[3.5] Player Rewards Besides Loot & XP

[Thurbane]

hey all,

Just a general question: what sort of rewards can a DM offer to players other than loot (money and magic) and XP?

Alliances with friendly NPCs springs to mind.

What other choices are there?

Cheers - T.

[johnbragg]

Alliances with friendly NPCs springs to mind.

That's where you start. The PCs get the status of--heroes.

A town where the PCs are flat-out heroes. Think about small towns where high-school state-champion athletes are lifelong minor celebrities. Those guys won a state championship. The PCs saved the freakin town.

Heroes might get perks like free drinks, free healing at the temple. Maybe their tab at the inn is quietly paid by a friendly aristocrat. Maybe a friendly aristocrat takes them to his tailor and gets them fitted out with some snobby-rich-people clothes for......

Hobnobbing with the rich and powerful. The PCs are people to see-and-be-seen with. That means access to favors from people in a position to give favors, and in a position to give quests and be walking plot hooks.

Titles. With or without land and power. But the PCs might find themselves awarded honorary positions on town councils, wizards' guilds, major temples and the like. Sort of like how Ivy League schools will bring in cabinet members and former senators and the like to teach a class or two. Nobody's learning anything in those classes, but the politician looks intellectual and the school looks connected, and the students have a chance to connect with a powerful patron.

[Thurbane]

Titles and land are excellent suggestions, and exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for.

[johnbragg]

Titles and land are excellent suggestions, and exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for.

Titles that come with land are a responsibility, and are basically an impediment to the wandering murderhobo lifestyle of most PCs. That was what Name Level was about in old school D&D--you've collected enough loot that you can afford to build yourself a castle and spend your days being a big shot and managing your estate, instead of crawling through dungeons filled with homicidal maniacs (and sometimes there are monsters, too).

There's also the option of courtesy titles, that don't have a "square" day job attached. The medieval church had a sizable number of important-sounding titles that didn't involve any responsibilities, (and in the Renaissance, often were sold to fund the Pope's pet projects, like raising an army to defend Rome), the English government and its parliamentary cousins tend to have at least a couple of cabinet jobs with no actual responsibilities except being a member of the cabinet (and voting to keep the coalition in power, and/or keep the current party leadership in power).

Think of it from the Lord Mayor's perspective. You've got these powerful, friendly, but frankly dangerous individuals running around. You appreciate what they've done in terms of saving the town/ province/ country/ world from various threats, but you also realize what kind of a threat they could be if they had an inkling to.

You also realize what kind of a threat they could be if foreign powers got in their ears. So it's smart politics to have a word with the High Priest of the town cathedral and the Grand Magus of the local wizards' college about getting them some impressive-sounding appointments, make a big show of an appointment ceremony, get them some flashy clothes (or let them provide the flashy clothes), appoint the beatsticks as Sargeants-at-Large of the City Guard. Before some other city does, anyway.

And then see if you can't point them in the direction of some terrible (and hopefully very far away) menace, and have them do what they do best--somewhere else. And then come back to spend their loot in your city.

[calam]

hey all,

Just a general question: what sort of rewards can a DM offer to players other than loot (money and magic) and XP?

Alliances with friendly NPCs springs to mind.

What other choices are there?

Cheers - T.
This might depend on how mechanically focused you're players are but making some sort of fame ranking with benefits might be nice. For players of more egotistical characters you can make villagers throw a party in their honor.

[SirNMN]

Depending one level and how invested they are in RP, if they rescue the princess from the dragon they have the option of the marriage to the princess, try to make sure at least one is interested because as funny as it is when they all turn her down it's kinda of insulting. Some where in my notes I have a couple of spell named for players and there is the order of sir bacon. One of my favorites is to ask them so be the god parent of a child or name the baby prince after them

[The Viscount]

I agree that NPC alliances are a great reward. You can make it even more appreciable if the NPC is skilled in an area that the PCs are not themselves good at. Another warrior is not usually necessary.
If the contact is someone they can go to for information about the goings-on and important figures in a city, this is something many parties cannot easily do themselves (also helps as a source of guidance if they are struggling in an involved plot).

