Best rewards?

[Dr TPK]

As a player, what are the best sort of rewards you can get in D&D? In this making the players happy off-game is more important than making the PCs happy in-game. What sort of rewards make the players happiest?

I'm asking this because I've dragged the PCs and the players through hell without any meaningful rewards for a few sessions. Now a powerful duo of golden dragons and a near-epic half-dragon have promised them a "significant" reward and I want to make it extraordinarely special and memorable so I came here to get some hints from fellow playgrounders.

[Der_DWSage]

That's about as open-ended as 'What are the best gifts I can get my family for Christmas?' It relies on knowledge of who they are, what they're about, and all that jazz. Give us some more information on the characters and the players, and you're going to get a more meaningful answer than 'a +1 Keen Sword of some kind.'

[Telonius]

The best rewards are the things that the characters really want. Not necessarily magical items, more like things that would fulfill their reasons for adventuring.

[Nobot]

How about a valuable lesson: negotiate price up front and don't nod happily when a dragon offers you a 'significant reward.':smallsmile:

[Hiro Quester]

Items that grant new abilities the players can use in creative ways to improve their ability carry out their role.

Oritems that can be used in imaginative and creative ways you as DM can't anticipate. For instance, the recent thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?471759-Uses-for-a-strange-magic-item) about the many uses for a 3 ft square piece of silk that can instantly have the strength and hardness and stiffness of 1 inch thick steel, at a free action command word.

[FocusWolf413]

It really depends on the characters. What has their quest been? What are their fighting styles? For example, a paladin or cleric could be given funds to establish a church/stronghold in the area. The dragons could use their influence and connections to give a bard, beguiler, etc controlling shares in a company, an advisory position to nobility, or influence in a news company.

You might want to give them things that relate to their backstories. For example, in the game I'm in, my character has three goals: to terminate his contact of servitude, to find a home for himself and other wood elves where they'll be left alone, and to get revenge against the high elves for their crimes against life. Find something in their backstories and run with it.



Oritems that can be used in imaginative and creative ways you as DM can't anticipate. For instance, the recent thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?471759-Uses-for-a-strange-magic-item) about the many uses for a 3 ft square piece of silk that can instantly have the strength and hardness and stiffness of 1 inch thick steel, at a free action command word.

Someone actually cited one of my threads!!!!!!! Yay!

[Darrin]

The best rewards will have three qualities:

1) Unique and unusual. The most sought-after magic items on MMORPGs are not the items with the highest numbers, but unique items that can't be obtained from the standard quests or random drops. A custom magic weapon with properties that specifically complement the character's fighting style works well here. If it's something "off the shelf" from the DMG or MIC, then add a minor magical effect that differentiates it from every other "by the book" item. For example, any clothing put into a Handy Haversack overnight is cleaned, pressed, folded, and smells faintly of lavender the next morning. Hat of Disguise that can produce a white rabbit 1/week (use the stats for a weasel... maybe even roll a 1d6 behind the screen and on a "6" they get THAT rabbit with the stats of a dire weasel instead.) Gloves of Dexterity +2 that can also cast spider hand 2/day. Even something as simple as a +1 sword with the basic "Light Generation" property (common to 30% of all magic weapons) can be spruced up with a little refluffing: "Yes, the weapon lights up when you draw it, but instead of a glowing blade, the ghostly images of three glowing blue skulls swirl and hover around the blade, snapping at anything that gets too close."

2) Personalized to the character. Beyond just picking something that the character really wants or needs, make a connection to the character's backstory or a memorable event they were involved in. Perhaps that magic sword only produces glowing skulls when held by a firstborn son of the Fireskull Clan. If the item is being given by a dragon as a reward for a quest, the dragon could inscribe it with a special command word: "To commemorate our great victory against the frost giants, just call my name and you will see my dragonfire engulf your enemies!" (fireball 1/day). If a PC did something particularly memorable, like swimming through a gelatinous cube or decapitating a mimic with a sharpened serving platter, then this is where you get Boots of Oozesliding or Battleaxe of Interior Redecorating, and whenever it gets used in a similar situation you may have the players saying, "Oh, hey, remember that one time...?"

