TEXT: Not for resale. Permission granted to print or photocopy this document for personal use only.  
  Detect Thoughts, Version 1.4 – Updated March 29, 2019 
   
   
   
   
  Welcome to Detect Thoughts! 
  This living document will be periodically updated with 
  clarifications and rulings from the Adventurers League 
  Admin team, and will serve as an official reference until 
  the DDAL guidance documents are revised.  
  —The Admin Team 
  The hardcover Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica and the 
  Ravnica introductory adventure Krenko's Way are not 
  currently Adventurers League legal. If this changes in 
  the future, we'll be sure to make an announcement 
  and update the Content Catalog. 
  Certed animal companions are normal, non-magical 
  animals that can be revived using Raise Dead, given 
  that there is a body to raise. 
  Please note that all main and bonus objectives award 
  1 ACP and 1 TCP each. 
   
  The enduring spellbook is a common magic item that 
  can be unlocked and then purchased for 2 TCP. 
   
  The Content Catalog guidance that states "if [the 
  familiar] is destroyed, dismissed, or leaves, it will not 
  return without other campaign guidance or rulings" 
  refers to permanent dismissal, not a temporary 
  dismissal of the familiar for safety’s sake.  
  DM Quest "Best Kept in the Dark" is an example of 
  specific guidance overruling general: typically, 
  Legendary items are not available to be unlocked as 
  part of a DM Quest per the Quests document, under 
  "What is 'Tier Appropriate'?", but in this instance, the 
  Quest specifically provides for an unlock of an item on 
  Magic Item Table I, including Legendary items. 
   
  If you earn rewards from running Eberron content, 
  they can be applied to an Eberron character. 
  Forgotten Realms & Ravenloft rewards can be applied 
  to Forgotten Realms characters. 
   
  If a DM Quest rewards a consumable item or a magic 
  item: consumables are immediately gained, while the 
  magic items are unlocked. 
   
  To determine the eligibility of CCC adventures for 
  "current season" play for DM Quests, please reference 
  the "added to catalog" date on the CCC's page on the 
  DMs Guild. 
   
  DDAL 08-07, 08-08, and 08-09 had their descriptions 
  updated to "A DMM adventure" from "A WDH & DMM 
  adventure" in version 8.07 of the Content Catalog. 
  This does not impact the current DM Quests, and the 
  Quests will still be valid as written. 
   
  If a DM Quest awards a consumable, standard +X 
  ammunition (such as arrows, bolts, or sling bullets) is 
  awarded in bundles of 20. Any other magical 
  ammunition (such as an Arrow of Slaying) is awarded 
  in single pieces.  
   
  DM Quest awards are limited to ammunition found in 
  the PHB. Other nonstandard ammunition (such as 
  pistol bullets) must be unlocked prior to awarding. 
   
  For DM Quest “Hell of a Deal”, the free casting of 
  augury or remove curse at the beginning or end of a 
  session is applicable for multiple sessions. 
  Guidance is provided in Waterdeep: Dragon Heist for 
  Running A Business. This activity remains available to 
  characters once they adventure outside of Dragon 
  Heist, provided they maintain ownership of the 
  business. 
  Each level of Undermountain is a chapter. If a 
  character levels out of a chapter, they can complete 
  that chapter, but cannot start any new chapters that 
  are outside of their Tier. So in an example given in the 
  Facebook group, if a level 10 character gains level 11, 
  they finish playing floor 7, have to skip levels 8 and 9, 
  and pick up on floor 10. This is because each level is 
  considered a chapter, not each tier being a chapter. 
   
  Skullport is a neither a level nor a chapter for  
  Undermountain. It can be visited just the same as a 
  character can visit Waterdeep or Phlan. 
   
  Guidance on the cursed sword on Level 1: If someone 
  picks up the sword, they receive the sword, the light, 
  and the curse, at no cost. If they cast remove curse 
  they are able to stop using the sword, but if they 
  would like to keep it, the cost will be 2 TCP, it will act 
  as a common magic item, and is not on a table, so it is 
  not tradable. 
   
