Toward Better Rewards | Running the Game 

parenting 101 :)

cptlsm 101

it's also a fun way of using a dnd discussion to bore the hell out of your friends talking about historical materialism lol

This is parenting 101. 102 is about what constitutes a healthy reward. Lol

Social media fits

Indeed. And as I was taught when training dogs; the recipient decides if something is rewarding. That means that some dogs like food to an excessive degree and will do anything for it, while others don't care. Some will do anything to play catch. The same applies to our players; some will find it rewarding to hear the story of an NPC they rescued, others will find it rewarding to get a new Magic Item, others will find it rewarding to see that they can push the story a certain way.

Yes, a reward that's only ever a twinkle in the distance is meaningless. The players have to actually be able to get it (I believe Colville touched on this in one of his "types of players" videos where he said the DM should put items in the world for a powergamer to find AND then let them find them). Should be obvious, but some people run D&D as if letting the PCs get rewards reflects poorly on them 🤷‍♂️

Also, don't walk behind them because they will kick you. And brush them 3 times a week. Am I stretching the metaphor to much, you think?

Is a good point. My players do nothing because I'm just handfeeding them carrots.

@@TNH91 It's for this reason that a Session 0 is a valuable tool. Establish what kind of game they want to play, and what motivates them. Tailor the campaign to this where possible. If the players want loot, maybe create a pulp adventure that gives XP for acquiring treasure. If they want a heroic fantasy, give them opportunities to be heroic, and reward them for this. It's also a good idea for the DM to try to sell the party on why different styles of play might be fun. The players don't _have_ to like it, so you can't force them. At the same time, they might not know what they want, or not know that a certain kind of campaign might be really enjoyable. Communicating expectations is important, in the game as well as in Real Life. The advantage of players, unlike dogs or horses, is the former can speak your language. You don't _need_ to engage in trial and error to figure out what they want. You can just ask them.

Interviewer : Can you destroy the Earth? The Tick : EGAD! I hope not! That's where I keep all my stuff!

Gold right where? Can I have it?

What did the galaxy ever do for you? Why would you want to save it?" "Because I'm one of the idiots who lives in it!"

Reminds me of DBZA "CELL'S GOING TO DESTROY THE WORLD" Krillin: "BUT I LIVE HERE"

@@PaladinAzriel Literally the best response anyone could ever have to this type of question.

can we have spoilers on what they would move heaven and earth for?

Please tell us what they’re moving the earth for please please please

Surely OP will deliver... 💀

@@trucid2 I never said I would? Plus, every table is different. I've done this for a few groups and each group has required multiple sessions to pinpoint.

@@eaglesviper90 lol, I was just making a throwaway funny.

"Hey, don't argue with me! The expert told me this was a good idea!"

I want to find the six-fingered man who killed my father.

Yes, like, yes, to a degree. It's cooperative storytelling, cooperate.

My players wanted to become a mafia boss, a emperor, a leader of a cult and a royalty of hell. First I laughed and one week later I presented them with plan to do that

Incidentally, i just finished running a 3 session "sidequest" because the PC wizard was looking really hard for some magical academy nearby. There were none, so i made up some ruins instead.

Nice! It's wonderful when things click together into place like that!

Can't agree more. I've been running games for a bit less, 23 years... and man, he says stuff that is so obvious in hindsight...

🙌🏻

Thanks so much for this idea!

Good luck with the novel

Yeah man, hope you have fun writing it

I’d love to read your novel!

May you find the will to finish the novel!

Kick some ass friend

"Get XP for finding gold" is inferior to "Get XP for expending gold offscreen during downtime." Getting XP for finding gold led to Gygax having to invent training costs as a gold sink. He should have just made XP itself the gold sink. I've been doing this for years and it works great.

@@ymdw45 can you expand more on your approach? I don’t fully follow.

@@KazisCollection I've got one player right now who's an Artificer with a medical bent (healer feat, interested in prosthetics, etc.). When he gets 5000 gp as his share of the loot from a heist, he can keep that gold and use it on adventuring supplies like Healing Potions or armor, or he can hire research assistants or do spell research--or he can convert some or all of it into up to 5000 XP by sending it "offscreen" during downtime to a research lab we've decided he has, researching prosthetics for orphans. For in-game purposes the gold just disappears from play (may not have any onscreen effect) and he gets an equal amount of XP. PCs usually have some built-in goal to spend gp on, or can easily find one during play. The cranky fisherman who just wants revenge on those who took his boat, way back, is thinking about helping fund defense construction for a fishing village he's made emotional connections with. I'm not actually sure or have forgotten what he did with his gp-to-XP conversions before that. 1 gp ==> 1 XP, and we make up a suitable story. It's that simple.

