Deck of Many Excellent Things (Reward Cards)

[greyscale1]

I have long mulled over giving my players special rewards for doing something especially memorable, neat, in character, or helpful, or for just being the MVP of a session.


Well, after thinking it through a while, I came to the conclusion that it would be the most exciting and fun if the rewards were varied and randomized, and the players picked their bonus from a deck.

These bonuses are random and vary in power level; some are weak, some are VERY strong, none are TOO game breaking. They are meant to be handed out once per session, at the end of the session, to that sessions MOST VALUABLE PLAYER. MVP is picked by player vote (DM breaks ties) and should be based on coolness, helpfulness in combat, or smart thinking (solved a puzzle, etc).

Players may only hold 1 card at a time.

Otherwise, these cards are given out whenever the DM is forced to tip their hat to a player for some great moment. If giving the player a card for this reason, its probably okay to let them have 2.

Unless specifically stated, all of these are a free action to use.


Without further adieu: The Deck of Many Excellent Things!


1. Recharge an Encounter Power or Daily utility power
2. +5 to a d20 roll
3. -5 to one DM d20 roll
4. Until the end of the encounter, you have two minor actions per turn
5. Until the end of the encounter, you have +1 to all attacks
6. Until the end of the encounter, you have +3 to speed
7. Until the end of the encounter, you have +2 to all defenses
8. Until the end of the encounter, reroll all 1's rolled on damage die.
9. You have combat advantage against 1 foe, until the start of your next turn.
10. Change a 1 on a damage die to its max roll
11. +5 to a Acrobatics check, if you fail, reroll without the +5
12. +5 to a Arcana check, if you fail, reroll without the +5
13. +5 to a Athletics check, if you fail, reroll without the +5
14. +5 to a Bluff check, if you fail, reroll without the +5
15. +5 to a Diplomacy check, if you fail, reroll without the +5
16. +5 to a Dungeoneering check, if you fail, reroll without the +5
17. +5 to a Endurance check, if you fail, reroll without the +5
18. +5 to a Heal check, if you fail, reroll without the +5
19. +5 to a History check, if you fail, reroll without the +5
20. +5 to a Insight check, if you fail, reroll without the +5
21. +5 to a Intimidate check, if you fail, reroll without the +5
22. +5 to a Nature check, if you fail, reroll without the +5
23. +5 to a Perception check, if you fail, reroll without the +5
24. +5 to a Religion check, if you fail, reroll without the +5
25. +5 to a Stealth check, if you fail, reroll without the +5
26. +5 to a Streetwise check, if you fail, reroll without the +5
27. +5 to a Thievery check, if you fail, reroll without the +5
28. Take 10 on a skill check.
29. When you first meet an NPC, they are more apt to like you than normally inclined.
30. When attempting to coerce an NPC, you are more likely to succeed.
31. When the DM is describing a room, you may add one minor terrain feature (DM's discretion).
32. When you are surprised: you are no longer surprised.
33. When an attack hits your fort defense, before damage is announced, that attack misses.
34. When an attack hits your ref defense, before damage is announced, that attack misses.
35. When an attack hits your will defense, before damage is announced, that attack misses.
36. You gain 1 minions worth of XP.
37. A merchant sells you an item for base value.
38. Recharge a Daily Power
39. Automatically Roll a 20
40. DM fails one D20 Roll
41. Gain an action Point
42. Regain 2 healing surges
43. Gain Health as if you spent a healing surge.
44. Until the end of the encounter, you have combat advantage against 1 foe.
45. Until the end of the encounter, enemies take -5 to saving throws to end effects you caused.
46. Use this card when you score a critical on an enemy, that enemy dies.
47. DM will let you roll on something crazy with reasonable chances for success.
48. You gain one standard monsters worth of XP.
49. A Merchant sells you an item for 25% off.
50. You loose your turn. An ally of your choice gains an additional minor, move, and standard action on their turn.
51. You find an item of your choice in your pack worth 30g or less.
52. When you make a death saving throw, you may use your second wind with any roll over 10 (as if you had rolled over 20) if you haven't already used it.


Now some disclaimers: These are still written very quickly in my brainstorming mode. These are all subject to DM approval. Final form of the cards will likely be a picture on one side, title at the top (each card will have its own name), a mechanical description and a bit o' tha old flavor text below that.


Critiques welcome. However; what I would really like are creative ideas for Titles, flavor text, or even whole new cards. An artist or resource for art would also be really nice to get art for each card. Otherwise I will have to do the artwork myself, and it will be less than awesome looking.

Hopefully I will be updating this soon with links to the completed cards fo' printan.


P.S. I know this probably should be in the homebrew forum, but as I was putting it up there, I felt inclined to put it here instead. I think there's enough stuff here to justify it being on the board. If not, sorry.

 

[BeauNiddle]

Not sure about 36 and 48 since I don't give out individual xp awards - I prefer the whole group to be on the same.

45 probably needs a bit of toning down as well (is it meant to be all enemies and all saves?)

Are players allowed to trade cards with each other?

But on the whole I like them - we use a similar idea in a Savage Worlds game I play in and they can be quite useful.

Oh and possibly alter 33-35 to state the attack misses but isn't expended (unless somebody else is also effected by the attack)

 

[Lord Xtheth]

Hmm... only yesterday did I mention this as a way to help "recharge abilities" and today there is a full worked out list of cool things to do with reward cards.

