Rewards for low level players

[Ethernil]

I am dming for a group of 5 players who are about to hit level 2. We did mostly rp stuff in the first few sessions and the combat has been mostly vs wild animals etc so they have barely any treasure. Next session i m planning to have them fight a group of bandits. Any ideas on treasure? Alchemical items or minor magic ones? Mostly looking for fun to use than powerful.

[Afgncaap5]

An animated object.

Seriously, ignore literally everything the DMG says about animated objects, and just make one from scratch. You don't need a +4 item that can heal you 3 times per day as long as you're fulfilling its desires for slaying spellcasters. You really don't. Just get a Masterwork Shield (with a chess board on it?) or Masterwork Sword (made of silver! No, not that silver... *true* silver!) or, heck, Masterwork Boots (Dragonhide, naturally) or a Masterwork Bag (Fashioned from the finest rhinoceros pelt and clasped with crystal-beetle chitin.) Then just have the thing start talkin' to 'em. Doesn't need any fancy powers or special abilities, just that it probably has limited knowledge of the local terrain (what with them finding it there) and that it's happy enough being picked up and used for its purpose. It's an NPC that they can interact with whenever they want, and that can be more or less ignored if they're not in the mood for it. Might even have some insight on the overarching plot if you decide it does.

Heck, it might even double as a short-term quest giver. "Heya! Thanks for getting me back from those bandits. Listen, I know music boxes don't talk, but I'm gonna wind down in about five hours unless you find my winding key, the bandits didn't notice it or care about it when they robbed the toymaker's store."

[Fizban]

Depends on what you and your players find fun. Alchemical items are just consumables. Permanent magic items are mostly too expensive at this level, aside from a few basically made just for that reason. Unless you just give them each a single item, or have just one or two items that benefit the whole party.

[daremetoidareyo]

Partially charged wands make great loot at low levels.

[16bearswutIdo]

Levels 1-3 assume the PCs find MW items, a couple 1000g magic items (hat of disguise, vest of resistance, etc.), alchemical ingredients/consumables, some potions, and partially charged wands. Level 3 WBL is 2700g, which isn't enough to buy a magic item right off the bat (assuming the follow the rule that you can't spend more than 40% on any one item.) I usually don't start handing out +1 stuff until level 4+.

I'd recommend against giving them too much magical stuff too quickly. It kind of diminishes the value/shock of getting magical arms/armor later if your bard has had a talking lute since level 2. But hey, it's your table and maybe that style works for you.

[noce]

Give them useful things they wouldn't buy.
An example is a masterwork net: after finding it they might decide it's better to keep it, given its particular use.

Another example are masterwork skill items. A book about caverns, or about animals and plants, that gives +2 circumstance bonus to knowledge dungeons/nature check after reading it for 10 minutes or so. Those are listed to cost 50 gp each, so maybe they could find 3 or 4 different books on different topics.

[ezekielraiden]

I like to give low-level players broken, incomplete, or partial powerful items. An artifact scythe, that has had its blade removed. A scrying-stone that can see other places with similar stones...hooks for adventure. A mysterious bow that permits recovery of arrows, but only when wielded by a specific party member. Dried-out marvelous pigments. Etc.

Turn the items themselves into open-ended quests. Your players will be curious about them and where they're going; they'll naturally WANT to learn more about the world and what these tools are, or could be.

[Ethernil]

Why do peole think magic items means weapons and armor all the time? I was thinking along the lines of custom magic item of candlelight or something. Blessed bandage, goodberry wine that sort of stuff. And i have been pondering the idea of a cast but not forged sword of starmetal. So the barbarian will have to go on a quest to find a special blacksmith who can complete the weapon. Since he likes big swords it cound end up a fullblade. Maybe give it legacy weapon properties down the road.