  
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  Detect Thoughts, Version 1.4 – Updated March 29, 2019 
   
   
   
   
  Story Items obtained in Waterdeep: Dragon Heist may 
  carry over and be used in Dungeon of the Mad Mage. 
  In a hardcover with a mixed-tier party, the tier of the 
  TCPs awarded is tied to the APL of the characters (to 
  the max of the character’s tier). For example, a group 
  of Tier 2 and Tier 3 characters playing at APL 9 will 
  be awarded Tier 2 TCP. This is currently unclear in 
  our guidance documentation, so we’ll be adding it in 
  our next revision. 
   
  For Encounters in Sharn, ACP and TCP rewards are 
  earned based on time invested, as with other 
  hardcover adventures. 
  When a consumable magic item (that is a potion, 
  scroll, or parcel of magical ammunition, only) is found 
  by the characters, the intent is that a consumable item 
  may be immediately kept by one character and is 
  subsequently unlocked for everyone present 
  (including the character that got to keep it). 
   
  If an item such as a Necklace of Prayer Beads is 
  unlocked in an adventure, the number and type of 
  beads are determined randomly unless specified by 
  the adventure. 
   
  Common magical weapons or suits of magic armor 
  obtained via the "This is Your Life" tables are of the 
  same type of the armor or weapon obtained as 
  starting equipment for your class. This magical item 
  replaces the mundane version you would have 
  obtained as starting equipment. 
   
  Currently, common items are not tradable, as they are 
  not assigned to a Magic Item Table. 
  If a character holds a location-based story award that 
  enables them to spend downtime in that location, 
  they do not need to be adventuring near that location 
  to use it, as the downtime day expenditure is 
  representative of traveling to that city. 
  If a character goes back in time and dies are there any 
  special rules or is resurrection the same? 
  It's presumed that bodies are recovered unless 
  otherwise stated by the adventure. 
   
  If you unlock the Oathbreaker from the DM rewards, 
  does DMG become your +1? Or does it circumvent the 
  +1 rule? 
  Content accessed by virtue of specific campaign 
  documentation (like the DM Quest reward) doesn't 
  count towards your PHB +1. 
   
  Are there rules listed anywhere on trading cert'd 
  familiars or pets? 
  Only permanent magic items may be traded.  
   
  Is the [insert magic item here] an Adventurer's League 
  legal item? I would love to earn it from a DM Quest but 
  I cannot find an official source of what Magic Item 
  Table it should be on. 
  If it is not specifically listed in a Magic Item Table, 
  called out in the Content Catalog as treated as being 
  on a specific table, or mentioned as a specific 
  exception in a DM Quest, it is not unlockable. 
   
  If my character has access to the poison table from the 
  DMG due to a Quest, can I take poison as my renown 
  item? 
  No -- you are eligible for one piece of equipment from 
  the PHB. 
   
  If I unlock a magic armor in an adventure, do I also 
  unlock the barding equivalent? 
  Unlocking magic armor also unlocks the barding 
  equivalent, but once an unlocked item is purchased 
  (whether that is armor OR barding), it returns to a 
  locked state, and must be unlocked again to purchase 
  the other type of armor. 
   
  If a character dies during an adventure, do they gain 
  Advancement Checkpoints up until their point of death 
  (ie: play for 3 hours to get to final boss, but die in final 
  hour = 3 ACP), or none for the session? 
  Characters will earn rewards up until the event of 
  their untimely death. 
   
  When rebuilding a character, what features can you 
  rebuild? I.E. Can you re-spend your TP on something 
  different when you choose to rebuild? 
  You can rebuild your character itself, but not its 
  equipment (save for starting equipment granted by 
  the character’s class, if changed). 
   
  One of my characters found a spellbook and has 
  already copied everything she can from it. Since a 
  spellbook is listed as mundane equipment in the PHB, 
  can I sell this for half value? 
  Spellbooks are mundane equipment that can be kept 
  when found. No rule exists that says they can't be 
  
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  Detect Thoughts, Version 1.4 – Updated March 29, 2019 
   
   
   
   
  sold, and the PHB prescribes their cost. 
   
  Older adventures sometimes include magic items with 
  additional quirks, such as the wolfskin cap (Hat of 
  Disguise) from a Season 4 adventure. Upon completion 
  of the adventure, do characters unlock the item with 
  quirks or without? 
  Items are unlocked specifically as they are found in 
  the adventure. 
   