3) Scalable as the character levels up. You want the item to still be useful at higher levels even when the PCs have enough GP to upgrade to better items with bigger numbers. This can be very difficult to do in D&D due to the Christmas Tree effect and because almost all magic items in D&D have static effects that don't improve as the character advances. Weapons of Legacy attempted to fix this, but did it badly. You can still use some of the same ideas, though: performing rituals, or investing GP/XP into a weapon to unlock newer or more powerful abilities. There are also items that are just useful no matter what level the PCs are: even level 20 characters still have Handy Haversacks, and open-ended items like Marvelous Pigments can be devastating in the hands of a creative player regardless of what level their character is. Certain magical effects, such as those that exploit or leverage the action economy (swift action movement, doing something like drawing/stowing a weapon as a free action, etc.), will continue to be useful throughout a PC's career, while a longsword +2 becomes just a bunch of trade-in GPs once a longsword +3 drops. Allowing magical effects to be added to an existing item helps, although do it too much and you run the risk of making the Christmas Tree effect worse.

[Âmesang]

Best thing my favorite character received (besides her quasit familiar) was membership into the Cusp of Sunrise private dinner club in The Shackled City Adventure Path, with membership into Bluecrater Academy (and access to its vast library) a close second.

Doesn't do anything to her stats (aside from a +6 circumstance bonus to Knowledge checks), but it's all about that mark of prestige; a character who thinks she's a noble and acts like one (more or less) feeling she's received her due, her rightful position among the aristocracy. Well, guess now all she needs is a proper title… and a scroll of Slerotin's fortitude to study. :smalltongue:

EDIT: I forgot about the " fine silver brooch set with a rich purple amethyst" she received as a reward during The Speaker in Dreams adventure. Not very often a villain gets rewarded for wanton murder and thievery, so it's quite precious to her as it tickles her pink to see good, decent, common folk sink to such depravity. :smallamused:

[Chronos]

It all depends on the character. My most recent character loves nothing more than unearthing some ancient mystery to share with the world. It doesn't matter what it is, but the older and more mysterious, the better. Bonus if he's actually able to unravel the mystery himself.

The character I had before that, his goal was to learn to use his magic properly. Which, unbeknownst to him, basically meant that he wanted a different ancestry, because the way his magic manifested was a result of his ancestry not being what he thought it was. But since he didn't realize that, any first step would have involved him learning the truth, which he wouldn't have been very happy about at all.

Secondarily to that, he really wanted to impress one particular other character, who was actually one of the other PCs, so the DM wouldn't have had anything to do with that.

In either case, of course, things that give mechanical advantages would be appreciated, but only secondarily: The one character would like things that enable him to more effectively search for ancient secrets, and the other would like things that enable his journey of self-discovery. And both would have been happy with things that had no mechanical effect at all.

[Dr TPK]

That's about as open-ended as 'What are the best gifts I can get my family for Christmas?' It relies on knowledge of who they are, what they're about, and all that jazz. Give us some more information on the characters and the players, and you're going to get a more meaningful answer than 'a +1 Keen Sword of some kind.'

Helped the dragons a lot:
Human sorcerer 9/fighter 1 N

Helped little:
Human warmage 8 NG
Human barbarian 7 CG

Did nothing:
Half white dragon wild elf cleric 4 N

[Red Fel]

The best rewards will have three qualities:

1) Unique and unusual.

2) Personalized to the character.

3) Scalable as the character levels up.

These. Think back on your favorite campaigns, your favorite scenes, your favorite loot. I guarantee you these will show up. The first one makes the item memorable - a +4 flaming vorpal longsword, while useful, isn't exactly novel, but a mace in the shape of a fist extending its middle finger is the sort of thing you tell in stories years later. The second makes the item meaningful - an artificial tongue graft that amplifies all of your spells with verbal components is weird and fun and cool, but useless to the sword-swinger of the party. The third makes the item useful throughout the game - having your father's dagger made from the skull of a diseased leper is neat, but if it's only a +1 weapon and you're fighting demigods, it won't come out of your inventory to see the light of day.

After that, it's as everyone else says - "best" varies depending on your party. I had one party where the "best" reward for our gnome was a gnomish-engineered submarine, because hey you guys submarine; for our fitemans, it was a sword, because he was an uncreative tool; for our construct, it was a bag of holding-type chest compartment where he could keep kittens; for our Black Robe Wizard, it was a Robe of Bones with a few perverse modifications; and for our Draconian, it was a certain Lance which might have been related to Dragons. With the exception of the one for the uncreative tool, each reward was neat and useful and personal - an awesome and useful means of transportation that is the proof of the art of his people, a valuable and kinky garment that makes necromancy easy, a kitten box, an artifact whose history parallels his life - they check all of the boxes. (Admittedly, the Lance didn't so much "scale" as "it's as good as the use you can get out of it, because artifact," but still.)

[Vizzerdrix]

How about a valuable lesson: negotiate price up front and don't nod happily when a dragon offers you a 'significant reward.':smallsmile:

This. A thousand times this!