@@ymdw45 I love this idea, solves three issues at once: -What to do with your gold -Motivating players towards downtime activities -Motivating players to actually want gold

although the Gold for XP sounds like the perfect thing to bring back for an all rouge party doing heists

Pick up Mythic Odyssey of Theros, there are 15 examples of how to use the Piety mechanic and hooks for the gods. The Piety stat is used to allow spell casting or just neat abilities.

@@DM_Chromie why?

IKR? Me too.

Same

I of course immediately thought some stupid semantic quibble, "No, it's the beginning of the end of the end of the beginning of the 21st centruy. The middle doesn't start for another 11 years, that's how thirds works. We are 2/3rds of the way through the first 1/3rd."

@@demonzabrak why thirds though? Usually the beginning of the century is 00-19. 20 is when the 20s start. The end of the beginning says nothing about what part of the whole the beginning is. If you assume the beginning the middle and the end are all of equal length, than it would indeed be a third. But that is a pretty big assumption, which usually isn't true.

@@jaspermooren5883 why would I use thirds when dividing something into three sections? Really?

isn’t that why a lot of old school maps have a “side profile” map that shows the depth and texture of the dungeon? and I guess also why when people draw maps they put a lot of design in each room instead of making a really big dungeon

@@ElvenSonic Yeah - a sectional dungeon view might have helped here. Downside is a lot of range & area effects are inherently best managed in plan. Depending on how crafty you'd want to get, I suddenly had the image of just building a 3D paper-craft map for reference (mount map plans onto foamcore, punch holes & use threaded rods/nuts/bolts). Which, the downside to any player-facing map is how to manage 'fog of war'

This is why i find it so crucial in developing a storyhook in a player's backstory. I work with my player's to develop an interesting hook into the main plotline in each of their backstories before we start playing. This gives each player a reason to engage with the world/story in different ways as they are all curious about different things. And I then know what type of npcs/rumors will really get them fired up to go fix stuff if they ever seem to zone out at the table.

In the Explore's Guide to Wildmount there's a great character reward system outlined there.

Running a campaign right now that started as a Mega Dungeon. Got through level 7, and some things happened to where basically the players managed to get an army and complete the mega dungeon at level 7 and now they have moved on to forge a new Kingdom in a land post-apocalyptic empire now ruled by warlords. Our last session was our first test of the Warfare rules and they loved it. Even my wife who ABSOLUTELY HATES tactical games-it took a while to warm up to DnD-liked it a lot after the fight ended. Had an 8 unit vs 8 unit battle that with prep, teaching the rules, and playing the whole fight took less than 3 hours. It was great!

Ye Olde rumour tables are always a great way to seed quests and give hints about the dangers ahead

Genius!

@@jamesstern9578 What are those? My mind automatically jumped to the destroyed table that used to have a map on it, in a pub, that Matt mentioned in another video.

@@angelalewis3645especially in old school games, rumor tables were random tables that had rumored the party might hear, like a rollable table. Roll a 5, get rumor #5 from your rumor table

@@angelalewis3645 A rumor table (table as in a chart, not the furniture) is a GM tool that they can roll on to see what snippets of information that players can learn about when trying to gather information or when they enter town or whenever seems appropriate while in civilization. They're generally most useful in sandbox games because they can be used to point players in the direction of any nearby adventures, but they can also be quite helpful in more narrative styles of games by using them for foreshadowing future, giving out hints, or revealing side quests. That said, the entries on a rumor table don't even need to be of concrete use to the party. They could just as easily be red herrings, callbacks to previous events in the campaign or just something you thought would be funny.

players love boons naked buffs no one ever says no to that especially if you make it story relevant as well

"why are we doing this" is something I've often asked myself at tables, and I thought it was an issue with party composition (lawful good paladins mixing with chaotic rogues and evil wizards who want fundamentally different things etc) and I think it still can be, but watching this and realising the system Also wasn't giving us enough of a reason to do things together aside from "because its your quest" has been eye opening o.o

