Rewarding Players for Trying New Things

[TeeHee]

I am going to run a Pathfinder campaign soon based loosely off of Silly_Comic's Edrigar Mafia Campaign. For those of you unfamiliar with the campaign, it is a sandbox game set mostly in a city where the players are all part of a crime organization and most are evil. PvP is allowed so long as there is a strong story reason. Because of the high character turnover rate (the game will be somewhat lethal) and the fact that we are all heading off to college soon, I want players to try out new classes. Certain players always play the same classes and that can get boring for me to DM.

So my question is:
What is a reward that is sufficient enough to encourage players to branch out from their traditional classes and roles but not so powerful it gives them a huge advantage over other players in a PvP game? I am okay with an advantage, just not a ridiculous one. My group is somewhat optimized and has a little experience with Pathfinder. I understand that the classes are already going to be unequal but I hope that switching up classes along with secret notes and such will mitigate some of the influence of the tiers. The campaign is going to be more story-focused I hope, so that will also cut down on PvP deaths making this less of an issue.

Note: I am not asking for opinions on the merits of rewarding players for coming out of their comfort zone. I appreciate that some people just love to play certain classes and races all the time, which is why I am not banning them completely from using their traditional classes, I just want there to be incentive for them to try something new. I simply am asking for ideas on how to make this feasible.

I was thinking of having more than one "tier" of reward: Like maybe they get a bonus trait for trying out a new class in the same general role (like a wizard to sorceror) or two bonus feats for trying out a class in a different role (from wizard to rogue, for example).

So any ideas what would make this worth it? Bonus feats? Bonus Traits? More race options?

[weckar]

If this IS an organisation-based game, you couls reward them with Leadership ranks?

[Extra Anchovies]

Ban full-spellcasting classes (and the summoner) and call it a day. The only spell lists that aren't available in a Bard-style progression are Witch and Shaman, and you could easily make those lists alternate options for the Bard and Hunter respectively. Locking out the god-wizard and CoDzilla options (along with their spontaneous-casting cousins) makes PvP a heck of a lot more interesting because there aren't full-casters ROFLstomping everyone else, and drastically narrows the gap between the strongest classes and the not-so-strong ones.

[TheYell]

I would put it to your group. What would raise their collective interest in the game? If they can agree on some sort of reward then I would go for it.

I mean I might like something like your Don is owed a favor by a planar ally and can call it due in a crisis, but they might prefer to play rare races as part of an immigrant underworld.

[Honest Tiefling]

Have you spoken to them about it? As someone who...Really does fit the mold of playing only one class, I do have to wonder how your players will feel if you just outright ask them. They'd probably appreciate the heads up and the reasoning behind it more then the rewards. If they know it'll help your enjoyment, hopefully they'll just agree.

As for the rewards, how balanced does it need to be? You could just offer only story rewards. You're the Don's second favorite nephew! You have quite the repuation among the mob! You're sleeping with the mayor's assisstant, who feeds you info about the mayor's office. This doesn't affect character power, but might cut down on the PvP a bit, depending on your tastes. (Whacking the Don's second favorite nephew might not be wise right out the gate)

[icefractal]

The premise of the game makes this a little tricky. In a typical game, I usually like to vary up my character type for variety whether it's encouraged or not. But in a game with PvP, and high deadliness overall, I'd really want a character that I solidly knew the mechanics of, knew how to effectively play them and what to watch out for ... so probably something I've played several times before.

Also, if there's high character turnover ... if my PC dies after half a session, I'm not super-inclined to make a whole new character idea when I have a barely used one sitting right there.

[Sian]

I guess it somewhat depends on the style of play ... If you aim at hi-jinks and high turnover rate such as Shadowrun or Paranoia where death aren't as much of a failure state, its one thing ... but if its 'merely' PvP allowed paired with Killer-DM its a whole other thing.