[ezekielraiden]

Why do peole think magic items means weapons and armor all the time? I was thinking along the lines of custom magic item of candlelight or something. Blessed bandage, goodberry wine that sort of stuff. And i have been pondering the idea of a cast but not forged sword of starmetal. So the barbarian will have to go on a quest to find a special blacksmith who can complete the weapon. Since he likes big swords it cound end up a fullblade. Maybe give it legacy weapon properties down the road.

I certainly don't...all those items I listed are real things I've given, and I don't think a scrying stone or (incomplete) Marvelous Pigments are weapons (unless the players are very creative!) I've also handed out:
- A magical tattoo effect
- Enchanted origami dragon (of mystery!)
- Ancient books
- Scrolls
- Signet ring

In fact, I've only given...three weapons (bow, scythe haft, linked pair of axes) in the campaign in question, and one suit of interesting armor. Everything else has been some other kind of item.

[Fizban]

Why do peole think magic items means weapons and armor all the time? I was thinking along the lines of custom magic item of candlelight or something. Blessed bandage, goodberry wine that sort of stuff. And i have been pondering the idea of a cast but not forged sword of starmetal. So the barbarian will have to go on a quest to find a special blacksmith who can complete the weapon. Since he likes big swords it cound end up a fullblade. Maybe give it legacy weapon properties down the road.
Because the math on monster and basic PC stats only works if the PCs actually have the expected weapons and armor?

Ah yes, the continuous magical light item, the biggest waste of money in nearly the entire game. Sunrods are 2gp, lantern oil is 1sp, torches are 1cp. Continual Flame (or the prepackaged Everburning Torch) costs 50-100gp. Magical weapons can glow for free. But there's always gotta be some special magic item that costs 500gp or more to do a job worse than any of those. Magic Item Compendium has two of them.

Also, legacy weapons are terrible. Give people non-functional quest hooks if you want (which aren't actually treasure until they're useful), but don't saddle them with gp costs and permanent penalties in order to get mediocre items.

And that's why I specifically said you need to describe what you think is fun. Because people who have whole lists of nifty combat trick items aren't going to satisfy you if you want lightbulbs, minor consumables, and the only sourcebook more reviled than Complete Psionic. There's also how high of a level you actually plan on reaching, since frontloading on deliberately low-level items just delays necessities later, unless you're not actually leaving low-levels.

Basically anything in Magic Item Compendium under 2,000gp probably has someone that loves it. Outside of there, the Drow House Insignia from Drow of the Underdark is just straight up an under-costed template you can drop any desired spell onto. There's a 10lb bag in Book of Vile Darkness that lets you summon a Giant Cockroach. There's a magical lantern in Tome of Magic that effectively sheds non-magical darkness (because it's too weak to overpower any [light] spells). You can give them a Bronze Griffon and watch it destroy two combats per week.

I just don't get why people get so hung up on prettily packaged consumables. You want to give out potions and scrolls, give out potions and scrolls, but don't pretend they're anything else just because they aren't shaped like vials or parchment. Consumable items aren't a progression of power via equipment, they're just consumables.

[the_david]

You could just start by asking yourself what the players want, and what the players need. But generally, we're talking about bandits so weapons and armors actually do make sense. And they should be getting masterwork weapons at this point in the game anyway, so a bandit lord with a better armor and/or weapon would be a good option. And I'm guessing the bandits did some banditting, so whatever you would expect to gain from highway robbery seems like a reasonable thing to find in a bandit's hideout. You already mentioned a starmetal sword. What if the bandits robbed a dwarven merchant who was hoping to sell ingots of a rare metal in the nearest town.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Honestly, I'd just roll from the tables for the no treasure encounters as though they were normal treasure encounters and put that in the bandits' vaults. Let 'em keep what they like and sell the rest or return it to the survivors of the caravan that got sacked for a reward of roughly even value if they're generously inclined that way.

