What is the ceiling on playing a habitual liar in Adventure League?

A character pretending to be something she isn't is actually pretty common in RPGs in general -- I have a warlock who has the Charlatan background and pretends to be a cleric of Waukeen (the Pact of the Tome helps a lot here). Even her table-tent uses her Charlatan identity rather than her 'real' identity. I've also got a Chaotic Good cleric who doesn't realize that she's a Chosen of Cyric -- she doesn't know enough about divine spellcasting to understand that none of the holy symbols she carries save one are actually potent -- she only knows that for certain spells, she has to use the one with the skull in the sun or the spell doesn't work.

More problematic is the concept of 'I'm joining a faction so that I can secretly work to destroy it from within'. Suffice it to say that the good factions don't let evil characters join for precisely that reason, and the factions that do allow evil characters are experienced enough that they'd already have policies and procedures in place to be on the lookout for potential 'moles'. As noted above, if you're OK playing a character who will never actually get to achieve her goals in that regard, then go for it, but the moment you decide to actually start playing toward achieving that goal, you're probably going to fall foul of the rules about disruptive play in AL. Be warned.

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Pauper

I should also add that ALL FIVE factions have called a truce, and are working together for a common purpose. Yes, they will not pass up any opportunity to gain additional power for their respective factions - but only if doing so does not come at the expense of the shared mission.

Also, I would separate character and player knowledge in this situation. Given the drop-in nature of AL, I would expect any deception on the player's end to be in-character only. Out-of-character, other players are entitled to know a characters true faction (for example). I would expect their characters however to react accordingly. With that being said, I do not believe that intra-party deception is a good idea except in the most stable (and mature) of groups. Most people react poorly once the deception is revealed, and the "reveal" may cause intra-party conflict to the degree of being disruptive.

As such, I would strongly recommend that if you plan on playing such a character - that the deception is in-character only, and that OOC - the players are fully aware that your character is being deceptive and pretending to be X.

Definitely in-character, and non-disruptive- good advice.

In the case of the "Destroy my faction from within"- my Zhent agent is pretty dumb, and I'll just blurt things out every once in awhile that fits my backstory. I know there is nothing I can actually do to destroy the faction, and I actually do what the Zhent Faction wants(missions).. You know- to keep my cover.

UnknownDyson said:

I know that AL is pre scripted its just background for my character. I don't plan on acting on it.

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So then, in this environment, it's almost completely pointless. Your cool backstory doesn't matter at all to anyone but you & won't actually affect anything. It's like making up a backstory for a monopoly piece. Only instead of the piece being a top hat it's a charlatan warlock.

IMO; cool concept, wrong type of D&D game to play it in.

I say go with it. If you get a good table of players/characters it will probably work very well, and if it was my table.. Id encourage you to do it in game.

Ive got a Wizard who manage to convince a dinner party in Mulmaster that he was a Zor. He rolled so damn well that the lie continued into the next scenario and the next ( a bit of a running gag: it was rumored that his family had all died and that he was a drug dealer)

ccs said:

So then, in this environment, it's almost completely pointless. Your cool backstory doesn't matter at all to anyone but you & won't actually affect anything. It's like making up a backstory for a monopoly piece. Only instead of the piece being a top hat it's a charlatan warlock.

IMO; cool concept, wrong type of D&D game to play it in.

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Saying my backstory doesn't matter is kind of arbitrary. None of what occurs on a DM table actually matters because it isn't based in reality. I created the background for my own personal gratification because i thought it was interesting, I'm not concerned if the DM does anything with it or not. I just wanted to know if it was legal.

UnknownDyson said:

I'm not concerned if the DM does anything with it or not. I just wanted to know if it was legal.

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Saying that your character is a habitual liar or putting a personality trait on your character sheet that states or implies that is legal.

Actually acting in a way that interferes with others' enjoyment of the game because 'it's what my character would do' is not.

Keep that distinction in mind, and you should be good.

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Pauper