Alternative Rewards: if you use them more than occasionally, how do you do it?

[Ferghis]

I find the alternative rewards pretty cool. By not displacing other, often "necessary" (by some standard) items, these rewards would be almost universally well-received by a player. On the other hand, regular items, particular arm-slot ones, or - if you continue to play with the one-daily-item-power-per-tier-per-milestone limitation - items whose main benefit is a daily power, are something I often look upon as a child might look at socks for Christmas. And, to correct a potential mistake before someone posts it, these aren't just Dark Sun rewards. Of the 166 currently in the compendium, only 27 are from Dark Sun. 13 were published in Heroes of the Feywild, so it's not just some "wild experiment."

However, in my limited experience, DMs use these very sparingly. I know DMs that have given one or two rewards to the whole party, but that's it. In my imagination, Player Characters could pursue these rewards easily, accumulating several of them over the course of a campaign.

Does anyone know of DMs that uses alternative rewards more than just once or twice? How did it go? What, if any, was the specific basis of the reward, and was it one sought by the players?

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

I'd be lying if I said I've delved too deeply into the specific rewards and things that are laid out in the rules. The thing is though I see boons and such as a way to blur the line between story and mechanics. Something happens to your character or you accomplish something, etc and it has an EFFECT on you.

I think the thing is we all did this kind of thing naturally from the earliest days of playing RPGs I'm sure. What is nice about it is that 4e actually hit a pretty cool spot where you NEED "magic items", but you don't need specific ones or really anything in exactly the form of an item. So players are rather motivated, almost compelled to accept and invent boons for their characters. They now exist both in a defined sort of space in the progression but can be totally open-ended in what they are and how they work.

 

[Blue]

The only campaign I'm in that uses alternate rewards uses only alternate rewards plus inherent bonuses. We're 8th and have never seen a magic item. (Hmm, we might have seen a healing potion.)

It works rather well.

Of course, of the three games that are active none use item wish lists, and there's not a lot of "I want X" to have the option to pursue boons instead of other rewards from the player side. (Well, none the DMs uses it. One we have an artificer who's more than willing to make items as long as the party hasn't blown all of our residiuum on Object Reading rituals again.)

 

[Quickleaf]

Does anyone know of DMs that uses alternative rewards more than just once or twice? How did it go? What, if any, was the specific basis of the reward, and was it one sought by the players?

I qualify as that sort of DM. I've always used alternative rewards in every edition of the game I've run. As supplements to treasure and magic item. I've never had a player request an alternative reward (at least in the way they're presented in 4e), usually they're too obsessed with a shiny magic item.

Currently I run a Planescape game using inherent bonuses. Part of the premise is that the players create their characters thru play. I didn't change character creation to get this feel, rather I present alternative rewards as signs of character development in a certain direction.

One example is the Speak with Sentinels fey gift which the PCs are soon to receive from their patron. Her philosophy is all about honoring the genius loci, so it makes sense that she can bestow upon PCs a way to communicate with statues and such.

To be fair, I use lots of weird/cool homebrew magic items alongside alternate rewards. The inherent bonuses rule makes it easy to do.

 

[SensoryThought]

I run an Eberron game and as the culmination of the 4 session adventure with no treasure (from which they spent more money then they got, used magic items), they each got a dragonmark (bonus feat) of their choice.

They all said it was the coolest reward they'd ever gotten.

 

[pemerton]

I haven't used a lot of alternative rewards, but one of the PCs in my game does have a Boon of Correlon. The same PC is currently in the process of trying to acquire a Gift of Flame, as I explain in this post.

 

[wedgeski]

Yes, I've handed out custom feats, new powers, companions, retainers, real-estate, and even a plane-hopping bathysphere!

None of the players I game with seem to have come from a culture of PC self-determinism; they prefer clear, solid adventure hooks and well-signalled paths to victory. Because of that it's hard getting them to seek out their own goals and rewards.

 

[MortalPlague]

I'm playing in a campaign currently where we're receiving almost entirely alternate rewards. It's a low magic game using inherent bonuses, so our DM has opted to reward us with boons, bonuses to interaction with various NPCs, and even bonus feats. It's been excellent.

I just started running a 19th Level game, and one of the things I prepared was a list of 50 odd loot items. None of them are especially valuable or of obvious financial value (though very few are worthless), but they're simply around to spice up the loot tables with some neat trinkets.

Some of my favorites:

6 - Jewelled goblet, which once per day, upon command, fills with fine brandy.
11 - The deed for Faethaxar, a racing pegasus in Gloamnull.
13 - A tiny clockwork beetle that can light candles.
22 - A stein carved and painted like a tower. Tiny illusory guards walk the battlements.
24 - A pair of gnomeskin boots.
37 - A rose whose petals measure the time before The Rose Vault seals for eternity (3 petals left, one drops each year).
46 - An ivory fork with 8 tines, shaped like a stylized squid. The fork squirts sauce when a button is pressed.