Powerful boon ideas

[The Cats]

I'm running a game with an elf ranger who really, REALLY wants a dragon companion. Instead of saying "No that's too powerful" I've decided I'll give her one with some limitations (It will be a wyrmling, unless some story stuff happens to advance its age, she has to make animal handling checks to be sure it does what she says (I know, they're not really 'animals' but it at least makes animal handling useful for her!), she has to provide it with a horde to keep it with her, stuff like that) and give the other players equally cool boons.

I've asked the others to let me know if there's anything really cool they want their characters to be able to do but they're all very new to the game so they haven't come up with anything (yet).

The other players are

Wood elf Wizard (the player enjoys resource management and complicated systems)
Tielfing Ancients Paladin (the player really gets into the story and like role playing but doesn't use his abilities often for fear of needing them later)
Dwarf Battlemaster (The player prefers simplicity: His maneuvers are all reactive (like parry) and he likes to just hit things in combat)

They're currently fighting a cult of a great old one so I was thinking for the Wizard something could open her mind and grant her psionic powers, giving her a few psi points and letting her choose one psionic discipline fro the Mystic class.

For the paladin, I already plan on him finding a magic sword that was lost from his Paladin order in ages past. The design I have right now lets him make a bonus attack against anything affected by his channel divinity and recharges his channel divinity whenever he slays a fiend with it, as well as trapping the fiend's 'soul' (it may get corrupted and gain sentience with enough soul).

For the fighter, their patron NPC quest giver guy is a tinkerer rock gnome, so maybe he'll be gifted a suit of clockwork armour that improves him somehow? The fighter also likes smithing (specializing in axes) so maybe something related to that?

All these ideas are kind of half-baked and I don't know if they're on the same level of cool (or power) as a pet dragon so I throw it to the forum for suggestions.

EDIT: This thread is not for debating this wisdom of giving the ranger a dragon or for suggestions on implementing a dragon companion. That, I can handle. I am looking for suggestions for the other players.

[Decstarr]

Has to be big ass boons to stay on par with a pet dragon for sure :P

Somewhere here I read of a character concept about a wizard having an invisible pixie familiar. I think that'd be pretty powerful and immensely fun to roleplay if the other PCs just think their Wizard suddenly starts talking to the air and knows things he shouldn't know. I think an invisible pixie familiar is a pretty cool boon.

Are your players creative? Because if so you could just throw a bunch of stuff at them and see how they use it. My guys found an everlasting keg, an alchemy jug and now a cask of cold which cools everything in a 200feet radius to a neat 32-33 degrees fahrenheit. They spent the better half of the last session planning their beer brewery and supplying cold bear monopoly. The gnome bard is a tinkerer, so he'll be able to build the piping system necessary for that... That could be seen as a boon but only works with inventive players.

For your battlemaster: Could have him find an ancient description of a certain armor which he'd need to gather all the components and build it himself. Could be something that either buffs up his AC or maybe "The Armor of Nevercrits": Any Critical Hit against the target remains a hit, but only deals the normal damage it would've dealt on an ordinary hit. Or it could be a legendary item tailormade for a dwarfen battlemaster that he could level up with his deeds and that would gradually improve his prowess by e.g. adding an additional maneuver die, adding new maneuvers and the like. If he prefers simplicity, that could be to his liking I think.

For the Wizard, Gnorm's Puzzle Box could be interesting I guess, it is part of Weapons of Legacy (http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/172549/Weapons-of-Legacy) that you can get for "pay what you want" on drivethrurpg.

No idea for the Paladin, sorry!

[N810]

For the fighter, their patron NPC quest giver guy is a tinkerer rock gnome, so maybe he'll be gifted a suit of clockwork armour that improves him somehow? The fighter also likes smithing (specializing in axes) so maybe something related to that?

Perhaps have it be something like:
+2 plate armor of clockwork defense,
you can spend a reaction and gain resistance to
cold, fire, or lightning for one minute or until
you change it again.