@@rinofthemill Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. The paladin isn't gonna turn a blind eye to crime and injustice for nothing, but a sufficiently compelling cause could convince him to look the other way. Perhaps he thinks that be able to do more good as a part of a team, so it's worth making sacrifices to maintain that team. Maybe the world needs saving RIGHT NOW, so he doesn't have time to quibble over a stolen purse or two. Or maybe, this mission will give him the level of favor he needs in order to request an important miracle from his god. Just like in the Engaging Your Players video, this all comes down to giving your characters sufficient motivation to work together. No matter how much you hate lowlife scum like the rogue PC, maybe saving the world is adequate reason for you to endure his company. For now.

In my game, subclasses are tied to backstory and character arc progression. This is a much simpler version of explaining that concept to my players. So yeah, "Why didn't I think of that?" absolutely fits.

@@Drekromancer another possible motivation for the pally is "If I am *not* traveling with this group of chaotic maniacs, what will they get up to?" I had a game where my paladin basically was rehabilitating a mad scientist, a face-changing criminal, a barbarian murder hobo, and a child who'd had all sorts of necromantic rites performed on her all while trying to keep the politics of a subcontinent from imploding and hunting a mindflayer. It was also a case study in player motivated shennanegins, as the rogue had his own things going on, the artificer wanted to build a mechanical city of the future, the barbarian kept getting in fights, and necro-kid had a pet zombie we had to gently explain couldn't haul her around the town.

you become llevelysan

* Matt places a card in front of Dael * Quest: Find the two missing fingers Reward: The collective knowledge of the True Elves Llevelys suddenly goes “eff these humans, I’ve got more important things to do!”

I have been under a rock for a bit, and was delighted to see you as a player in Dusk!

Goal: Exact retribution etc. Reward: permanent +1 damage on all weapon attacks

Companion of the Crystal Storm: you gain the use of the Remainer to inflict unto the enemies of Ailean, yea, of all elvenkind, the wrath of the Crystal Storm. As an encounter power (standard action), Target :enemies in area (burst 2 in range 10) Attack: wisdom vs Fortitude. Hit: 2d8+Wisdom modifier damage and the zone becomes difficult terrain. Covenant of Wrath: Creatures that are hit by this power are also immobilized (save ends)

Skyrim is where my mind immediately went to as well! Once I thought of my time playing that game, I totally understood how this reward system could be integrated. A corpse outside a cave with some note or letter about the treasure hidden within (that happens to be a motivational reward for a player/PC) seems like a great hook for a random encounter too. And if they don't want to do it immediately, they take the note and can always come back, plot allowing. Like Matt said, though, 318 notes for sidequests like Skyrim may be a few too many. 😂

This is definitely the principle behind the system, and it’s pure gold!

The problem is that you need to communicate that to your players somehow as well. Especially if you want the engagement in different places in different campaigns with the SAME players.

@@murdeoc Communication is key in everything so I don't disagree but just by rewarding players that do engage (in whatever area you need) might encourage others to do so. That said I did think earlier that this might be another nice category to add to a campaign pitch. "Rewards and where to find them".

It occurs to me that the Adventure Zone Balance has gold as a significant motivator because the characters are able to go to Fantasy Costco and buy cool loot. Of course they're going to save the world... but it all makes it a bit more tangible, so that the stakes don't have to be so so high all the time (which would get tiresome).

that is, however, also the problem. "reaching a milestone" sometimes happens automatically. it leads to DMs telling a story--however long that story may take, given player involvement or involvement--and players really just watch. It's miserable when that happens. That's not so say it can't work, just that it's a system that doesn't really care what the characters are doing. sometimes the story reaches the next chapter, even if EVERYTHING was done wrong--milestones don't account for that. sometimes the characters simply can't find the next step, the next clue--sometimes they just don't care! and that's another time milestones fail. if the players go 3-4 sessions, and they can't see the next reward? if they have no idea how far until the next "mile" is completed? Well, maybe it's been my failure, but in general, I find that rewards work much better when based on individual accomplishment, and are not placed at arbitrary benchmarks. Sorry for the rant.

