Rewards

bathtub66 · Jul 9, 2010

Ive had an ongoing problem in my campaigns when it comes to rewards. The groups I usually play with are only interested in magical items or cash, and they only like cash because it leads to buying magical items. Because of this I have gotten into the habit of giving them magical items as rewards most of the time. But, of course, this leads to an unbalanced group. What sort of things would you give out as rewards, and when you do give magic items, how often is it and how strong are they? And while were on the subject, are the rewards you give out always objects? What sort of things do you do to avoid giving items, but still let the group feel like their time and effort meant something?

Crothian · Jul 9, 2010

You can give out more magical items that have charges or are one use items. This way the groups gets the magical items they want but they get used up so it is not as much of an issue. You can always steal, destroy, or otherwise remove magical items from them. It can be a fun little game of give and take.

Doug McCrae · Jul 9, 2010

I gave them the Presidential Medal of Freedom for fighting space nazis on the moon. And the Carlos Manuel de Cespedes medal (Cuba's highest civilian honor) for defeating an army of psychic plant monsters - that was session one, so I was keeping things relatively low key.

Chainsaw · Jul 9, 2010

Living to fight another day should be reward enough! :devil:

Gilladian · Jul 10, 2010

My current party is 4th, about to be 5th level.

Their rewards so far have been: paid membership in the Delver's Guild; a house they can live in; a mysterious sealed door in the basement of said house;maps that led them to a lost wizardly academy; the services for one year of a low-level priest; an offer (they declined) of employment from a high level wizard; a honkingly powerful but "hot" magic battle axe which they sold for much less than market value; NOT being accused of burning down a wealthy noble's guesthouse; finding a really neat magictech chair that is going to get them in SOOOO much trouble....

Just find ways to put strings on what you pay them, and they'll be happy to settle for lesser rewards!

Philosopher · Jul 10, 2010

As a player, I've received bonus feats (e.g., everyone got an Exotic Weapon Proficiency when a martial order offered us some training) and sometimes bonus skill points (e.g., a rank in Knowledge (textile trade), which actually proved useful). One DM gave us "mundane magic items" (e.g., a magic comb that always kept the hair of the possessor perfectly styled).

As a DM, I've sometimes given free services. I've had an innkeeper gave a PC free room and board in exchange for, *ahem*, eliminating his gambling debts. One group earned the service of a few men-at-arms for a limited time. That sort of thing.

Philosopher · Jul 10, 2010

Gilladian said:
Just find ways to put strings on what you pay them, and they'll be happy to settle for lesser rewards!

This reminds me of the time my 2nd or 3rd level character acquired a ring of invisibility. It turned out that a certain powerful and wealthy family wanted it back. I tried to evade them. In the end I gave up. I suppose it was a reward from the DM that they just let me go.

Oryan77 · Jul 10, 2010

bathtub66 said:
of course, this leads to an unbalanced group.

Are you referring to the DMG and paying attention to 'wealth by level'? If you just make sure that you don't give out too much treasure during the adventure and you pay attention to the PC wealth per character, then you can get an idea for how valuable an item you give each PC as a reward.

I don't know what edition you play, but the 3.5 Magic Item Compendium has a helpful chart to refer to that shows you the power level of each item a PC should have at their level. That way you know you aren't giving a PC an item that is too powerful for their level.

Other than magic items & money, you can give them valuable things that won't effect their adventuring. Houses, land, titles, merchant discounts, celebrations in their honor, or favors could be possible rewards.

Henry · Jul 10, 2010

Also, taking a leaf out of the 4th edition DMG2, you could craft divine or arcane boons, or "Grandmaster Training" as very flavorful mechanical rewards for good play. Take the effect of a magic item, one that doesn't necessarily just give "plusses", and turn it into a permanent blessing of the gods, or give them access to an elusive but powerful grandmaster, old in years, but who is willing to pass along his knowledge, if the students are patient and willing.

How about some grizzled old Warrior, who can teach the PC how to just suddenly take the equivalent of a 5-foot step, but actually 15-feet, once every 5 rounds? It's a demanding maneuver, one that you only get a good setup for once every so often, but well worth it if you can coax the secret out of the old buzzard.

No need for a skill check, just hop around the field like a whirling dervish avoiding blades by the skin of your teeth. You might come up with a better one than that one, but you might get the idea by now.