[denthor]

I had a 6 fighter/4th thief/4 th mage

Magic items

+1 halberd ghost touch
Wand of dark vision purchased
+2 chain shirt
Necklace of fireballs only 5 left low level
Cloak of blending


At 14 level how does the playground feel about the equipment?

[Ethernil]

I ll just have them encounter the bandits after having robbed a merchant so they can sell the merchandise. Since they are close to elturel it could be a barrel of elturel gray. Maybe some non magic jewelry too.

[DeTess]

I had a 6 fighter/4th thief/4 th mage

Magic items

+1 halberd ghost touch
Wand of dark vision purchased
+2 chain shirt
Necklace of fireballs only 5 left low level
Cloak of blending


At 14 level how does the playground feel about the equipment?

I think you should make a thread of your own in the appropriate subforum (since 3.5e doesn't have a thief or mage class, afaik).

As for the OP, I'd include some open-ended tools that might be useful later on. Something like a couple of doses of sovereign glue, or one of those everful-jar-of-water-thingies.

[sleepyphoenixx]

Chronocharms are always popular (Uncaring Archmage and Horizon Walker mainly). Same for Healing Belts and Anklets of Translocation. A Talisman of the Disk can be useful too if your party is creative.
Amber Amulet of Vermin is also a great low-level item (though you should use the errata or not hand out the huge scorpion one). All of those are from the MIC.

There's also the special holy symbols (CC), Travel Cloak (MoF), Darklight (SoS) and Vestment of Many Styles (RoE).

[Mordaedil]

I had a 6 fighter/4th thief/4 th mage

Magic items

+1 halberd ghost touch
Wand of dark vision purchased
+2 chain shirt
Necklace of fireballs only 5 left low level
Cloak of blending


At 14 level how does the playground feel about the equipment?
I assume thief is rogue and mage is wizard.

+1 ghost touch is the same as a +2 weapon, so you have a +2 weapon and armor. A wand with darkvision is not worth much at all. Necklace of fireballs is valued at 2,700 gp with 5 remaining. I assume a cloak of blending is a minor cloak of displacement, worth 24,000 gp.

8,000 gp - +1 halberd ghost touch
4,500 gp - Wand of dark vision purchased
4,000 gp - +2 chain shirt
2,700 gp - Necklace of fireballs only 5 left low level
24,000 gp - Cloak of blending
43,200 gp total value

At level 14, you are expected to have 150,000 gp value of equipment.

So you are below the expected wealth for your level.

[Elkad]

Substandard weapons of DR penetration.
Because watching the barbarian deliberate between using his large MW greatsword vs a medium silver club when fighting one of my DR15/silver ghouls is a never-ending source of entertainment for me.

[Darrin]

In Core, Feather Tokens can provide a variety of unusual solutions to unexpected problems, particularly the tree and boat tokens.

Then there's the "500s" from the MIC:

Arcanist's Gloves.
Boots of Landing.
Brute Gauntlets.
Chronocharm of the Horizon Walker.
Chronocharm of the Uncaring Archmage.
Magic Bedroll.
Talisman of the Disk.
Troll Gut Rope.

For potions, try to focus on spells that have some potential for "off-label" applications. Some examples: enlarge person, reduce person, invisibility, levitation, spider climb, gaseous form.

However, rather than load up a low-level party with minor magic items and consumables, consider giving them some "Boons" or "Favors" with some of the surviving NPCs. The NPCs don't necessarily need to be important or crucial to the plot, but you never know when a local merchant, a mercenary captain, or a minor noble could provide a letter of recommendation to royal minister, an invitation to a masquerade ball, or an incriminating letter.

Sometimes these "Favors" can be the most powerful or memorable rewards you can give to the players, particularly when something that seemed insignificant at level 3 turns out to be a life-saver at level 13. That mercenary captain that begged for his life after attacking the PCs on the road? Who knew 10 levels later that he'd be working as the jailer for the evil sorceress? That silk merchant you saved from those goblin bandits a couple years ago? Now he's a chancellor for the king, and can sneak the party into the palace to help foil an assassination attempt. That nobleman's daughter you rescued from those cultists? Turns out the nobleman may have a piece of that artifact the party was looking for.