I hadn’t considered that it reduces downtime but I had noticed my games have very little downtime.

@@kylelind6239 The less downtime point is really interesting, and the non evolving story as players fail to stop events or do something wrong is one of the reasons i dont like the idea of running a lot of modules. the plan i have atm is to create a list of behaviours that i want to encourage in my game and tie different rewards to them. following the narrative will reward milestone levels and some ok magic items, spending downtime can maybe give some kind of rest bonus, delving into lore and going to libraries can give other rewards, and exploring side dungeons can give much better magic items and a lot of gold. as for the use of gold, general purpose magic item shops and other rewarding gold sinks could help with that. i haven't fleshed the ideas out too much tho. im making a list of behaviours and rewards atm. what are your thoughts?

Milestone progression feels too much like videogames to me for some reason.

@@petegiant as opposed to gaining xp for killing monsters? :P

New GM here! I have that module and intend to run it (eventually). It hadn't occurred to me to tell my player(s) that they'll level up after x quests. Is that sort of "metagaming" okay?

Our DM did in fact tell us how many quests were needed to advance in level and yes, it worked!

@@3nertia It's absolutely Okay. As Matt is pointing out, who cares why your characters know the result. In fact, I think that (to get in teh mind of an adventurer) they would have *some* sense that they need to fight monsters or save townspeople to level up. I mean, to an adventurer, what is leveling up anyway?

I came here to say this! I thought that the cards were very effective. The cards listed a gold reward, and players would often happen upon magic items along the way. I'm curious how the game would have changed if I added a separate note about what magic item is associated with the task. I'll try it during our next session and report back!

I love that, totally gonna steal that curse system if I ever want to run CoS!

For me, I will usually tell players that when there's a problem, if they don't resolve it someone else will try to and in many cases will do it in ways that may not be preferable. However, I also tell them that they can't simply split up and try to solve problems because as a party, the group will stand and divided they will fall. (I play SOTDL, so it's a dark fantasy setting so every fight has a high risk, high reward.) I will also highlight specific tasks they could follow and what's likely to happen if they let a threat go unaddressed. For example in my last game there was a werewolf threat, an orcish uprising and the manor they were just given had a dungeon in it that was seemingly producing undead down below. For the campaign, they were told they'd at most be able to either solve two problems and let one get too big for comfort, or they'd be spending a lot of time pruning every one of the three issues, stopping them from growing but never fully resolving them without a great deal of risk. Because of this, they solved the werewolf issue, then the undead. The second campaign has started and the orcs are in full swing. This time however, the problems are now a religious upheaval, and the orcish uprising alongside roving bands of beastmen. The point is that until the end of days, there will always be problems to solve. Their reward for solving problems is loot, money and stability. The smart adventurers retire before they die solving their newest problem. Else, the brightest candle burns half as long.

I need more info about the second example. WHY did you feel the need to curse the player charecters for """bruutalizing""" an opponent? What does that word even mean in this context? The palyers tortured an enemy? The enemy didnt get a hit in during combat? Because I had a gut reaction, but willing to surpress it and give you the benefit of the doubt

Dude why are you everywhere I go on this site?

@@dbensdrawinvids8390 you probably have a lot of similar tastes that I do thanks Algorithm

Sounds like you’re doing it right!

This hits a big close to home for me. I tried this: Let my players do anything. I created a little sandbox world for them to run around in, gave them opportunities to roleplay, and interact with the world. All of them had videogame backgrounds, so what ended up happening was that they were so interested in gaming the systems I had set up, that they never actually bothered to create characters. There were some good moments, sure, but I was not having fun. Anything I put in front of them was seen as a challenge to exploit somehow and find a way to abuse and get loot out of. Every person was someone to rob and get money from, or potential fodder to kill. At the end of the day I called it quits when a player complained about being a dungeon, after they themselves got it in their head to go in there. I don't meant to be a downer, if anything I am super happy it is working for you. You seem like an awesome DM, and you have awesome players, So keep trucking on and doing what you do best. Here's to hoping that I find my group to do this kinda stuff with soon.

That's a good point. I get that a lot where my players characters are looking at eachother like " why do I know you?"

Can you reply with some examples?

@@buckhunt6832 Examples of what exactly? Cards? Quests? Rewards?

Or revisit the blacksmith who handed out the subquest.

