Powers as rewards?

[greekapino]

I'm a first time DM and I was wondering if giving my players powers as rewards instead of treasure occasionally would break the game?

 

[Syrsuro]

I think that depends on the meaning of the word "occasionally"

Carl

 

[00]

Design them as if they were items... (use existing items as a baseline)

"Diamond Flesh"
Wondrous Item
Lvl 7 gp
Power (Daily): Minor Action. You have immunity to damage until the end of your next turn.


Math.. and reasoning...

Based on Scarab of Invulnerability.. item Lvl 30.
Amulet of Protection +6 .. item Lvl 26

Removing the Amulet of prot.properties from the scarab of invulnerability properties [30 Lvl - 26 Lvl]
30 - 26 = item level 4

breaking the standard item slot for the scarab of protection [+1 Lvl]
4 + 1 = 5

Making the "item" non-targetable.. can't be stolen... [+2 Lvl]
5 + 2 = 7

** Scarab of Invulnerability has a minimum item Lvl of 30.. meaning that it is designed for Epic tier ONLY, thus this power is ONLY designed for EPIC characters...

 

[Verision]

I'm a first time DM and I was wondering if giving my players powers as rewards instead of treasure occasionally would break the game?

If by "occasionally" you mean "when they level up", then no, that wouldn't break the game.

Otherwise, yes, yes it would.

 

[greekapino]

When I say occasionally I mean maybe every 3 or 4 quest in place of the regular rewards, especially for side quest rather than related to my storyline, and 00 although the idea of making them is novel I'm still trying to get the hang of DMing and don't feel I'm ready for making items based around powers and I'm looking for something a bit more permanent and specialized towards my players like just awarding them an additional ecounter or utility of their choice their level or lower as the quest reward

 

[Pielorinho]

How I'd handle it is this: I'd treat them like invisible non-transferable magic items. The main effect is that these quest-reward powers would then mesh with the rules on page 226 for using item powers: you're limited in your uses of these powers, no matter how many cool magic items (or quest-reward powers) you have.

Do it that way, and give the powers "treasure levels" to mesh with the treasure parcel rules in the DMG, and I don't think you'll have any problem at all.

Daniel

 

[Raven Swords]

I would suggest that if the power you give out is combat orientated then it has to be balanced out by making it a power that uses an item slot (works as a magic item or is usable once only) or can be taken instead of one of the characters normal powers.

If this is a completely new additional power, so long as its not to powerful you should get away with it. But quite quickly you will find the PC's capable of dealing with bigger threats and should consider reducing xp awards to compensate.

Non-combat powers need not be so carefully balanced, but you do need to consider if you are making one character more "powerful" than the others.. Having one character dominate is just no fun for the other players and is a real problem to correct.

 

[Quartz]

An extra feat every now and then shouldn't harm things, especially if it's extra skills training.