[PhantasyPen]

An animated object.

Seriously, ignore literally everything the DMG says about animated objects, and just make one from scratch. You don't need a +4 item that can heal you 3 times per day as long as you're fulfilling its desires for slaying spellcasters. You really don't. Just get a Masterwork Shield (with a chess board on it?) or Masterwork Sword (made of silver! No, not that silver... *true* silver!) or, heck, Masterwork Boots (Dragonhide, naturally) or a Masterwork Bag (Fashioned from the finest rhinoceros pelt and clasped with crystal-beetle chitin.) Then just have the thing start talkin' to 'em. Doesn't need any fancy powers or special abilities, just that it probably has limited knowledge of the local terrain (what with them finding it there) and that it's happy enough being picked up and used for its purpose. It's an NPC that they can interact with whenever they want, and that can be more or less ignored if they're not in the mood for it. Might even have some insight on the overarching plot if you decide it does.

Heck, it might even double as a short-term quest giver. "Heya! Thanks for getting me back from those bandits. Listen, I know music boxes don't talk, but I'm gonna wind down in about five hours unless you find my winding key, the bandits didn't notice it or care about it when they robbed the toymaker's store."

I agree with this motion, one cannot underestimate how fun a talking teapot can be.

[Thurbane]

Here's a couple of low-powered magic items from the online adventure "A Dark and Stormy Knight (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/oa/20050329a)" (1st-Level adevnture):


Translator’s Ring: This ring grants the wearer the ability to understand two specific languages in addition to those she already knows. If the character wearing the ring is literate, she also gains literacy in the new languages as long as she wears the ring.
For the purpose of this adventure, the ring offers access to two languages that none of the PCs speak, but that might prove useful in future adventures. Appropriate choices include Abyssal, Aquan, Auran, Draconic, Dwarven, Giant, Goblin, Ignan, Infernal, Orc, and Terran.
Faint divination; CL 1st; Forge Ring, comprehend languages; Price: 400 gp.

Headband of the Stout Heart: This simple leather headband is studded with small iron rivets. It grants its wearer a +1 resistance bonus on all Will saves.
Faint abjuration; CL 1st; Craft Wondrous Item, resistance; Price: 350 gp.

Lifting Belt: This heavy leather kidney belt features brass studs and large buckles on both sides. Anyone wearing it gains a +1 enhancement bonus to Strength for the purpose of determining his carrying capacity. The belt does not alter the wearer’s actual Strength score, nor does it change his Str modifier. This effect does not stack with that provided by any other bonus to Strength.
Faint conjuration; CL 1st; Craft Wondrous Item, bull’s strength; Price: 500 gp.

Pearl of Power (0-Level): This item acts just like a normal pearl of power (see page 263 in the Dungeon Master’s Guide), except that it allows the owner to recall a 0-level spell once per day.
Faint transmutation; CL 1st; Craft Wondrous Item, creator must be able to cast 0-level spells; Price: 500 gp.

[Stoic]

I can't remember the adventure this is from, magic boots that when placed on a large blank parchment & the command word is spoken it begins mapping your path with tiny footprints (bootprints).

It also maps the area surrounding your path (doors, stairs, side tunnels, rooms (including secret rooms)), also elevation changes & features (mountains, ravines, deserts, waterways, etc..) and prominent landmarks.


Those boots would be a good low level reward.


In the adventure a pair of brothers ran a Cartography shop, one brother stayed home with the parchment (and saw the map as it was being created) as the other brother went exploring wearing the boots & they would sell the highly detailed map (for a high price) after the adventure was over.

When the explorer brother goes missing (bloodstains appear on the map), the PCs are hired to find him (or what happened to him) and are given the boots as a reward.