Good point. Counteracts the “why are we going to [POI], again” questions that are so infuriating.

Or listing the item that is rumored to be findable. Quest giver just wants to study it first, offering free Identify and such as downtime benefit before the character gets it back for their next quest. The whole benefit of working for an adventuring consortium is PCs never needing to lean on personal resources for studying loot.

7th sea was the first thing i thought of when he described this!

I heavily suggest checking the guideline (BUT NOT THE EXAMPLE ITEMS THEMSELVES, they were mostly terrible and inefficient) section in 3es weapons of legacy (and evolving artifacts and DCP 3rd part version of WoL).

@@ANDELE3025 thanks for the recommendation, I will check it out.

decent suggestion but i think the first 'evolution' should happen right away to make them realize that it changes (unless you had an out of game discussion about it)

@@Xenibalt yeah the first unlock came very quickly. We had a hellblade that needed 8souls, a pair of gauntlets that needed the barbarian to go one fight without raging, the artificer got several sets of blueprints to upgrade and is now looking for materials, our warlock needed to become "friends" with 10 people (it was part of their backstory). So those weren't off pretty well. Most of the unlocks are tied to things the characters are doing or arcs the player has said they would like their character to go down.

@@MrApocryphon thats good because it only exists if the players touch it and it touches back, otherwise its just not "real"

Nice use of older rules as inspiration

Wow!! That’s incredible! I’m sparse with home brew when it comes to altering the characters, but in my current campaign everyone gets a feat WITH their ASI. I did that to encourage them to create more 3-dimensional characters with greater flavor variety. I think this is an even better way to do it!

I've actually implemented this recently in my current campaign. I had a player ask if they could target multiple enemies with one attack, ie Cleave. I said they could attempt it but they didn't have the training, feat, necessary to do it reliably. Thus would suffer penalties to hit. So I told them if they could hit with the penalties enough times in combat then they would unlock the feat. Or find a trainer to teach them, or get 3 nat twenties in combat. They did and then another player asked to do the same thing the very next combat!

It is too evil.... The idea is great though. :)

@@TubingKri I feel like it's the best of both worlds. They get to feel like they have a badass character, and they earned in a way that is specific to them.

I feel like a lot of 5e modules put a HUGE weight on the DM to fix encounter balance (especially if you have optimized casters), tie storylines together better, and make the players care about things like you said

Name of the campaign setting: Za Waarudo

This is why I told my table that I will hand out inspiration for a list of things and only one per session and that list was Something hilarious, but not disruptive A great risk that led to great reward An emotional character moment Resolving a personal issue in an interesting way So sometimes one of the players would say or do something funny enough to blast my sides into orbit and make it impossible to run for a few seconds because my composure died. The best example was someone playing a Feren from SOTDL (They have a human form and a cat form) turned into a cat because she wanted to explore a crime scene while the local priest was documenting it. She then was told by another player to make a distraction so that one of the party members could steal the priest's notebook. So, the cat knocked over the urn on the shelf near the corpse, the urn being full of the deceased man's wife's ashes, and so the priest dropped the notebook and screamed out "Oh no, Mrs. Henderson!" before running into this small hut now filled with ashes and blood during this grizzly murder investigation just because the party was too awkward to ask the priest to see the crime scene. They got an inspiration that day and we also had to clean the table off because someone spat soda on the plastic folding table we played at.

@@grimjudgment6527 My favourite inspiration/fate points mechanic in a system is probably tenra bansho zero's karma-kiai-aiki system just because how its baked into the rules, and apart from the GM the players can reward eachother (though, to avoid inflation when more than one person gives a token to the same person for the same cool moment they take just one) Even if it's not perfect it's very interesting and keeps players engaged in the roleplaying!

I would love to hear more on this.

Wow man, it's been a year since you made a video that wasn't about a video game. Better get on those dreams man.

I guess that settles it. I'll have to just find a way to record without a proper space. The issue is that I have 3 young kids and nowhere to go to escape the sound of their playing in the background. Maybe outside the apartment or something? Ill see what I can do.

I think I found a way. Stay tuned, although it may take a bit to actually upload.

