Is rewarding the best roleplayers considered Favoritism?

[Harzel]

Rewards for RP - my opinion:
1) Mechanical reward such as to-hit or damage bonus - not a fan of this.
2) Inspiration - ok, but not for the same stunt over and over again
3) Spiced-up narration - good
4) Story-based, e.g., recognition from NPCs - best

 

[Immoralkickass]

You shouldn't reward fluff/RP. If i said I hit an enemy, but describe how passionate and angry I feel when i hit, do i get extra d4 damage? I would think I do. Everyone would think they do, and they would do it every time. Not only that, they would always say they hit it just like the previous attack, but with more 'feel'. So, extra d6 damage please?

You would also cheapen the spells and abilities that add extra damage, like Enlarge, Divine Favor etc.

 

[lall]

I dislike the "Dance, Monkey Dance" mentality, so I dish everything out equally.

 

[hastur_nz]

Yep, loads of good agreement here, I'll just add that different people get different things out of playing D&D - people like me enjoy being the centre of attention, so over the top role-play is something I enjoy from time to time. But don't reward me for it, I'm already getting what I enjoy through the others at the table putting up with me hogging the spotlight. Other folks, enjoy other aspects of RPG games, so trying to force them into OTT role-play is just not going to work for them, they won't thank you for it, and they might even resent you favouring others who do like the spotlight more.

 

[guachi]

I'm another vote for inspiration.

I'm also voting for Iserith's method of awarding it. We've had multiple discussions here about inspiration and the common response from DMs is they are bad about remembering to award it. So allowing the players to claim it is a good option. Also, I like the idea of limiting it to once per category per session.

Another thing I do with inspiration is allow the PCs to choose to use the inspiration die after rolling the initial die.

 

[Li Shenron]

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)?

I wouldn't call it 'favoritism' but on the other hand I certainly would not give any reward.

In the very first few sessions I ever DMed a game (almost 20 years ago) I did that, I gave out bonus XP for good roleplay. It just didn't feel right to me. First of all, it's too subjective (just to give you an idea... I am not in your game so I don't really know how it plays out, but the way you described your friend doing 'parkour' moves gave me such an image of dorkiness that I would be tempted to actually grant him a penalty just for fun). Second, it creates false expectations that you will reward the same again, and so it may actually encourage repetitiveness. Third, it will indirectly punish players who are less interested in roleplay or narrative flourishes.

The latter point is the most important, because unless the whole group shares the same individual playing style and skills (in which case you may end up with everyone earning about the same amount of RP bonus XP, making the bonuses themselves almost pointless), you will be rewarding only one aspect of playing the game well. But then what if another player is not interested in that and instead more focused on tactical play? What if another player is mostly focused on solving the plot and uncovering the mysteries? For fairness, you should be rewarding those as well, because they are too ways to "play well".

YMMV, but personally I just keep it simple and always give the same XP to every PC, and that's because I treat XP as a reward to the characters, not to the players! The players are rewarded by having fun playing the game, and a player who roleplays well is self-rewarded.

 

[Baldurs_Underdark]

As the OP of this thread I just want to thank you all for the replies. It's great to get some positive criticism and ideas, especially when you're stuck in a particular problem. I am gonna go with the idea of just giving out a one-time inspiration, and no other bonus. I'll encourage players to remind me sometimes that inspiration is a thing that I can give out, and I have decided to make a house rule that allows players to accumulate a max. of 2 inspiration points (rather than 1).
The arguments given in this thread were great and they helped me to better put myself (as DM) in the position of the players.

Thanks all!

 

[AmerginLiath]

Expand the thought beyond “reward roleplaying” to “reward adding extra to the game.” Some players add lots of flourishes to their characters and spice up the experience at the table. Others can’t get into their role beyond 5he third person but are the ones who think up the insane plans no one else could which give the actor-types that chance to run up the dragon’s back in the first place. It’s all about the collaboration, so consider what extra part everyone at the table has played beyond the expected show-up-and-roll-dice and reward them for that (because different players, as different people, will show up with different skills).