I love ENworld!

 

[greyscale1]

Point 1 - Not sure about 36 and 48 since I don't give out individual xp awards - I prefer the whole group to be on the same.

Point 2 - 45 probably needs a bit of toning down as well (is it meant to be all enemies and all saves?)

Point 3 - Are players allowed to trade cards with each other?

Point 4 - Oh and possibly alter 33-35 to state the attack misses but isn't expended (unless somebody else is also effected by the attack)

Okay, here, have some responses:

Point 1: Okay! Thats how I used to do it, but then I found myself wanting to reward players for individual things and punish people who blew off the group for some selfish reason or whatever. Theres plenty here to allow for you to remove cards.

Point 2: Not sure what you mean, yes, its powerful, but not THAT powerful. It is only 1 encounter, one player, and saving throws. Don't know how I could make it any clearer, you might be thinking of defenses and not throws. Remember, this is 4e I'm talking about. The only player who REALLY REALLY benefits hugely from 45 is the orbizard.

Point 3: DM's choice, the rules are more a quick 'how I might do it' thing. As for my opinion: yeah, I would let them trade cards, but only at an extended rest. Not in combat.

Point 4: Why would I need to do that? The players are using these cards against the monsters. I can't think of a reason other than PVP when this would come up.


Xtheth: Hivemind, lol.


I was just complaining about how these boards were mostly pointless threads like "Is this opinion valid y/n" or "Im leaving roleplaying games forever, dont try and stop me, boo hoo" or halfhearted, did you hear how WotC failed, did you hear the nasty thing Paizo said about WotC's mom discussion threads.


WELL DAMNIT IF IM NOT GOING TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

 

[GnomeWorks]

Point 2: Not sure what you mean, yes, its powerful, but not THAT powerful. It is only 1 encounter, one player, and saving throws. Don't know how I could make it any clearer, you might be thinking of defenses and not throws. Remember, this is 4e I'm talking about. The only player who REALLY REALLY benefits hugely from 45 is the orbizard.

Sleep in a solo encounter.

That is why handing out the ability to throw a -5 onto somebody's saves is a really bad idea.

 

[greyscale1]

Yes yes, I mentioned the Orbizard. And I know sleep in a solo encounter is insane reguardless. However, I dont think the card needs the nerf just because it is very abusable in that (and perhaps a few other) circumstances. Like I said, in most cases its a very nice encounter boost, It's unlikely that the specialist wizard gets his hands on it - the players get cards randomly, they dont pick them. If you are too worried about a sleepytime wizard in the group getting his hands on this, dont keep it in the deck.

 

[BeauNiddle]

There is also the wizard who casts very large area effect spells with an ongoing component. This card means that everybodies suffers for a long time.

But like you say it's one card, in one encounter, for one person so it all balances out in the long run.

The comment about cards 33-35 was for the BBEG who just used his uber power (recharge on a 6). Is the card designed to negate an enemies power or to negate a hit on that character. The more I think about it the more I'm willing to agree either way.

All in all I really like what you've done and I think you deserve a lot of credit. I just like nit-picking

 

[greyscale1]

Thank you. And thank you for the nit-picks, though I am quick to defend my points, I am still grateful for them.

However, what I am really looking for are some creative and fun titles for these cards.

Things like I dont know 'Evil Eye' for the combat advantage one, like - the character gives his opponent 'the eye' and he is startled into a moment of wrecklessness or someat.

Others, like the recharge ones, could just be simple like Heroic Resurgance, or whatever.

 

[greyscale1]

Revised some of them in the middle, also reduced to 50 so that you can use a d% instead of drawing, update in a bit.

10. Change a 1 on a damage die to its max roll
11. +5 to a Str skill check, if you fail, reroll without the +5
12. +5 to a Con skill check, if you fail, reroll without the +5
13. +5 to a Dex skill check, if you fail, reroll without the +5
14. +5 to a Int skill check, if you fail, reroll without the +5
15. +5 to a Wis skill check, if you fail, reroll without the +5
16. +5 to a Cha skill check, if you fail, reroll without the +5
17. You find an item of your choice in your pack worth 30g or less.
18. When you make a death saving throw, you may use your second wind with any roll over 10 (as if you had rolled over 20) if you haven't already used it.
19. When you would be reduced to 0 hp, you are only rendered unconcious and do not need to make death saving throws.
20. Recharge all utility powers
21. Recharge all Encounter Powers
22. Pick an Encounter Power, until the end of the encounter you may use that Encounter power as an At-Will. After the encounter you may not use that power for the rest of the day.
23. Use this power when you score a critical hit with a daily power. That power is not expended.
24. Until the end of the encounter, all of your at wills have +3 to hit.
25. When you use Forced movement on an enemy, double the distance moved.
26. Until the end of the encounter, add 1 to your critical hit range. (i.e. 20 becomes 19-20, 19-20 becomes 18-20).
27. When you hit an enemy with an attack, you may choose to render them prone and immobilized until the start of your next turn.
28. Take 10 on a skill check.

 

[Baron Opal]

Cool idea. It makes me wish I still had a deck of Torg cards. Also reminds me of Barsoomcore's cards.