Adamantine and Mithral

[kalani]

If a Druid wants any armor except leather or hide, they need to find it within an adventure. At least one Expedition provides stone plate which a Druid could use (if proficient). There is also white dragonscale armor in HotDQ. Such armor is quite rare. I don't know of any non-magical non-metallic medium/heavy armor in any adventures as of yet.

Also, druids who want to use a shield must take the option of a wooden shield from their class equipment package.

 

[Coreyartus]

But the Druid has proficiency with Medium armor. Normally, all medium armor is all or mostly metal. I put those two facts together, and I see a story hook, an adventure in the making, not a reason that a druid will never have a breastplate or half plate of any kind. It's a potential challenge to overcome, after hard work and RP and a pile of gold. If said druid took the feat for heavy armor, and does some really cool stuff on the way to putting together plate armor made from monster parts, I think they've earned it.

I'd agree, but not for Organized Play. That level of flexibility and RP rewards are possible in homegames, but not in OP.

It sounds like you want a type of Organized play that can reflexively respond with individual PC/Player rewards based on either individualized "mission/adventures" or built-in flexibility within the scenarios (and thus the campaign) as a whole.

You're struggling with what I struggled with when I had my first Organized Play experience with Living Greyhawk. I developed a character concept that relied upon aspects of rules that I had no idea would never be fleshed out within the paradigm of organized play. Things like herbalism, crafting unique items, entrepreneurship... None of those things had a place at the time. And some of them still don't--even though they are clearly articulated as potential options in the PHB. I came looking for great roleplaying opportunities that impacted the development of my PC, and had to redefine what roleplaying meant in order to fit within the context of how Organized Play worked.

I started to embrace the OP experience for what it could offer me (which, in all honestly, had nothing to do with the quality of the gaming experience or my PCs empowerment or development or capacity, and everything to do with a social circle of gaming friends and opportunities to play adventures with them). I changed what I expected from it, and along the way developed a deep understanding of how a homeplay campaign could incorporate so many aspects Organized Play's system couldn't. Now I have both in my life and I let both of them be rewarding for different reasons.

To be completely blunt, Organized Play can be a whole lot of fun when you don't approach it with the same expectations you would have of a homeplay campaign. It's a continual process learning what the difference is. It's not the normal D&D that's portrayed in the rulebooks. It's a unique and specific flavor of the D&D experience. By default, there are whole swaths of rules that aren't relevant and will never apply to OP because they can't. Entire portions of the rules have to be re-evaluated contextually given the hundreds of DMs, thousands of players, and international locations of portable characters all in a single shared world. I came to realize my DMs were really "proxies" facilitating a gaming experience that was way bigger than just my table. It's my feeling that the nature of Organized Play doesn't allow for the individual reflexively responsive RP rewards that you're seeking. But it can be a lot fun for what it is, if you embrace that and the intangible rewards that come with the experience of playing.

 

[Mirtek]

Nevermind then. I would think it would cost gold and downtime, have zero renown or xp, but if it can't go on the sheet and I never had to RP for searching for it and getting it, it's not RP flavor, it just kinda feels like lying.

You would have to wait until the right monster happens to appear in an AL

So then how do Beastmasters get a companion animal in the league?

Upon reaching the required level he just has it, it'like an ordinary class feature.

What about the special Faction missions mentioned in the PG? Doesn't quite add up. Maybe they're why some expeditions have bonus renown for some factions, and the local DM just glosses that over??

Basically yes. Note that not any mission granting bonus renown counts as a special faction mission, the end of the adventure specifically notes whether it was a special mission or merely a small favor for extra renown.

The DM should't gloss it over but note whether or not the mission was accomplished.

The special missions are supposed to be more difficult than the extra renown assignments, but so far some of them are actually more easy. They are however more rare, each season only featuring one special mission but multiple extra renown assignments.

In any case everything happens within one normal AL adventure, there's no special side adventure to run

 

[Nikmal]

Point taken. The initial questions were answered. Discussions about "why" were getting badly bogged down.

There is a downside to league play. Building and playing a character with deeper and enjoyable relationships and flavor can have aspects that get in the way of keeping it portable across tables and venues.

I submit to you that the overall effect is that of a playground that is soon outgrown. AL(or at least Expeditions/Encounters) seems to be intended to provide an easy way to get people into the hobby and rolling some dice, with the league and its policies serving as a meta-DM. It more or less functions to meet that goal.