An ally with the right connections could spring them the next time they get in trouble with the city guard or run afoul of law enforcement. If your campaign is one where travel is difficult or your party is low enough level where that takes time, perhaps safe passage or faster travel could be earned

Someone might map out a dangerous area the party is going into to help them avoid danger (or know where to find it, depending on party interests).

A small or young magical creature is often popular and becomes something of a party mascot, if your group is into that sort of thing.

Another option is if your party is more into roleplay, to have them present some sort of character goal along with their backstory. Maybe someone is looking to avenge a deep personal wrong, restore honor to their family name, find their missing relative. Something like that can feel like a big goal even if it's not a mechanical benefit.

[BowStreetRunner]

Titles and land are excellent suggestions, and exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for.
I had some success naming a PC "Lord of the Manor" with an old, empty estate on lands that hadn't been maintained in some time. Over time he acquired several NPC servants to keep the manor when he was away, peasants to tend the land (their incomes essentially paid his taxes, so without him putting any effort into it or investing a feat the result was to break even), and he even picked up the Leadership feat and set the place up as his base of operation. After that, there was always something he was working on obtaining for his lands - magical defenses, rune circles from Races of Stone, he event planted a garden with different plants he acquired abroad for the party Druid to be able to Transport via Plants from all over the place.

[BloodSnake'sCha]

I let my players open a spa is an underground lava heated part of the Duke city.

they use K: Engineering IC and Thermodynamics OOC in order to build it.

[Fizban]

I've never liked "NPC alliances" as a reward- an alliance isn't a reward, it's an alliance. Or so you'd hope anyway.

The thing about rewards is that loot and xp are already all the rewards there are. Anything else can either be given a direct value conversion, or isn't a reward -it's just roleplay. An NPC "friend" who's willing to do X favors is worth whatever those X favors are worth, up to and including just straight adventuring with you. Titles are worth whatever social bonuses they grant, or whatever effort you would have had to put in if you didn't have the title (and historically you could in fact just buy titles by paying off the right person). Land has gp value, hirelings have gp value, etc. So none of these are actually different from loot.

Basically, anything being doled out as a "reward" stops being anything more than loot. Loot I can get from killing monsters and taking their stuff.

What's better than loot? Accomplishment of things that cannot be done with loot. Rewards are what you get for killing things and taking their stuff, but that's incidental if you've accomplished something more important, and that's not a reward: it's an accomplishment. Those generally come from roleplay, the fact that you've been influencing the world through your actions over multiple sessions.

The classic example of the princess's hand in marriage is quite apt: the princess shouldn't like being given out as a reward either (and many modern players may be put quite off by the idea at all), but if the DM decides that over time all the little things you've done consciously or unconsciously have turned a political expedience into an actual relationship, that's pretty cool. But this isn't and shouldn't be a reward, it's the judgement of one human to another based on their (roleplayed) interactions, hopefully with as few event flags or mechanics behind the screen as possible (else why not just play a "dating sim?").

[Zexionthefirst]

There was one point in the game I run where I thought the party was going to be fighting a river spirit at some point. The encounter I had planned involved the party finding the spirit's lair where she was preforming a ritual to siphon a young apprentice wizard's life force into a series of gems.

Had the party won, they could have broken one or more of the gems in the lair (the ones which were not being powered by the apprentice's life force.) The party druid, if he had chosen to do this, would have been rewarded with a small piece of the River Spirit's power. As a "Reward", he could chose to embrace this piece of power- he would permanently lose a first level spell slot, and would gain a 1/day use of Cure Light Wounds that was modified to have a range of 30 ft.

This player wanted to be a sort of combat medic, and at the time was one of only two players (the other being a sorcerer). He was super new to D&D, and wanted to play a Druid, but also wanted to do healing. I figured, if that's what you like, I'll try to make sure my world accommodates you somewhat, so you can have fun too.

The "reward" would have scaled. As he gained more levels in Druid, and became more attuned to nature and himself, the ability would have grown to 2/day, and possibly even 3/day. It may have even eventually gained elements of Lesser Restoration.

Sadly, my players deiced to side with the River Spirit, then flee to the Capital. So, they never got that reward. At least not yet.

