Special combat rewards for players?

[Brendanicus]

So, my players are entering into a gladiator event that involves fighting monsters.
They will earn special bonus prizes for completing certain challenges during the fights. I've come up with a few already:
Complete a match only using melee.
Complete a match only using ranged attacks.
Kill foes using hazards in the arena.
Complete the match without taking damage
Get one monster to kill another monster.


Can you come up with any other cool challenge ideas?

[INDYSTAR188]

What are the rewards for completing a challenge?

[Gastronomie]

Well, the players are gladiators, right? In the modern 21st century, what makes the crowd wild in a baseball game? I suppose there are a lot of candidates, but the easiest one to understand is the Home Run. The crowd wants the fighters to unleash their badassness, prove how awesome they are.

Something like these:
Any player rolls two or more criticals during the fight (the more criticals, the more points. This makes the Champion an actually pretty solid choice)
A player kills X or more enemies during his single round (X can change depending on the nature of the enemies)
Over X enemies are, over the course of the fight, killed in one blow (X can change depending on the nature of the enemies. Makes Paladins and Blasters pretty fun)


I think these are simple, to the point, and also "realistic", from the viewpoint of "what the crowd wants to see".

Of course, you can add alternative "bonus points", like:
Kill foes while very low on HP or with a detrimental condition, such as being Restrained or Poisoned
Entire party ends with low HP

[Rogozhin]

Killing multiple enemies with one attack could make the crowd go wild...

Alternatively ending a match without damaging your opponent could be interesting (ie incapacitating without affecting hit points).

[Sigreid]

disabling an enemy with out actually harming them.

Defeating an armed opponent while unarmed.

Defeating multiple opponents while fighting alone.

Defeating a monster with petrifying gaze.

Defeating aquatic monsters in an arena filled with water and no where to rest.

Just a few awesome ideas.

[Socratov]

You know, Gladiatorial combat has as much to do with actual combat as wrestling does with fighting. It's show business. Given, a very bloody one at that, but definitively showbusiness. And Showbusiness (it's in the name) is two things: 'show' and 'business'. As long as the players understand that it's a business first and that they are there to entertain they will quickly come to the conclusion that they need to put on a show. To successfully put on a show, you nee style: badass boasts and making them true.

No public likes to see a cake walk. No public likes to see a match of struggles. that's boring. The crowd wants to see steel flashing, blood flying, magic sparking. The fights need to be flashy, inefficient and drawn out. If you are the stronger party, play cat and mouse. If you aren't, set-up potshots and keep moving.

You should reward your players based on style. Any time they make a decisive strike, blow or anything, let them roll perform (with advantage/disadvantage based on effectiveness/flashyness), and have that result influence the crowd or fill some kind of meter or scale. That end result will act as a multiplier to the money and exp the players earn. Sure, the categories you have picked can contribute, but you should keep that quiet, and before they enter, tell them to put on a good show and describe what the crowd does after the perform checks. And do tell them beforehand that they will earn more or less based on how much the crowd loves them and how great the show was.

[Slipperychicken]

Win a match wielding only your enemies

Hard mode: In a match where all enemies are medium-sized or larger