Story based rewards

[yodafett77]

Looking for a story based boon or "extra perk" for some of my characters. This is a homebrew campaign, utilizing Paizo canon material, with just a couple tweaks.

For instance, I have the sorcerer figured out - he is an Aasimar Sorcerer who worships and served under Ragathiel. He was asking about implementing a variety of Sin magic (we're calling it Virtue magic for flavor). He gains access to that after the first story ark, and after completing a section of the arc that is directly related to him (discovering that Ragatheil had a grandson by Jherao that he did not know about, and rescuing him), some of the costs of that will be lowered.

But I'm having trouble nailing down some similar "two-stage" perks for three other characters. I don't want to just hand them a magic item because I can't think of something - but I'm not opposed to that if it's the RIGHT item, if that makes sense? And I'm open to third party stuff, if it is balanced and makes sense. They will all get the "first perk" after completing the first arc, which they are just starting, and they will get the "second part" after their character-specific piece of the story. The flavor is important, and I'm just not as deeply versed with a lot of the nuances of the PF lore and canon as I'd like. Getting prepped for my Masters is eating a lot of free time, unfortunately, lol



The three characters I have left are:

A half-orc Fighter who was a Gray Maiden, but saw the error of their ways after the Queen went round the bend. She repented of her ways and now worships Ragathiel also. Throughout her arc, they will discover that the Queen was manipulated into the actions that caused her downward spiral. Not that the queen was totally innocent, obviously, but that she was given a shove into madness with the Kazavon relics, as it were. I was thinking about a "restored version" of one of the Kazavon items... like the finding the Unbound Blade, but thinking it's a "simple +3 sword" as the first, then learning the rest later.


A Mordant Spire Elf Vigilante, who will learn that the splintering of the ancient Elvish culture into Forest Elves, Mordant Spire Elves, and the mutated Drow was all orchestrated by the Aboleth (who will end up being the big bads of this entire campaign, from a story perspective. Their fishy hands were manipulating all of these events to cause the continued fall of Humankind and other human friendly factions, like Elves or some Fey). I'm REALLY in the woods on her. :-\


Lastly, a Cavalier (Hooded Knight), who has obvious ties to Fey and is a worshiper of NG. I was looking at the Whispering Gloves and Clandestine Horseshoes, but I'm not married to the idea. He has visions that he does not know if they are legitimately from NG or just because he's mad. (I'm managing some of these via dice rolls on if they're applicable to story line or not, and true or not). We will discover some fey being intentionally turned into blighted fey and used by the same forces that are manipulating the Drow. We will be going on at least a brief stroll in the First World as part of this.



Any thoughts or suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated!

[Geddy2112]

For story based rewards, if you go the items route, they all need to be more or less the same power, and the party needs to get them all at once. Ideally in a way that only the character intended gets said item. For some groups, finding a treasure horde leads to a fight over everything of value, even for characters that don't need or can use said item wanting it for GP. If your group is responsible enough to realize the horse guy gets the horse stuff etc, then you can throw it in a pile at the bottom of a dungeon and call it good.This method is not very story based though. You can have them find a shine of Ragathiel and have the deity bestow them each an item, or a cleric/angel of Ragathiel appears like Santa Claus does in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe and hands them each something in particular for being good followers.

I am personally not a fan of items for story based rewards, unless it is BIG reward. I do find traits to be a very good story reward-most of them are things a character develops over time, and so long as you don't give players a trait with a downside everyone tends to be happy. Like items, some traits are FAR more powerful than others, so it is best to either give out the exact same trait, or be careful to pick minor benefits(like +1 to a skill check).
An easy way to filter traits for flavor is to use this search (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/traits/) and type in adjectives, races, keywords, or other random words in the name or benefit section and see what comes up. So if you want to give the cavilier a fey or first world trait, search for fey and you find several fun traits.

[yodafett77]

Good feedback, thank you!

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Geddy2112
I do find traits to be a very good story reward-most of them are things a character develops over time, and so long as you don't give players a trait with a downside everyone tends to be happy.

About how often do you give out a trait as a story reward? Every two or three levels?

And do you allow the players to choose from several options, or do you make the choice?

[Geddy2112]

About how often do you give out a trait as a story reward? Every two or three levels?

And do you allow the players to choose from several options, or do you make the choice?
I don't give out traits or story rewards very often, once or twice over a campaign and then only in exceeding circumstances. Our group goes from level 1-4 to around level 15. I settled on traits as they are easy to keep track of and rarely break any build. I have done everything from items to favor with groups, but a trait can represent a lot of things, but cannot be sold and is bound on where it does and does not apply.

I normally choose, but I choose something relevant to what the player(s) did. A lot of times they all get the same trait for surviving some particularly harrowing event, completing a dangerous sub arc, etc. I tend to only give the trait to survivors, and I never give out something like reactionary or armor expert. I also allow traits to stack if I give one that is of the same type(i.e. faith) or it applies to something they already have a trait bonus to. I never have had a player balk at a trait, considering it is totally extra, but if one thought it was inappropriate I would hear them out and work with them for something more fitting.

The last time I gave out a trait the players destroyed a VERY powerful artifact that required them to fight a massive amount of incorporeal creatures. All of the survivors got the ghost survivor trait.