After being a fan of inherent bonuses for a very long time, I'vecome around to just preferring giving the party lots of residuum and letting them sort it out.
Forsooth. let the players tell their own story. If I as a dungeon master really want some extra cool legendary magical treasure, I can give them a minor artifact.
The treasure parcel system is quite fair, but it is still needlessly complicated. Here is how I work treasure in the Fourth Edition:
1. During the adventure, I roleplay the treasure. “You find a heap of gold coins and other valuable items in the orc chieftain’s chambers.” “You find many trophies, components, treasures and what look like magical items in the wizard’s library.” “You come across a well-stocked armoury.” The players can likewise roleplay what they found immediately: “We shove all the loot on a mule.” “Do I find a wand?” “Indeed you do: when you get out the dungeon, you can figure out what it is.”
2. Add up the total amount of treasure a party should get for a given level (add the gold piece value of the parcels together: there are tables on character optimization boards which give these numbers, but it is not hard to do). Divide this by the number of players: each player will have that abstract number measured in gold pieces, but the treasure can take whatever form they wish.
3. At the end of an adventure (not every session: that is too disruptive), the players can “find out” what they found in the adventure. That is, out of character the player chooses what his character found in the dungeon, limited by the gold-piece value of his portion. Players who cannot be bothered to choose can ask me for an item.
4. This means that players are not limited to one item of a specific level. Under the official system two players cannot choose an item of the same level or get two low level items instead, et cetera. My system allows all the roleplaying during the adventure that people want, but very simple bookkeeping at the end of the day and absolutely no frustration. Indeed, I allow people to save up their treasure points for another level if they imagine some great magical treasure would suit their story better.
