Perverse Incentives

[Kae'Yoss]

Great idea, but the title is misleading. I was half expecting things involving succubi, erinyes, nymphs, Loviatar priestesses and certain... special equipment.

But here are some things that would have netted us extra XP in the past:

Interrupt the BBEG's speach - but not with "I CHARGE", but with:

• A snarky comment - 100 XP, plus 50 for every party member who laughs at the BBEG
• A spell or action that compells the BBEG to act in a shameful/ridiculous manner - 100 XP or more, depending on the situation.

Other Incentives

• Play to your characters weaknesses and get in trouble because of it - 10% extra XP for the resulting encounter (or 10% of the XP you got had you won, in case you lose or have to flee)
• Convert another PC to your faith - (50 x his character level) XP, or 200 x if it's some sort of priest or champion
• Convince another PC to change his alignment - same as the faith thing
• Deface an enemy faith's altair and suffer divine retribution - 10% extra XP for the resulting encounter (or 10% if you have to flee)
• If caught doing something sneaky, be honest, even if it gets you into trouble: 10% XP, yada yada

We did it, too, without expecting any extra XP:

We made fun of BBEG's: "I haven't killed anyone, but my friend here has several marks on his axe, but he has no axe" - "Oh, I see, a born rhetorician!"

We interrupted a BBEG's actions with magic: "Now, my victims, you will.." - "HIDEOUS LAUGHTER" - ".. ahahahahahahahahah(............)ahaha, oh. Where was I? "You were rolling on the floor laughing like an idiot"

My current evil character (CE drow swordsage, shadow hand and desert wind techniques) often tries to get information from officials (to see how much they knew about our crimes), and because his bluff bonus was so bad, he gave himself away all the time as they instantly knew there was something fishy about him. This would lead to all kinds of fun (either a brutal slaughter - which is always fun - or a mad dash for freedom, being hunted down by half the city watch). I just fear that this won't work any more now that I have have to use a mask of lies to mask my alignment (it grants +10 bluff). Every second city official seems to be a paladin or priest with detect evil prepared.


There was that one incident with a temple of Bane, where we slaughtered all priests, urinated on the altair, and wrote songs and prayers of the Churches of Sune, Eldath and other directly opposed to Bane's dogma into his prayer books, using red lip stick, I think. The Infernal (that epic monster) he sent killed our priest in one round, and we chose to vacate the area.

 

[Gold Roger]

This is a great idea even for a serious game. Should go along well with swashbuckling cards to.

 

[Nifft]

"Name an item that another PC wears / wields / regularly uses. 50 xp for a mundane item, 100 xp for an unidentified magical item. The name must fit both the item and the PC. +200 xp if the name sticks for multiple sessions."

"Start a food-fight in character for 50 xp, plus 25 xp per party member who joins in."

C, -- N

 

[Delemental]

Well, if you truly want to mimic OotS...

Complain, in character, about an issue with the rules. 50 XP

If complaint revolves around changes in rules from previous editions: 100 xp

Make a reference to a Knowledge, Craft, or Perform skill that doesn't actually exist (such as Knowledge (What The Hell You're Talking About)): 50 xp

Succeed on a skill check involving said fictional skill: 100 xp

(Bard only): Make up a song on the spot when providing an Inspire Competence bonus: 100 xp

If performing said song actually hampers the skill check ("Bluff, bluff, bluff the stupid ogre"): 200 xp

Make a joke or pun about another character's feats or class abilities ("I didn't know you had such Great Cleavage"): 50 xp

Speak in an incomprehensible cipher for an extended period: -5000 xp per sentence

 

[Pbartender]

What do you all think?

I think my players do enough of that already without any incentives.

 

[Gold Roger]

I think my players do enough of that already without any incentives.

Great, so you really are a ratbastard DM, even to other DMs, hu?

 

[Aries_Omega]

I love this!! I am so using it. Here are a few that actually happened. I don't remember how much XP I gave for it though.

* Get hit and hurt very badly in EVERY encounter to the point the new player asks if you are the "DM's Beating Post/Whipping Boy/New Monster Tester/etc - +Add 10% to xp from previous encounters.

* Become the DM's Beating Post/Whipping Boy/New Monster Tester/etc and the cleric purposely keeps you stabilized at 0 HP to prevent you from rushing into combat and making him/her heal you yet AGAIN. + ??? XP

* Ask in character what your attack bonus is. + ??XP. BONUS: If asked why in character and you state because I am trying to figure out who to dodge against + an additional +???XP

* Find a ogre slaying knife +?? XP. Bonus: State you have one when the party is in the dungeon and you are in the tavern +??. Bonus: State this while trying to hook up with the ladies +??

* Attacking the "darkness" with magic missile + ?? XP

* Changing your eye color on your character sheet at the last minute when someone else describes your character. + ?? XP

 

[orsal]

Great idea, but the title is misleading. I was half expecting things involving succubi, erinyes, nymphs, Loviatar priestesses and certain... special equipment.

From your "location" I take it English is not your native language. You are confusing "perverse" with "perverted".

 

[Janx]

These are good ideas. Oddly enough, I'm running an OotS like campaign. Real stick figure people.

I'd recommend setting up the bonus XP structure such that its XP * Character level. Thus, the bonuses will be relevant to the PC at all character levels.

Consider that for an average, equal to CR encounter, the PC gets 75 * Character level, I'd scale things in relation to that. 50XP for easier goals, 100XP for harder goals.

I'd also be careful to not have any goals that would result in less fun for everyone. Killing other PCs, hogging the spotlight, disrupting the game, for instance. Overall, the ideas I see here are good.

 

[Goddess FallenAngel]

From your "location" I take it English is not your native language. You are confusing "perverse" with "perverted".

Actually, I'm with Kae'Yoss on that, I wondered the same thing before I clicked on the thread.... I'm in America (which claims to have English as a native language), and "perverse" is often used in place of / in the same manner as "perverted".