It really is a hard egg to crack, as the problem wedges right between character motives and player motives. Funny you mention Blades in the Dark, bc my first thought was also "how would clocks work with goals?" .... just doodle the clock next to the goal I suppose! Another trick that worked really well in a sci-fy game I ran: give them new toy Y and take it away because of worldbuilding reason X. Suddenly, players have a dislike for an ideology, organization, character, or all of the above. Nobody likes the tax man

I heard this and, though I’ve only ever heard people talk about BitD, I thought of the clock system as a game that was working on this problem. It seemed to me like it was motivation with reward and/or consequence under a timeline. I’m pumped to pull this in as part of my games regardless of the source.

sounds awesome :)

This seems like a good starting point to potentially bring back the pulp to DnD. In our backgrounds there is usually enough for a DM to identify 'motivators'. In real life there are extrinsic motivators: rewards such as money, goods, grades etc and intrinsic motivators: honor, curiosity, mastery, power, order, relationships, etc. In most games, players are rewarded - hence extrinsic motivation. XP and Gold are both extrinsic motivations. The XP for Gold formula worked to stimulate the players because it also allowed them to satisfy their intrinsic motivations - typically, master, power or some such in the gaming context. Where it breaks is that the characters the players play are not always motivated by gold. As such, Matt's goal system bridges the gap and allows the characters' intrinsic motivations and the players pursuit of the games extrinsic motivations toward measured states (leveling up). A system could be conceived then to identify a set number of motivators based on backstory. Those could stand in for the gold to XP conversion. Gain closer connection to your deity = XP toward leveling. Honor your duty as a paladin = XP toward leveling. Support your party through tough times = XP toward leveling. and of course, thieves can always steal gold = XP toward leveling. This seems way more prone to engage players in their characters than the well meaning, but under used, under powered, "Inspiration" system. Unless we open that up and just allow stacked DM inspiration... then at the end of a night you could tally the inspiration awarded, multiply by a factor to get the XP rewarded?

Same here buddy - I'm wracking my brain for a slightly clearer way to conceive of how to reward players with "plot" - should we be thinking about concrete "nuggets" of key moments of story? Ends to Arcs/pivotal moments that revolve around doing the things the game is about?

@@GeeBarone What about rewards like: Learn a secret about [insert npc]", or "[Npc] owes you a favor"?

@@CruentusMessor I like those. In the notebook they go!

@@CruentusMessor Brilliant! The possibilities for intrigue are limitless!

@@GeeBarone I had a GM reward my interest in teaching an npc by having them become my retainer. Later, one of the larger quests the party went on was partly motivated by my character’s desire to help his retainer reclaim the artifact that would prove she was the king’s secret heir. Story rewards don’t have to be centered on the PCs, if the players are invested in an npc enough providing a reward for that npc can be reward enough for the players.

Honestly more magic item with abilities locked behind a deed would be very cool.