[Randomocity132]

How about a valuable lesson: negotiate price up front and don't nod happily when a dragon offers you a 'significant reward.':smallsmile:

As valuable of a lesson as this is, I don't really feel like this would be the best circumstance to teach them that particular lesson.

Golden Dragons aren't really known for being douchebags about promises like that.

[Ursus Spelaeus]

The greatest reward is friendship.

Good henchman make for valuable rewards.

[Vizzerdrix]

A selection of the finest cheese from throughout space and time :)

[TheNivMizzet]

The tooth of a minor deity, the god of Fire and Bats. Gave me Burning hands (3d6, DC 14 Reflex) at will. Was in tune with my character and was pretty handy, although my Wizard never got into melee so it was mostly used for arson, but it made him detect as Chaotic Evil whenever he was scanned. Thats the reward which stuck with me the most, numbers don't mean much if anyone can get them, and giving them something which can be used creatively is more impressive to them than just another tool.

[Âmesang]

Did said tooth also grant a bonus to Perform (string instruments) checks? :smallcool:

[Chronos]

No, obviously the bonus is to perform: wind instruments (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qw3irJEapM4).

[Quertus]

It depends on the players and their characters. Some people love pillows made of dreams, clothes that transform at will, or a sack of endless flowers. Others want the blood of a god, a maiden's first kiss, and butterfly dreams (ok, that's more 2e item creation components). Others want metal plants that grow vorpal shuriken as flowers, a gem that lets them polymorph at will, their old friend returned to life as a sentient item, or a magical book that lets them learn double the spells known each time they level. Some want a weapon crystal that gives any weapon the vampiric quality, a portion that makes the drinker immune to fire, or an extra arm. Some want food and drink that make them grow/shrink, baubles that light up, a bag full of crunchings and munchings, and a second season of Firefly.

The most memorable items are unique. IF they do something useful, it should remain useful at high levels, if they play the character that long: the ability to bull rush with a 5-foot step, the ability to see in the dark add though in broad daylight - but only under water, automatically purifying all food and drink within 30', etc.

One of my characters has... among other things... a golden snowman earring with ruby belly, which is actually a crystallized drop of Angel blood, suspended in the last remnant of frozen Acadia; the bullet he used to try to kill his friend at an angel's request, bronzed and worn on a chain around his neck; a scrap of the shirt he was wearing when attacked by a werewolf former lover; a toothpick made from the floorboards of his old dojo, which he accidentally burnt down; a never-ending pack of "cigarettes"; a walking stick made of wood grown from the seeds of the fruit of the tree of life, capped in silver, with an imbedded lunar stone; the skull of a demon, a key fob made from a bit of slag from one of a group of cyborgs that attacked him, holding a glass bead with black flecks - said flecks being the last remains of a vampire former adversary; and a syringe from a near death experience.

Another of my characters has a sword given by a now-deceased dwarven king, a cursed bag stolen from the same dwarf king, a sword given in gratitude by a celestial being, a snakeskin belt crafted from a really annoying snake that woke him up, a living second skin, a bow made by his mentor, his "own" right hand (from a mirror duplicate), and a custom cubic gate.

His whole party was abducted from different worlds. He took a GP, plus dirt from their boots, from each, and kept it for many levels. Later, he had the cubic gate crafted to connect to each of their home prime material worlds, using... I sand from the shores of a teleporting island, IIRC, dyed red by adding gold shaved from the GPs; the symbol for each world was painted in a mix of home soil and interplanetary dragon blood. An angel's hair, freely given, is suspended within.

But my signature character? None of this sentimental **** on his sheet. When the DM wanted to give him something special, it was a custom item that provided an untyped +30 bonus to spellcraft. Of course, it did match his colour scheme. ;)

[radthemad4]

Hmm... my favorite reward so far was gaining full access to two domains complete with powers and domain spellslots as a gift from a deity (character wasn't a cleric).

On that note, I think rewards with no mechanical basis that become part of your character are pretty cool. Stuff like extra domains, bonus feats, extra martial maneuvers known, extra spells known (or slots on a prepared caster), extra skill points, a random bonus to a specific skill, having something become a class skill, a free weapon proficiency, acquiring a template of some sort, etc. are pretty great.

Minor rewards can be handed out like candy, e.g. the aristocrat you were escorting never shut up about his lineage, you get a +10 to Knowledge Nobility and Royalty checks in his country, you got the Dwarven weapon proficiencies and learned to speak Dwarf during your time spent with them, etc. with larger rewards for larger quests.