What may or may not be a problem is retention in the organization. It may simply be part of the intent that many or most people will find parts of the League structure incomplete, confining, or absurd and just go away and play home games, leaving more room at the league tables but draining on the player and DM pool at those tables. That may leave an ongoing problem of finding DMs who themselves have more than a year at it, so best of luck on solving that. I've seen more than a few DMs at my FLGS who can barely pronounce half the words in the box text, that give up on roleplaying the NPCs, and just turn the whole thing into a tactical combat game with few options or rewards. Is it any wonder I'm looking for ways to spice things up and keep myself engaged?

I've played 2 editions of D&D over the last 30 years, with three other systems in between, and it truly seems to me that my time playing at league tables is drawing to a close, after really only a few months. Given the discussion here, I doubt any of you will be sorry to see me go, so that's likely best for all concerned.

While you might have played two other editions, an organized play system is different then the game system backing it. There needs to be a certain consistency across the system. If one table does one thing how can it be done at another table.. that is the underlying issue at hand. The rules in AL are layed out to be able to do just that. Right now there is no Owning of land or residences of any kind... but that can easily change with each upcoming season. Just at the moment it is not allowed is all. Organized play systems such as AL are designed to be able to play at any table with any DM (Adventurers League table that is) and or players. D&D in general is not meant to be played like that. AL is unique in that regard in that you can play at any other AL table.

With that being said though. It is ok to get frustrated with the system of organized play. I know there is a lot that some people may or may not like about organized play. It may not be for you either?

 

[kalani]

You forgot the reward from Bruenor, which includes a residence (not that anyone has it yet). With that being said, even this residence is little more than fluff with few mechanical perks.

 

[Pauper]

Its the Axe-Lute argument all over again.

It was worth reading through the thread just to get to this comment -- I'm a veteran of the axe-lute wars, myself.

Interestingly, I suspect my paladin has a mithral rapier, picked up in a Season 3 Expedition -- the description of the item says that it weighs half of what a 'normal' rapier weighs, and that's a property of mithral items as noted in the DMG. However, since the certificate for the item doesn't specifically note that the rapier is made of mithral, I can't count it as mithral for game-mechanical purposes (assuming there's even a game-mechanical reason to do so).

The point seems to be that downtime activities are abstracted; a deep gnome miner could 'make a living' mining in the Underdark and return home to a self-crafted grotto in an isolated area, safe from wandering monsters, just as a noble could retire to a manor house with servants putting roast boar on the table. A DM running her own game could find ways to bring the manor house or Underdark grotto into the campaign, but an AL DM doesn't have those options, so those things stay 'off-camera' in AL. Seems pretty simple to me.

--
Pauper

 

[kalani]

Actually not true Pauper. The adventure text has priority and is treated as the authoritive source. There are many certs which fail to mention the unique quirks on an item. Your mithril rapier is a mithril rapier regardless of what the cert says.

 

[skerritthegreen]

Kalani is right. Make sure you write down descriptions/properties from adventures. The certs are printed WELL in advance of planning/writing the season (which we do way early as it is), so little bits get added to the items after they are printed. Those notes in the adventure are still legal. So for example, the +1 rapier = "This weapon weighs half as much as a normal rapier and is fashioned of dark blue metal inscribed with images of spiders and webs."

 

[Pauper]

I have no doubt that Kalani is correct in the general sense.

However, DDEX 3-2 was publically released in Dragon+ #4, and there is no reference in that adventure of the rapier being made of mithral:

"...she carefully extracts a dark-blue +1 rapier that she astonishingly managed to hide from the guards..."

"...the characters are given a +1 rapier."

"...her +1 rapier is among the equipment tossed into the cage..."

"This weapon weighs half as much as a normal rapier and is fashioned of dark blue metal inscribed with images of spiders and webs. A description of this item can be found in the Dungeon Master's Guide."

The last is reproduced on the certificate, verbatim.

In this specific case, I don't see that I can treat the rapier as being made of mithril, or a DM could make the same argument that it should be treated as drowcraft and thus destroyed.

--
Pauper

 

[skerritthegreen]

It's not made of mithral. Its made of a dark blue metal. The half weight is a property, just like the +1.