Reward ideas for epic characters

[questionmark]

In the gane i am dming the group has just gone epic. I am having a hard time on rewards at the end of a quest. NOt the stuuf they find along the way but the final thank you gift from the grateful whatever. What are some of the rewards that you guys and Gals have used? Dont want to believe that all their is to it is upgrading their items. I would like to reward them with some EX or SU abilities or something like that but I am having trouble finding a balance between being an reward wothy of epic characters without unbalancing game.
The chars are:
Super ac monk that does can do his share of damage with his to +5 holy bracers
A crazy strong fighter/barbarian that crushes enemies with a mercurial greatsword(Icrit 19-20X4)
A fire gensai wizard that focused on destructive magic
a elven super dex ranger archer.has a +5 composite holy longbow.
The end reward will be given out by celestials
any ideas?

 

[Limper]

Favors akin to a "get out of jail free" card are very nice... like the effect of the Fates Card from the Deck of Many Things.

There are more than a few cards in there that would be great rewards.

Also things like +2 (unnamed) permanant bonus to their Lowest att is very nice and character building.

 

[astralpwka]

I see epic as being events that sweep the characters into them, like superheroes in comic books. "With great power comes great responsibility" and all that. Items that award planar travel to key planes, or something like "For completing this quest, I grant you the ability to summon one of my powerful followers one time in the future", or granting the characters a one time true resurrection, or a private demi-plane related and connected to the celestials' plane, OR!!! give them a reward that the celestial thinks is good, and the characters have to take or risk offending the celestial, such as marrying a follower of the celestial...

 

[Endur]

The best rewards become a part of the character concept over time.

The male fighter is introduced to female royalty and they fall in love.

The monk discovers that a whole school has organized around his traditions and wants him to teach them.

The wizard discovers a previously undiscovered source of magic that requires extensive research on the elemental plane of fire.

The ranger is invited to live in a Celestial Forest, primeval and perfection.

 

[Xeriar]

In line with Endur's, I would have begun campaign-forming riddles awhile ago, but it's never too late to start...

The riddles are a series of cryptic quests (find the first kiss, climb the lowest mountain, etc.) that grant them something special ("And thou shall never go hungry.")

Eventually, as the list of powers they gain slowly builds up, they might recognize it from D&DG...

 

[Halivar]

My last campaign as a player, my DM gave me diddly-squat. Of course, by the time I got to level 20, I had already built a trans-planar shipping corporation and a kingdom and a giant platinum fortress with millions of worshipping vassals. So I guess the real reward was being allowed to do all that without it being rule 0'd away from me (rule 0'd is to me in the first place).

I would count the +5 keen vorpal holy blessed greatsword Bahamut gave my character, but he took it back after the climactic battle.

I wonder if a trans-planar shipping baron can afford to have one of those made for him?