamers, as a whole, can develop a sort of "shared community of similar experiences" that fosters the sort of dialog and togetherness that WotC is promoting with AL league in the first place.
The absolute No No is fudging dice Rolls and manipulating stat blocks. That kind of bad play comes at home gams, not an AL table. The improvising is meant for coming up with DCs that aren’t listed, trying to adapt to player considerations if they’re reasonable and still geared towards ending the adventure, and tweaking encounters to match the number of players.
The problem with tweaking encounters is the guidelines of a “very weak” to “very strong” are ultimately up to the DMs subjective ratings. And many, many DMs have a poor concept of balance / optimization. The reality is the encounter guidelines in xanathars / dmg take into account players with magic items of certain rarities. In fact, since season 8 the player magic item count follows the suggest guidelines for magic items pretty close. So there is no reason for a DM to adjust the encounters when the writers should Ben doing so. Who cares if a pc has a staff off the magi. It’s not like you’re goin g modify the encounter to negate that... oh wait you are that’s bad dm 101. Also, the dice do fall where they fall so be it.
In most of the AL stories they have an actual guide for what constitutes "Very weak" to "very strong" there is no interpretation on the DM's side, it's basically just a math problem. Here it is, this comes from the AL Adventure Suits of the Mist, this is in every AL adventure I've seen. So saying you're a bad DM if you adjust the encounters is ridiculous to me as AL literally gives you a guide in how to do so.