@@megatroymegaa few examples from my game. First one is romance/to inclined. Second is combat/downtime adventure inclined. Third is quest/subquest inclined. Mother's Wedding Band Ring (requires Attunement) This ornate gold band could have cost someone their life's fortune. To you, it is your mother's ring… passed down to you by your father following her death. Mind Shielding. While wearing this ring, you are immune to magic that allows other creatures to read your thoughts, determine whether you are lying, know your alignment, or know your creature type. Creatures can telepathically communicate with you only if you allow it. You take 2 less psychic damage (minimum of 1 damage). Once per day you can reroll an intelligence saving throw against a psionic ability that you fail. If you do so, you must use the new roll. Hidden. You can use an action to cause the ring to become invisible until you use another action to make it visible, until you remove the ring, or until you die. Dearly Departed. If you die while wearing the ring, your soul enters it, unless it already houses a soul. You can remain in the ring or depart for the afterlife. As long as your soul is in the ring, you can telepathically communicate with any creature wearing it. A wearer can’t prevent this telepathic communication. Attunement (2): Give this ring to someone else. GM NOTES. Attunement (2): Give this ring to someone else. Sending spell at will between the one you gave the ring to. Acts as a ring of protection for the wearer. Attunement (3): married? Get mother's blessing? Douma's Faith Shortsword (Requires attunement by one of the bloodline) "He saved my life and what is left of him is in this sword… I hope he protects you like he did me…" Frosted Blade. When you hit with an attack using this blade, the target takes an extra 1d6 cold damage. In addition, while you hold the sword, you have resistance to fire. Once per day or by spending inspiration, any damage other than the weapon damage added to this attack becomes cold damage as well. If this attack kills the target, they become frozen solid. Home in the Cold. In freezing temperatures, the blade sheds bright light in a 10-foot radius and dim light for an additional 10 feet. Winter winds. When you draw this weapon, you can extinguish all non-magical flames within 30 feet of you. This property can be used no more than once per hour. Attunement (2): Slay a Fiend with higher CR than your level in single combat. +1. You have a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this magic weapon. Frosted Blade (2). • When you hit with an attack using this blade, the target takes an extra 1d6 cold damage. • While you hold the sword, you have resistance to fire • A creature you kill with this sword becomes frozen solid. • Your sneak attack damage is now cold damage. • Once per day or by spending inspiration if a creature would be resistant to cold damage you deal but not to radiant it is not resistant to your damage. Winter Winds (2). • When you draw this weapon, you can extinguish all nonmagical flames within 30 feet of you. This property can be used no more than once per hour. • As an action you can stab a creature turned into a block of ice by this sword. A cold blue light imbues the blade and the surrounding temperature is reduced significantly. While the blade is imbued you may speak the command phrase "I bring Auril's Breath" to cast the Investiture of Ice spell. The sword's imbuement is lost at dawn if unused. Attunement (3): Perform 6 labors. 1. Visit The House of Auril's Breath in Gevris and have the blade blessed there. 2. Visit Icedawn's House and have the blade blessed there. 3. Visit The Towers of Fury in Sebah and have the blade blessed there. 4. Visit the Winter Palace and have the blade blessed there. 5. Visit the Ice Temple and have the blade blessed there. 6. Only once the above are completed, observe Midwinter at True North. Reidren's Stave Rivseahtdh Quarterstaff +1 (requires attunement by a warlock) Once your book, now a staff of hard metal. Even still the wings can open revealing writing beneath. Attunement (1): Return the Dryad of the swamp to the dwarf. Blessings. While holding this staff, you gain a +1 bonus to spell attack rolls and to saving throw DCs of your warlock spells. Power. You can regain one warlock spell slot as an action while holding the staff. You can't use this property again until you finish a long rest. If you use your inspiration while using this effect you gain back all your pact magic spell slots instead. Attunement (2): Put the spirits of your dwarven forefathers to rest Weapons. Aganazzar's Scorcher and Creeping Sleep are added to your spells prepared. Creeping Sleep 1 Conjuration Casting Time: 1 action Range: Self (30-foot radius) Components: V S M (A vessel which has been yawned into, sealed, and now opened) Duration: 1 minute This spell sends creatures into a magical slumber. Roll 5d8; the total is how many hit points of creatures this spell can affect. Each creature in a 30-foot cone are affected in ascending order of their current hit points (ignoring unconscious creatures). Starting with the creature that has the lowest current hit points, each creature affected by this spell falls unconscious until the spell ends, the sleeper takes damage, or someone uses an action to shake or slap the sleeper awake. Subtract each creature’s hit points from the total before moving on to the creature with ndead and constructs aren’t affected by this spell. - At Higher Levels: When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, roll an additional 2d8 for each slot level above 1st. Whenever you cast either of these spells you treat them as though they were cast at 1 level higher. Power (2): Once per day or by using your inspiration you can temporarily gain access to a warlock invocation which you do not have for 1 hour.

Example please

@@buckhunt6832 check my reply to Randell in this thread. Here's an example of inspiration: I have these in a doc in my vtt and at the end of every session I have the players talk about who triggered what and how. Sometimes we do mini recaps of what a character has done to try and find something. Triggers: Whenever you perform a weeks worth of downtime (8 days non-adventuring and 2 days off). Whenever you writes a diary entry or internal monologue from your characters perspective of at least 4 sentences that reveals something the character thinks, feels, or believes in. Whenever you reveal something meaningful to your character to another character in a scene. Describe a change in their character (appearance or not) that results from the fiction the game creates. Whenever your character acts in a meaningfully selfless way Whenever your personality traits, ideals, bonds, or flaws are presented in gameplay and are noticed by someone else. Solving an issue or problem the group has been stumped on or making an insightful conclusion. You can only gain inspiration from any one of these once per session.

i love the minions and the action monsters hate the ability spam but dont worry i hate cantrips and echo knights as well

My problems with 4e are entirely as a DM... worst supported edition for RUNNING a game. It was AWFUL to adapt for literally anything other than a stable 5 person party... as a player, on the other hand? Eh... other than the definite ILLUSION of choice, it was fine

4th ed WFRP is messy, but rewarding.