  How do I award Season 8 rewards for mixed-tier 
  parties? 
  Characters receive rewards based on their tier. If a 
  group of T2 and T3 characters spend 4 hours 
  adventuring, the T2 characters receive 4 treasure 
  checkpoints, while the T3 characters receive 8. 
   
  In groups consisting of mixed tier characters, DMs 
  earn a number of advancement and treasure 
  checkpoints equal to what the highest tier character 
  would earn. 
   
  In cases such as an Epic that consists of multiple tiers 
  of tables, all DMs will receive checkpoint rewards as if 
  they ran a table of the highest tier that the adventure 
  accommodates. 
   
  Is it ever AL legal for item trades between two 
  characters of different tiers? 
  Yes, but note that both PCs still need to trade on a 
  one-for-one basis for items of the same rarity and 
  magic item table location, and both have to pay 15 
  downtime days assuming they are not at the same 
  table (which is unlikely since they are different tiers). 
   
  Can a character trade in a magic item they have 
  outgrown? For example, I have a +1 Shield, but I want 
  to purchase a +2 shield with Tier 2 Treasure 
  Checkpoints. Can I exchange my old shield with some 
  other unlocked item on the same table? 
  As a general rule, magic items can't be sold for 
  treasure checkpoints. Items that you've "outgrown" 
  can, however, be traded using the rules for the Magic 
  Item Trading downtime activity found in the ALPG. 
   
  For the rank 2 renown benefit, can the piece of 
  equipment be a gem or other spellcasting component 
  that is consumed when casting? 
  Items received as renown benefits are specifically 
  mentioned in the tables and lists in Chapter 5: 
  Equipment. 
   
  Can you purchase spiked armor without SCAG as your 
  +1 resource? 
  You can purchase mundane equipment from any 
  resource that's available as a +1 regardless of 
  whether you actually chose it as your +1. 
   
  Can a spell scroll be purchased at a higher-than-base 
  (upcast) level? 
  No, spell scrolls can only be purchased at the spell's 
  initial level. 
   
  Are items able to be unlocked twice? My 
  understanding was that unlocks cannot stack. 
  Players can have multiple unlocks for the same item. 
  This will be fairly common for things like consumable 
  items, since when a consumable is found in an 
  adventure, one character gets to keep it, and the 
  entire table unlocks it. Separate adventures may also 
  unlock the same magic item. 
   
  In the case of White Plume Mountain and the Level Up 
  DM Quest: do DMs receive the extra TCP awarded to 
  players for turning in the named weapons? 
  DMs do not receive the additional TCP awarded to a 
  character for turning in WPM weapons as a result of 
  Level Up. 
   
  The AL Content Catalog currently offers guidance for 
  magic items in the Season 7 section, but nothing about 
  checkpoints. Do ACP, TCP, and unlocks transfer from 
  surrogates to either original or new characters? 
  Rewards earned by a surrogate are transferred to the 
  original character in the event of their resurrection, 
  or to a new character in the event that the original 
  character's soul is devoured. These rewards include 
  ACP, TCP, magic items and unlocks, and gold. Any 
  references to a magic item count are to be ignored. 
   
  Is reading a Tome or Manual (which takes 6 days) an 
  AL-legal Downtime activity? 
  Reading Tomes and Manuals is not an approved 
  Downtime activity. 
   
  Can magic items that grant permanent stat boosts be 
  immediately used in-game without expending TCP? 
  If you find a magic item that tries to permanently 
  adjust your stats during a game, be aware that the 
  benefit expires at the end of the session and the item 
  does not recharge. If you wish to make the effect 
  permanent, you must purchase that item with TCP 
  (consulting the ALPG for such costs). 
   
  Do spell effects carry over between AL sessions? 
  The AL guidelines do not currently hold an official 
  position, so this will be a decision between players 
  and their DMs. 
  
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  Detect Thoughts, Version 1.4 – Updated March 29, 2019 
   
   
   
   
   
  In modules that specify choosing an item based on 
  rarity, from a table or of a weapon type, do all the 
  players get the same unlock or does each player 
  choose? 
  If the text calls for "each character", then each 
  character can select a single unlock (each character's 
  unlock is theirs alone). 
   
  If the text calls for 1 item on Table X and 1 item on 
  Table Y, all characters present gain those unlocks. 
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Dungeons & Dragons [multi]/5th Edition (5e)/Adventure League/Detect Thoughts v1.4.pdf