I would imagine it's something like a suit that modifies itself
and sprouts arms that reconfigure and swap pieces of the armor,
with rugged clockwork mechanisms.

[Burley]

Give them all dragons. Then, give everybody in the world dragons.

Did you mention to the party that they're now in the universe where "dragon" is the word for "old potato?"

I would suggest not giving all the players "stuff" all at once. Spread it out and let each player have their time to shine. If you wanna let the Ranger find a dragon egg and hatch it, that'd be some interesting roleplay, and it'll give you time to see how the party reacts to it. Maybe, they'll all embrace the new party mascot and you won't have to give them each a potentially difficult to deal with present.

[Maxilian]

Ermmmm why not go by something RAW that could also be fun? let the Ranger find a book on Dragon Rituals, in this case, rituals you do with dragonblood, to create Half-Dragons (accordingly to the template in the MM, it can affect Beasts too) -After that if he would want to "improve" his pet even further, just take magic items and reflavored them somehow (like a Boots of Flying become, mechanical wings created by a not so trustworthy gnome that work for X amount of time) and so on.

[The Cats]

Give them all dragons. Then, give everybody in the world dragons.

Did you mention to the party that they're now in the universe where "dragon" is the word for "old potato?"

I would suggest not giving all the players "stuff" all at once. Spread it out and let each player have their time to shine. If you wanna let the Ranger find a dragon egg and hatch it, that'd be some interesting roleplay, and it'll give you time to see how the party reacts to it. Maybe, they'll all embrace the new party mascot and you won't have to give them each a potentially difficult to deal with present.

Bonus points if I bring actual potatoes as props to the session.


They won't be getting everything all at once. The ranger already has a dragon egg and I've told her it will take some time and knowledge she doesn't have right now to hatch it. I plan have the rest of the boons be distributed in a suitably significant way.



Ermmmm why not go by something RAW that could also be fun? (snip)

There is no RAW for altering a beast companion like you suggest. Why not go by what she asked for and give her a dragon?



Has to be big ass boons to stay on par with a pet dragon for sure :P (snip)

Well it'll be a wyrmling to start, c'moooon!
Some good ideas here. Definitely like the idea of the fighter making his own item. I think he'd like that too.

[Basement Cat]

One homebrew boon I came up with for paladins is: Laying on Hands: "Charisma bonus + Level * 5" rather than "level*5" for the amount of points they can heal.

It can seriously increase a party's healing resources.

[The Cats]

One homebrew boon I came up with for paladins is: Laying on Hands: "Charisma bonus + Level * 5" rather than "level*5" for the amount of points they can heal.

It can seriously increase a party's healing resources.

I like stuff like this. Improving abilities or giving new abilities feels more fun to me than just flat stat boosts.

[Corran]

Ok, I have read little of the op and the replies to it, so I dont know if this is a good idea or if anyone else suggested it so far. But why dont you have the ranger be a beast master (preferablythe revised one, which I think gets a much better animal companion in term of the companion's survivability), and refluff the animal companion to be a wurmling (advancing its size/age when the ranger hits appropriate levels)?

[Mortis_Elrod]

Have you looked a Guard drakes(volos)? maybe instead of a wyrmling a Ranger gets one of those. Dragons are strong (and what you suggest is that it will grow until it becomes adult one day? or that it stay wyrmling forever?).

But heck if you think you can handle it you're the DM so.....

Give the paladin a weapon that gives spell slots back when it kills something. That way the paladin can overcome the that fear of not having resources when needed. (might also make him kill happy. still character development is character development).

Give the fighter something simple. a specialy forged Omibane Axe. an Axe that gives vulnerability to whatever it hits. Everything is vulnerable to this hateful weapon (immunities become normal. resistance and normal become vulnerable).