Another good magical map is Keoghtom's Spidery Map; once per day concentrate on a location, creature, or object. The map then acts as a find the path spell, showing in great detail the shortest, most direct physical route to the specified destination.

[Ethernil]

Thx for the ideas. My dwarf player is gonna appreciate the endless mugg more than a +1 weapon or armor. Masterwork armor worn by the bandits and maybe a weapon or two and either a healing belt or wand of cure light wounds should do the trick.

[Crake]

One of my favourite items for an acrobatic character like a rogue or the like is boots of agile leaping, 600gp from the MIC, lets you use dex instead of str for jump checks (so potentially quite a big boost to a jump check for a dex character), and if you have 5 ranks in balance you can stand from prone as a swift action that doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity.


An animated object.

Seriously, ignore literally everything the DMG says about animated objects, and just make one from scratch. You don't need a +4 item that can heal you 3 times per day as long as you're fulfilling its desires for slaying spellcasters. You really don't. Just get a Masterwork Shield (with a chess board on it?) or Masterwork Sword (made of silver! No, not that silver... *true* silver!) or, heck, Masterwork Boots (Dragonhide, naturally) or a Masterwork Bag (Fashioned from the finest rhinoceros pelt and clasped with crystal-beetle chitin.) Then just have the thing start talkin' to 'em. Doesn't need any fancy powers or special abilities, just that it probably has limited knowledge of the local terrain (what with them finding it there) and that it's happy enough being picked up and used for its purpose. It's an NPC that they can interact with whenever they want, and that can be more or less ignored if they're not in the mood for it. Might even have some insight on the overarching plot if you decide it does.

Heck, it might even double as a short-term quest giver. "Heya! Thanks for getting me back from those bandits. Listen, I know music boxes don't talk, but I'm gonna wind down in about five hours unless you find my winding key, the bandits didn't notice it or care about it when they robbed the toymaker's store."

Did you mean intelligent items? (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/intelligentItems.htm)

Even if you added it onto a completely mundane object, the cost of adding speech to it, without even adding any special abilities, brings it up to 4000gp of value. Now, while it would otherwise be rather useless, you could still sell a talking teapot or something like that simply on the novelty of it being... you know... a talking teapot. You MIGHT get an interesting little talking trinket, or you might get a party that says "Holy ****, a talking teapot! We could sell that to a quirky noble for HEAPS!"

Guess it depends on how common that stuff is in your world though.

[Amemnon91]

Bags of Tricks contain a lot of useful things for low-level pc's that provide a source of rng fun. Useful but otherwise overlooked items include alchemist fire, universal solvent, elixers of swimming, sneaking, hiding, etc, or a feather token.

[Rotipher]

There's one category of "reward" that low-level PCs could really benefit from, starting out, that everyone overlooks: contacts. Let them rescue, assist, or otherwise befriend people who can be of genuine help to them. Experts they can consult, rangers who can guide them overland, village priests who can heal the unconscious cleric PC, merchants whose caravans or vessels they can travel with, government functionaries who can put in a good word with the local lord, guards who can speak up on their behalf when the magistrate asks who started the barroom brawl, commoners who can pass on all sorts of gossip and rumor. Information and support can be priceless for newbie adventurers whose own staying-power and investigative resources are limited. And developing a network of contacts will involve the PCs more deeply in your setting's society, which gives them more of an investment in protecting it via their heroic deeds.

So along with any material goods they might loot from the bandits, have them also free a prisoner or two - a merchant's daughter held for ransom, a villager forced to cook for the band and tend their horses - and bring the captives to safety. Then ensure that the players feel that the rescue was worth it, by providing them both a modest cash reward and some practical non-monetary assistance (e.g. the merchant pays well for his daughter's return and the peasant helps them choose which of the bandits' horses to keep and which to sell, thus ensuring they keep the ones with the highest hp).

