Is rewarding the best roleplayers considered Favoritism?

I'm DMing a very successful (i.e. lots of fun) campaign. We're nearly 20 sessions into the story. There is however something that bothers me, and I would like some opinions.

Some players put tremendous effort into roleplaying. One fighter especially has a signature move where he moves to a character, makes a (completely useless) parkour roll and then comes up in front of an enemy to stab/slash/cut it. He's been doing this for about 10 sessions now, maybe longer. It never slows down the game, and it adds just a little extra. Other players seem to find it funny too. Also out of combat, when the group takes a rest, he always roleplays that he does a few exercises: some rolls and parkour jumps. Long rests typically take 9-10 hrs, so there is time for some exercise and still get the full rest. Other players just chill out during the rest, and don't roleplay anything extra.

I want to reward the fighter with some cool bonus if he executes his signature move such as 1d4 extra damage on the first attack (let's not discuss the type of bonus). He's been doing this for so long now, and it feels wrong not to reward that. However, other characters do not have a development which I could tie with a bonus of any kind (on damage, roleplay or saving throws).

I find it really important to balance the bonuses between players, and I am constantly afraid of favoritism, especially since the fighter is the friend who I know the longest... But I struggle to come up with bonuses for the other players that make sense. And I do not want to wait much longer with rewarding cool roleplay.

What would the experienced DMs of this forum do? Reward only the 1 player, and risk a little favoritism? Or reward all players with something, and risk that some bonuses feel a little more awkward and less tied in with the characters (albeit useful)?

Well if you allow the Party to have different XP then Award xp for this, if not, or better still, Award an Inspiration, of course only once and best when he really saves the day doing his routine.

RP is a good Thing for increased imersion and should be rewarded. But repeating the same trick does not call for boon every time. I advise you to not award the 1d4 boon to him, with that you get into the situation that if some of your other Players invents his own signature move you have to give him something similar.

If you think his damage output is to low for some reason then let him find a Magic weapon instead.

Inspiration sounds good.

But I would not reward him with a pure mechanical bonus (Signature Move Damage Boost, XP,..), which would just force him to do more of the same stuff over and over. Which would make it more boring instead of interesting.

Think about rewarding him within the Story. Let an important NPC notice his prowess who offers him access to forbidden Gladiatorial Games, a Membership in a Guild or let him be a Honorguard for a God of Strength. Monsters might be impressed and surrender, a nice Girl get swooned by his moves,...

Tell him he's enjoyable to have at the table and that you appreciate his effort and pleasant personality.



Then kill his character.

It is not favoritism if you let the part themselves decide by a vote, not yourself.

Be careful with this if you give out too many rewards. You can easily end up in situations where the party levels up faster than you would like.

One players likes adfing flourishes and has fun with it. Great. Another not so much. Fine too.

I decided long ago to not himge mechanics on such things.

If it is appropriate have in-game rewards, like npcs noticing, duplicating etc.

Have story flourishs generate more story flourishes, not hard mechanics.

I do award RP. Last Dark Sun session some wild muls attacked the party traveling sand desert. The cannibal halfling rogue was hidden in the caravan. She was hiding and shooting for the sneak attack. The player thought correctly that it could be awesome to roll behind a mul and stab him in the back. He (the players is a he, the character a she) said "I know anyways I have sneak attack because of my ally, and etc, would you let me do something awesome if I risk myself losing my position and use my knife".
RAW he shouldn't earn any extra bonuses but it was an one time awesome move. I let him do that. He rolls a 20. Everyone were clapping and laughing, so "my bonus" was 2d6 extra for the sneak attack and a super customized description. He loves the setting, so he knows his character has eaten many humanoid so I let him rip an ear with a bite as part of that attack also I changed my voice and take the time to describe the attack so everyone remember that great moment.
So coming back to you. I think that RP is awesome, having signature movements or mannerisms is great for characters. But I don't think 1d4 is a good idea. You could reward the behaviour you want to encourage, but that could be good descriptions, maybe they find a bard in a tavern signing about the "fighter who rolls". If he does this because he likes it I believe he would like RP/narrative rewarding (as ripping the ear with a bite). Also a small one-time boost to compensate real life good tactics not supported by the rules is great.

Btw, I'm really not sure if 5E has some kind of Stunt-System. Because it sounds like that he would enjoy making some Stunt-Moves from time to time. Instead of straight Attacking (with some Flavor), doing something with real risk/reward instead. Like using the Situation and Location in clever ways or positioning himself to do great harm/effects (climbing up a Giant to stab an eye, juming from a chandelier, push someone in a pit, topple a burning brazier or buring someone under a statue).

Yeah thats the Spirit, eating fallen humanoid Mobs not only Award nourishment for the DS halflings and thrikreen but also Inspiration .

[MENTION=2569]Baumi[/MENTION]

In fact it has, watch the tricks that the Players of Perkins at Pax whatever stage sessions pull off.

It is about the DM, some are strict and won't allow totally silly stuff, but e.g. flipping over an Opponent with boots of jumping by a simple DC15 acrobatics check should pose no Problem at all at most tables.

Some overdo it a bit but if they have fun with it e.g. jumping on the back of a Dragon or running up straight walls by passing some extreme DC check.
I think everything for which the slightest possibility exists should be doable by passing one or more Fitting skill checks.