Give the wizard a way to make a new spell. a Create Spell on the Fly spell. (kinda like a minor wish) that can mimic another spell of the same level or lower or you can choose from a list of options the spell's effect.

[The Cats]

Ok, I have read little of the op and the replies to it, so I dont know if this is a good idea or if anyone else suggested it so far. But why dont you have the ranger be a beast master (preferablythe revised one, which I think gets a much better animal companion in term of the companion's survivability), and refluff the animal companion to be a wurmling (advancing its size/age when the ranger hits appropriate levels)?

She's using the revised ranger. The problem with that idea is that just refluffing say, a panther, just makes for a panther with scales. She's looking for a flying, fire-breathing beastie. So I'd have to re-fluff and add dragony stuff which is effectively the same as giving her an actual dragon with altered stats and the pounce ability. May as well use a real wyrmling and scale the stats down a little at that point.



Have you looked a Guard drakes(volos)? maybe instead of a wyrmling a Ranger gets one of those. Dragons are strong (and what you suggest is that it will grow until it becomes adult one day? or that it stay wyrmling forever?).

But heck if you think you can handle it you're the DM so.....

Yeah I looked at those. They just don't do much that's actually dragonny. I would end up giving it the half-dragon template and wingswhich, well, see above. I'm also considering a re-skinned and tweaked magma mephit. It all depends on what level the party is when she finally manages to hatch that egg.

It probably won't become an adult unless the campaign lasts to the high-high levels. The ranger does have aspirations to ride it at some point though so it will become young at some point at least.


Give the paladin a weapon that gives spell slots back when it kills something. That way the paladin can overcome the that fear of not having resources when needed. (might also make him kill happy. still character development is character development).

This was my thought with the sword that recharges channel divinity, though it's not quite as useful as what you're proposing. I don't think I want to make it recharge on killing just anything, since my party is already a little too stab-happy.


Give the fighter something simple. a specialy forged Omibane Axe. an Axe that gives vulnerability to whatever it hits. Everything is vulnerable to this hateful weapon (immunities become normal. resistance and normal become vulnerable).

Very cool. Maybe work the blacksmithing into it somehow like he can use his skill to alter it during a long rest to have additional effects. Also using the idea Decstarr proposed: He learns how to make the axe but has to collect rare ores and forge it in a volcano or something. Make for a cool personal quest line.


Give the wizard a way to make a new spell. a Create Spell on the Fly spell. (kinda like a minor wish) that can mimic another spell of the same level or lower or you can choose from a list of options the spell's effect.

This I don't think would work. One of the ways I've been rewarding the wizard is with finding spellbooks and scrolls to add spells to her book. If she could just wish for any spell that renders those rewards obsolete.

[Mortis_Elrod]

This was my thought with the sword that recharges channel divinity, though it's not quite as useful as what you're proposing. I don't think I want to make it recharge on killing just anything, since my party is already a little too stab-happy.

Well its suppose to be strong. The ranger is gonna become a Dragon Rider. Maybe limit it to outsiders? Fey/Fiend/Celestial/Aberrations/Monstrosities? Make it a weapon that is fueled by Extraplanar souls, it can hold spell points based off of the cr or how many souls it consumed? (also make ti actually kill them and not send them back to their home plane). That way the Ancients Paladin protects this realm from those who would control/interefere/cause chaos and harm to it.



Very cool. Maybe work the blacksmithing into it somehow like he can use his skill to alter it during a long rest to have additional effects. Also using the idea Decstarr proposed: He learns how to make the axe but has to collect rare ores and forge it in a volcano or something. Make for a cool personal quest line.

Rancor the Axe of Enmity hates all things equally. Thus it must be forged of what all things hate equally. Adamantine/Silver/Cold Iron/Magical Steel. The forge need to be hot enough for the ores to mix at different temperatures, but also be cooled by natural running water. A forge in a volcano on an island next to a river or waterfall is best. The Volcano and waterfall add the natural cold and fire damage, for things are weak to those as well, so we must add the other damage types things are vulnerable to. The axe will have a weight to it like no other, making it bludgeon as well as cut. Each strike of the hammer must be charged with the sound of Thunder, so it can shatter any barrier or construct. Shined with the psychic energies of an elder brains cerebral fluids, so it naturally battles the mind. And blessed by a god upon completion so it can deliver divine radiance.