[tiercel]

There's one category of "reward" that low-level PCs could really benefit from, starting out, that everyone overlooks: contacts. Let them rescue, assist, or otherwise befriend people who can be of genuine help to them. Experts they can consult, rangers who can guide them overland, village priests who can heal the unconscious cleric PC, merchants whose caravans or vessels they can travel with, government functionaries who can put in a good word with the local lord, guards who can speak up on their behalf when the magistrate asks who started the barroom brawl, commoners who can pass on all sorts of gossip and rumor. Information and support can be priceless for newbie adventurers whose own staying-power and investigative resources are limited. And developing a network of contacts will involve the PCs more deeply in your setting's society, which gives them more of an investment in protecting it via their heroic deeds.

So along with any material goods they might loot from the bandits, have them also free a prisoner or two - a merchant's daughter held for ransom, a villager forced to cook for the band and tend their horses - and bring the captives to safety. Then ensure that the players feel that the rescue was worth it, by providing them both a modest cash reward and some practical non-monetary assistance (e.g. the merchant pays well for his daughter's return and the peasant helps them choose which of the bandits' horses to keep and which to sell, thus ensuring they keep the ones with the highest hp).

+1

That's not to say that "RP rewards" replace material goodies, but it's an added boost to low-level characters to win status and renown. Those are sort of almost automatic when they are slinging around high-level spells and ridding the world of mythical enemies of legend, but PCs shouldn't have to wait until they are "Name level" to win the respect of NPCs -- and to start leaving their mark on the world. Knowing that your character made a difference and that NPCs -- even if only in a small village, at first -- will be all "whoa" when they see you again can be a rush, done right. And the plot hooks!

(And yeah, there should be tangible benefits to all this at some point too, and not just the whole "oh no save the village/village that is now totally dependent on you" angle, but knowing that Your Heroes Have Changed The World is a nice warm fuzzy on top of gaining a dagger +1 that casts detect secret doors 1/day.)

[rrwoods]

Chronocharms (MIC) are great low-level magic items that fulfill several different purposes, and you can have them be used against the party to demonstrate how they're useful before the party has access to them.

Masterwork versions of their weapons and armor so they can begin the process of chaining enchantments onto them is also good -- especially masterwork + special-material ones (like Feycraft for your DEX-dependent striker, for example).

Partially-charged wands of lessor vigor or grease or whatever other 1st-level spells are always useful. 15 (not 50) gp/charge means you can get really specific with the value if you're looking to get a certain amount of gold worth of items to the party.

Healing belt. Low-level parties can always use a healing belt.

This last one depends a lot on how much you want to cater to what your players' shopping lists are, or how much control you want over them, and lots of other factors, but something I like to do is hit up the Armor Calculator (http://www.wdtaylor.net/calculator.html) and type in my players' stats and what I'm willing to accept in the game, and look for stuff players aren't likely to buy or find on their own and drop it on em. AC is a stat that is notoriously hard to be gold-efficient on, and making it easier for your players to self-sufficiently protect themselves from attack rolls is a nice gesture as a DM and sometimes the loot can feel really special. E.g. I had an NPC caster enemy have a Feycraft shield because it was good on my party's caster as well; it's not something they would have thought of on their own but was an instant hit. You might find that a specialized material like Blue Ice is super good on one of your party members, and with the way enchantments work in this game, it's better to have that sooner than later.

[sleepyphoenixx]

Partially-charged wands of lessor vigor or grease or whatever other 1st-level spells are always useful. 50 gp/charge means you can get really specific with the value if you're looking to get a certain amount of gold worth of items to the party.
The per-charge cost for a 1st level wand is 15gp, not 50gp.
But a good tip otherwise - i know i certainly love my wands as loot at low levels when spells are so limited.
Power Word:Pain and Sunstroke are really good on a wand at low levels (1-2).

[rrwoods]

Right you are; I had 15 in my head, then checked my math by dividing 750 by 15 *facepalm*