Chad Hooper
First Post
Howdy, all.
I thought I'd share a few things I use in my campaign to reward a player for roleplaying above and beyond the call of duty besides flat XP rewards, treasure, or magic. Maybe some other GMs are looking for ideas, or maybe others have some of their own they can share here as well. If you're a player, couldn't hurt to run one or more of these past your GM, right
Roleplaying Bonuses (RP Bonus): I've been using these since 1990-something. A player does something really cool in character, I give them one of these and they make a hash mark to keep track of how many they have. Each RP Bonus is a +10% cumulative multiplier on all earned XP when next tallied up (we often go multiple sessions before totaling XP and doing level-ups). It is possible for a really creative player to double (or more!) earned XP this way. I chose percentage multipliers because they remain meaningful as levels and XP awards increase as PCs advance and face higher-level challenges. It's far less hassle than assigning a flat XP amount as a reward when somebody does something so cool it impresses me.
Hero Dice: I recently adopted this rule from THAC0dragon.com, you can read the details there. I give each player two such dice at the start of each session and allow carry-over of up to one unused one from one session to the next. These can be given out as an alternative to the RP Bonuses outlined above.
Critical Skill Success Reveals Unknown Character Ability (Crit Skill Ability: When a player rolls a crit on a skill check, I give the character a permanent trait that somehow relates to the the skill used. For example, our rogue rolled a crit on Observation. I gave her an eidetic memory for where things are in an enclosed space (e.g., a Darkness spell is dropped on the group, she knows at least where her companions are). The ranger rolled a crit Tracking check in the Underdark and is now, ironically, better at tracking underground than on the surface (the character is an elf). There are a couple more I've given out but I'd have to ask my players to jog my memory. In the case of the eidetic memory, that works automatically on a successful skill check. The elf gets a bonus to skill level for Underdark Tracking rolls. Just give them a cool little bonus that adds some depth and an ability that may rarely come up in play (or maybe more often, who knows?).
Just some alternative rewards I give my players to mix it up. I'm pretty sure the RP Bonus and Crit Skill Ability are original thoughts of my own, though it's possible others have also thought of them on their own.
Anyone else have alternative rewards they give in their games?
I thought I'd share a few things I use in my campaign to reward a player for roleplaying above and beyond the call of duty besides flat XP rewards, treasure, or magic. Maybe some other GMs are looking for ideas, or maybe others have some of their own they can share here as well. If you're a player, couldn't hurt to run one or more of these past your GM, right
Roleplaying Bonuses (RP Bonus): I've been using these since 1990-something. A player does something really cool in character, I give them one of these and they make a hash mark to keep track of how many they have. Each RP Bonus is a +10% cumulative multiplier on all earned XP when next tallied up (we often go multiple sessions before totaling XP and doing level-ups). It is possible for a really creative player to double (or more!) earned XP this way. I chose percentage multipliers because they remain meaningful as levels and XP awards increase as PCs advance and face higher-level challenges. It's far less hassle than assigning a flat XP amount as a reward when somebody does something so cool it impresses me.
Hero Dice: I recently adopted this rule from THAC0dragon.com, you can read the details there. I give each player two such dice at the start of each session and allow carry-over of up to one unused one from one session to the next. These can be given out as an alternative to the RP Bonuses outlined above.
Critical Skill Success Reveals Unknown Character Ability (Crit Skill Ability: When a player rolls a crit on a skill check, I give the character a permanent trait that somehow relates to the the skill used. For example, our rogue rolled a crit on Observation. I gave her an eidetic memory for where things are in an enclosed space (e.g., a Darkness spell is dropped on the group, she knows at least where her companions are). The ranger rolled a crit Tracking check in the Underdark and is now, ironically, better at tracking underground than on the surface (the character is an elf). There are a couple more I've given out but I'd have to ask my players to jog my memory. In the case of the eidetic memory, that works automatically on a successful skill check. The elf gets a bonus to skill level for Underdark Tracking rolls. Just give them a cool little bonus that adds some depth and an ability that may rarely come up in play (or maybe more often, who knows?).
Just some alternative rewards I give my players to mix it up. I'm pretty sure the RP Bonus and Crit Skill Ability are original thoughts of my own, though it's possible others have also thought of them on their own.
Anyone else have alternative rewards they give in their games?
