Abilities As Rewards

[Easy_Lee]

Has anyone ever played in or run a campaign where things like skills, languages, spells, or even feats and abilities were given as rewards for completing a task? How was the system implemented, and did you have problems with balance? I have a suspicion that, since the action economy is so closely controlled in 5e, such a system could be more manageable now.

[XianTheCoder]

Has anyone ever played in or run a campaign where things like skills, languages, spells, or even feats and abilities were given as rewards for completing a task? How was the system implemented, and did you have problems with balance? I have a suspicion that, since the action economy is so closely controlled in 5e, such a system could be more manageable now.

On the rare occassion I DM, I've used the Renown System from the DMG to impart abilities. The way I have it work is the players who choose to spend time "ranking up" in their guild/organizations are granted a small and limited use bonus at rank 1 (something like a +2 to research a topic while in the organizations facilities), at Rank 2 you get some advantage that's more mobile, but can be taken away (Like a +2 bonus to intimidate anyone in a city if you are part of the city guard). At Rank 3, they get a permanent ability that can't be taken away (like a feat, extra cantrip, special ability), which represents the education/training they recieved during their time with the organization. At Rank 4 they would get something like a magic item, but no one has ever gotten that far in one of my games.

I codified these benefits into the renown system mostly to give players the feeling of prestige classing without needing to actually have prestige classes. The goal was to give players a means to get those 1-2 abilities that they really need for their character that otherwise aren't available or are only available with 3.5 style dips, without opening up so many options the game breaks. The key is to make sure you figure out what your players want, and then make relevant organizations that can provide those benefifts in a balanced way.

So far it's worked out well... because every player has the same opportunity, I have no qualms with rewarding the players that follow the organization plots and not rewarding those that make other choices (every little league player doesn't get a trophy in my league). This system also provides me with a nice little carrot to lure the players along the "correct" path/plot.

A friend of mine just takes the Epic Boons system and uses that, but it just feels strange to me to have Boons at lower levels. Boons are mechanically and thematically vastly different in their intended application from using them as a means of granting a player a special ability or specific feat, so it just feels wrong. That's just me though.

[DivisibleByZero]

What we do, and have done for a very long time, is to track what a character's next level will be. Each time a level is gained, you also tell the DM what level you'll be taking next time you level up and any important decisions that you will be making for that level. During the course of play during that level, you learn bits and pieces of the next level. So instead of suddenly everyone at the table has a bunch of new abilities all at the exact same moment, they get distributed out over time and can be RP'd.

Example1: You are a wizard 4, next level will be wizard 5. That scroll you found as loot, the one that is 3rd level, that one that you can't cast? If you want to start practicing it, you can add it to your spellbook right now, but when you cast it, it will do half damage or have a reduced effect or roll on the wild magic chart, or all three, until the DM says that you've mastered it.

So we basically break the next level into pieces that can be RP'd during this level, and hand them out. You only have the abilities that are on your sheet for this level unless the DM says otherwise. It's actually pretty great for RP purposes. Like when a sorcerer casts a spell.... but that spell actually happens as a spell he was planning on taking next level instead of what he was planning. Now he's discovered a new talent!

Once the level is actually attained, those pieces come together as a whole and you gain full use and extra HP, etc.

[Shining Wrath]

I suppose you could view the 250 GP / 250 days price for learning a language or a tool to be a way to turn coin into new PC capabilities. You might adapt that for skills; the problem might not be the time required so much as finding someone capable of training you in, e.g., Insight.