[AL] Are Season 8's New Rules an Improvement?
- Thread starter pogre
- Start date
pogre
Legend
Hopefully, this summary from Wizards will suffice.
http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/news/changes-dd-adventurers-league-rewards
I think the reason(s) for the change are to create a more uniform and smoother play experience across various tables for AL.
jasper
Rotten DM
Correct Mistwell. Also no cash is awarded during play. And Dms can not switch out cash for magic as rewards/payment for doing the quest.
I voted a mixed bag.
I wished they kept the cash. Maybe if they cut in half it would be better. Right now my players are not happy when comes to other seasons modules.
I voted a mixed bag.
I wished they kept the cash. Maybe if they cut in half it would be better. Right now my players are not happy when comes to other seasons modules.
Flexor the Mighty!
18/100 Strength!
As someone not into AL...you don't get to keep the gold you found in the monsters treasure hoard? was just looking at the FAQ.
Nutation
Explorer
I think the real reason for the changes is that the system described in Xanathar's Guide was mandated from above. The admins have very little wiggle room, but can't say so. (Hard evidence for this is slight, so I may certainly be wrong.)
I voted "no", but there are some small benefits to the new system.
As a DM, I no longer have to add up XP and gold at the end of a module. That saves a few minutes.
Experience checkpoints are probably ok.
Not collecting treasure in the module is a huge immersion-breaker. The actual treasure gained automatically from leveling is pretty small compared to DMG guidelines. This matters a lot for wizards and somewhat for everyone else.
Running old modules under new rules can be awkward. (Shades of Pathfinder.)
Removing highly problematic magic items is very good. [Edit: Owners of those items may disagree.]
Not mentioned in pogre's link; faction membership now has a cost (background feature). This was not well-received, but the cost is small.
I voted "no", but there are some small benefits to the new system.
As a DM, I no longer have to add up XP and gold at the end of a module. That saves a few minutes.
Experience checkpoints are probably ok.
Not collecting treasure in the module is a huge immersion-breaker. The actual treasure gained automatically from leveling is pretty small compared to DMG guidelines. This matters a lot for wizards and somewhat for everyone else.
Running old modules under new rules can be awkward. (Shades of Pathfinder.)
Removing highly problematic magic items is very good. [Edit: Owners of those items may disagree.]
Not mentioned in pogre's link; faction membership now has a cost (background feature). This was not well-received, but the cost is small.
Last edited:
Blue
Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal
I think that page is just the change to rewards. There's also changes to faction unless you take the faction background or give up the feature from your background for the faction feature.
The change to treasure is a big deal. It hurts classes like wizard who have expenditures. It makes consumables, even mundanes ones, a serious expense. Plate armor - might as just got for a magic item. And this is regardless of what is found.
jodyjohnson
Adventurer
For Organized play, especially for characters that only get play time at Cons the accelerated advancement is nice. Levels 1 and 2 taking a bit longer is more like a normal non-OP experience with the game (previously characters would skip level 2 entirely with a 4 hour module). You can start a character Friday or Sat and play a Tier 2 module on Sunday over a weekend Con.
Although the gold seems too tight, I like that it is more equitable for characters that are altruistic or law abiding compared to 'needing' to grave-rob, be mercenary, or always be begging the poor villagers for more rewards. You can roleplay your character as greedy or benevolent, unconcerned about finances or penny-pinching as a character choice without it mechanical giving advantage to your character or setting them back.
For the numbers the adventures had wide variance on treasure - ToA and most recent AL modules were very light on treasure while certain adventures, especially remakes of previous edition modules (TYP), might have crazy treasure compared to the 5e scale.
But the main issue is the way hardcovers are designed with treasure dribbled out until you get to the end with a big payoff in the last chapter(s). In AL, you could get the big cache in the last chapter of LMOP, snipe the big haul at the end of HotDQ, plunder Castle Ravenloft, loot farm SKT, and cherrypick whatever chapters in the other Hardcovers that offered the best rewards. Combined with gold now being useful (buying potions, and scrolls) it needed a fix.
Although the gold seems too tight, I like that it is more equitable for characters that are altruistic or law abiding compared to 'needing' to grave-rob, be mercenary, or always be begging the poor villagers for more rewards. You can roleplay your character as greedy or benevolent, unconcerned about finances or penny-pinching as a character choice without it mechanical giving advantage to your character or setting them back.
For the numbers the adventures had wide variance on treasure - ToA and most recent AL modules were very light on treasure while certain adventures, especially remakes of previous edition modules (TYP), might have crazy treasure compared to the 5e scale.
But the main issue is the way hardcovers are designed with treasure dribbled out until you get to the end with a big payoff in the last chapter(s). In AL, you could get the big cache in the last chapter of LMOP, snipe the big haul at the end of HotDQ, plunder Castle Ravenloft, loot farm SKT, and cherrypick whatever chapters in the other Hardcovers that offered the best rewards. Combined with gold now being useful (buying potions, and scrolls) it needed a fix.
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