Got a link to webDM's vid, my dude?

@@DrLekz Idk if I'm supposed do this or not, if not sorry, but here ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-47hSfq7TjS4.html

I've tried multiple times to shoehorn in bits of BW into my D&D campaigns with decidedly mixed results. This does actually sound like it might be effective.

I personally love showering my players with loot. Magical weapons, mystical powers, floating fortresses, powerful magical scrolls etc. etc.. They still have to "earn" these things, they don't just find a power to influence the minds of all creatures within 10 miles randomly, it's in amysterious corrupted heart at the end of a long and dangerous dungeon. It works because of the kind of game I run, since the ultimate goal of the campaign is for them to ascend into divinity.

Don't know if it would help, but something that helped me with rewards is re-framing rewards as future plots in my head. A big need for viable long-form play is learning how to politely take toys away too. Accumulating anything can tip the balance of power at any scale (re: matt's power vacuum vid?). Importantly, as long as these 'risks' are telegraphed and foreshadowed, that alone can be fun and thrilling enough to try and find creative ways to avoid the pitfalls. For example: You need a wheel barrel to carry piles of gold out of dungeons. Too much gold attracts dragons. Using a bank risks a corrupt bank clerk. Fame and powerful magic items attract attention from champions.

The way I am solving this power creep issue is with consumables. The reward is a powerful thing they can only use a handful of times or maybe only once. So they feel rewarded, have a cool thing, but also don't use it willy-nilly. One that I liked was a gem that let a mage keep two concentrations at the same time. One use only, and you bet your ass the mage will use it in the coolest way possible.

@@luccagiovani I also use the “one use” relic idea. However, my party often experiences “Analysis Paralysis” as to when the item is best used or they forget they have the item after a few sessions. To fix that, I wonder if perhaps tying relics to a goal or quest, as a ‘key’ to help them along, might encourage using said relic.

If you would like a suggestion, I am currently running a low magic campaign and to give players rewards I have started to pull class abilities from 4e and handing them out attached to some sort of item. I have also removed feats as a level up reward and are using character actions to give them out. It seems to help encourage exploration

@@kaufmans111 I do think that things like that have worked in the past, and I like these ideas, but I also want the game to feel fair - I reward players, but I don't punish them for being themselves. The player that is along for the ride and just likes hearing the story play out shouldn't be punished for it. I've been trying to balance that edge - curate a specific type of _person_ who I want in my game, vs. running the game exactly as I expect it to run without any real curiosity beyond "what is the next chapter in the book"

@@jonathonleclare9268 makes sense different players and all

I would like to have this sub topic covered too.... I'm also running a "very dangerous" world with player death being quite prevalent in the West Marches style. Magic I wouldn't call low, but I would call it normal for what 5e expects.... which is low compared to what players and I am used to.... Currently the 5th levels each have one permanent magic item. They are too afraid to go into dungeons to potentially claim new magic items as well, despite me having several magic items seeded into such places. To the players, everything is too dangerous in their eyes, and they aren't willing to risk going to these places. Instead, they have opted to try to save up money and buy magic items to increase their "safety" levels. I'm not a fan of the idea of buying magic items, making rare things common in that sense, but it's a catch 22 with the player's fear of adventuring. It's worth noting too, that taking an objective view of the player deaths that have occurred actually display the campaign to be far less dangerous than players seem to believe, but that's a different issue altogether. I find it hard to reward players properly, and I think something like this will be necessary to be able to move forward in my campaign, but figuring out how to do that without going nuts on the magic items may be impossible, I'm not sure.

I like this idea alot, taking what a player has said they would like to do and giving a 'numerical reward level' might prompt others to think about what their PC want or even get the orignal PC into doing the 'goal', without distraction of 'but the reward isnt valuable to me'

I think this is how I’ll implement it. _Maybe_ get a bit more specific (e.g. - “Tier III Item” vs “Tier III Ally,” depending on the quest). But maybe not