This I don't think would work. One of the ways I've been rewarding the wizard is with finding spellbooks and scrolls to add spells to her book. If she could just wish for any spell that renders those rewards obsolete.

Then a way to combine magical effects of two spells of the same school into one spell? Fireball+Lightningbolt = Lightning Flame burst. 150 ft cone 9th level. bunch of damage? Or if the wish spell couldonly copy spells the wizard knew? .....Hrmmmm. What kind of wizard is he? and what spells does he like the most?

[JellyPooga]

For the Wizard who likes complex systems and resource management, you can't go far wrong with "Power Components"; special material components that he can use to cast his spells with bigger, badder and/or more generally awesome effects. Perhaps borrowing Sorcerer Metamagic on a limited scale would be a good place to start, but make it a resource thay must be replenished in town or by locating the "power components" somehow.

For ideas on what components might be appropriate, look no further than the components needed for the spells you want to improve; for instance, Fireball requires bat guano, so perhaps it's power component is giant bat or Darkmantle poop.

[The Cats]

(snip)

Coooool. the paladin sword will work perfectly if we say all those creature types are otherworldly or unnatural. Gonna come across plenty of those in most adventures. Maybe I'll have him find it soon with the original abilities I described but as it devours more souls it will grow in power.

Also cool axe bro.

I really like both your and jellypooga's ideas for the wizard. Maybe I'll try combining them somehow. Power raegants that allow her to combine spells.

[The Cats]

So the edit button is being all nopey on me.

Your questions about the wizard: She is a divination wizard and likes to support and control in combat. She uses a lot of utility spells out of combat too since the party doesn't have a skill monkey.

[Basement Cat]

I like stuff like this. Improving abilities or giving new abilities feels more fun to me than just flat stat boosts.

Giving a stat-influenced boon also encourages the players to max out the benefits by increasing the stat rather than, say, going for Heavy Armor Mastery.

Suddenly they start to care about non-combat stats more than usual.

[busterswd]

Another suggestion for the wizard: an ioun stone that has a connection to a future version of herself in a slightly different multiverse. The future isn't immutable, so sometimes her alterego won't have the relevant advice or answers she needs, but there's also a big event coming up in the distant future that they need to work together to solve that will affect not only the two of them, but presumably all of their alteregos.

Mechanically, the ioun stone becomes a repository of all her spells known for purposes of memorization (she can consult her future self in case there's something she forgets).

Once per week, at the end of a long rest, she can consult her future self for answers to a specific query she has (ala Divination). Once per day, the stone warns her in advance about something her actions will cause (extra Portent roll).

The stone also attunes with her magical aura and reacts to potentially useful spell components (combining with JellyPooga's idea). You can prod her into using materials that may have unexpected effects on her spells that she can experiment with (for example, she may discover faerzress).

Add whatever other straight up numerical bonuses and such as you see fit.


As for the Paladin, I'd play on his Ancients oath and give him a sword that grants him a passive aura based on the terrain the party is it, that can be consumed for a temporary effect. The aura comes back online after 1 hour.


If they're in a city, all social and perception/insight skill checks gain +1. If he or a party member fails a social/perception check, he can consume the aura to grant a reroll.
If they're in a forest, the party gains +2 to Stealth checks. If he consumes the aura, the party gains +1 AC and +1d10 temp HP for the next minute.
If they're underground, the party gains superior Darkvision. If consumed, they gain Tremorsense and Blindsight for 1 minute.
etc.


The idea is to create an item that has always-on benefits, with a minor but useful active that he gets back easily.