[Darrin]

Rather than a contractual alliance or some sort of patronage relationship, I like the idea of an NPC bestowing a "boon" or "favor" that the PCs can call on later, particularly if it's somewhat open-ended. I also tend to have Whedonish villains and allies, who will do heel/face or face/heel turns, play sides against one another, or subvert stereotypes. NPCs in my games are usually not irrevocably White Hats or Black Hats. If you call in the right favor, you can tilt the battlefield into a better direction.

[Jormengand]

Just a general question: what sort of rewards can a DM offer to players other than loot (money and magic) and XP?

Bonus abilities of some description, whether temporary like drama cards (https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Drama_Cards) or permanent like giving people a bonus feat.

[johnbragg]

Bonus abilities of some description, whether temporary like drama cards (https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Drama_Cards) or permanent like giving people a bonus feat.

Oh Cheat points.
Good for one reroll, or one extra action, or something more free form--the player asks to spend a cheat point to make something happen and the worst thing that happens in the DM says no.

[Mike Miller]

For special rewards, I like to give class features I know would be useful or interesting for the player but not something that player would get on his/her own. For example, I might give a ranger certain scout abilities knowing that the player wants to single class ranger.

[Thurbane]

Oh Cheat points.
Good for one reroll, or one extra action, or something more free form--the player asks to spend a cheat point to make something happen and the worst thing that happens in the DM says no.

Actually, that reminds me: maybe I can introduce Action Points.


There was one point in the game I run where I thought the party was going to be fighting a river spirit at some point. The encounter I had planned involved the party finding the spirit's lair where she was preforming a ritual to siphon a young apprentice wizard's life force into a series of gems.

Had the party won, they could have broken one or more of the gems in the lair (the ones which were not being powered by the apprentice's life force.) The party druid, if he had chosen to do this, would have been rewarded with a small piece of the River Spirit's power. As a "Reward", he could chose to embrace this piece of power- he would permanently lose a first level spell slot, and would gain a 1/day use of Cure Light Wounds that was modified to have a range of 30 ft.

This player wanted to be a sort of combat medic, and at the time was one of only two players (the other being a sorcerer). He was super new to D&D, and wanted to play a Druid, but also wanted to do healing. I figured, if that's what you like, I'll try to make sure my world accommodates you somewhat, so you can have fun too.

The "reward" would have scaled. As he gained more levels in Druid, and became more attuned to nature and himself, the ability would have grown to 2/day, and possibly even 3/day. It may have even eventually gained elements of Lesser Restoration.

Sadly, my players deiced to side with the River Spirit, then flee to the Capital. So, they never got that reward. At least not yet.


For special rewards, I like to give class features I know would be useful or interesting for the player but not something that player would get on his/her own. For example, I might give a ranger certain scout abilities knowing that the player wants to single class ranger.

Those are cool - mechanical rewards. Any more ideas along these lines? Magical Locations are probably a good idea too.

[Deophaun]

Pizza

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[EsstotheTee]

A previous DM of mine subscribed heavily to the "rule of cool". Do something interesting or out of the box and he'd give a bottlecap. That bottlecap could be redeemed for a reroll or an automatic success. The cooler the better.

[radthemad4]

I once got two domains granted by a deity for saving a major temple. My character was a sorcerer. It was unexpected, but something I found pretty awesome and memorable.

[SwordChucks]

I can't suggest land grants enough. It makes sense for a ruler to keep the well-armed muderhobos friendly and invested in the well-being of their country. Why have murderhobos when you could have murdercitizens? Put them up in a keep on your most dangerous border and you've just saved a bunch of money on armed patrols.

From a player perspective it grants respect. Instead of doing odd jobs for locals to make ends meet, the locals are coming to them. It no longer feels like the players are one of several adventurer groups that could have taken the job, now they are the first stop when things go wrong.

[BloodSnake'sCha]

I can't suggest land grants enough. It makes sense for a ruler to keep the well-armed muderhobos friendly and invested in the well-being of their country. Why have murderhobos when you could have murdercitizens? Put them up in a keep on your most dangerous border and you've just saved a bunch of money on armed patrols.

From a player perspective it grants respect. Instead of doing odd jobs for locals to make ends meet, the locals are coming to them. It no longer feels like the players are one of several adventurer groups that could have taken the job, now they are the first stop when things go wrong.

That reminds my something.

You can give your party license to kill.