How about a document from a duke or a count that gives them access to something they wouldn't otherwise get? A part of town closed off to peasants or perhaps an audience with the king or something.
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WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
In Burma, they were considered Holy. As such they could not do any work, instead must be treated incredibly well. Which costs a ton of money. So the King would give them out as 'rewards' to his most effective minions. This costs them money and time, making it more difficult for them to rebel against him.
Give the players things that look wonderful but are expensive and take a lot of time. The modern day equivalent of a White Elephant is a Boat. Or, as many boat owner describes them "Holes in the water you pour money into."
Land works almost as well, particularly if they have to pay taxes, which are easy to do when you farm the land, but that requires actually knowing how to farm or hiring people that do.
But a boat works great. Costs a ton of money to pay the sailors and keep the wood in good shape. Taxes also, and the boat will absolutely get damaged at some time.
Depending on your campaign setting, a deed to a place could also be an interresting thing to give. In Dargon Heist, the players are given a tavern very early. It grounds them a little in a town and gives them a reason to come back and it can become a great place to have plot hooks happen and informations transfered.
Also temporary use homebrew content could be interresting, like limited use magical item or a deck of illusions is alot of fun both for players and you as a DM, make combat interresting and offering non-combat ways of resolving them (the illusion makes the monster flee only to come back later with reinforcements let's say)
Don't be affraid to use some content and twist it to your liking, maybe they do find a nice sword, but that one has a soul trapped inside and wants to be released and will pester the player until it performs whatever action they need to be free of their imprisonment. Then once free, the magic of the item is gone.
Also remember that you have control of encounters, if you know your characters are stronger, feel free to boost your monster's HP accordingly or add one more than usual just to keep fights challenging. I personnally prefer being generous with my players, the whole Hero fantasy only works when the players feel heroic and nothing say heroic like being able to hit and succeed in fights. Players tend to like larger dmg number, it won't bother them to have to hit it more then the actual HP it should have.(they souldn't know the monster's HP anyways)
So depending on your playstyle and your campaign setting, I hope you find the right answer for your group!
If you’re looking for stuff in the book, bag of holding, Hat of disguise, The various goggles of (blank), immovable rod, quills feather token, decanter of endless water. Those are the first that come to mind.
My players Just went through a festival, They loved the Giant stuffed animals from the games of skill(target shooting, ring the bell by hitting the thing with the hammer ect) one of them turned theirs into a backpack. I'm also fond of the common magic item list (Shiftweave clothing so they are never at a loss when invited to a Baron's party ect.)
We once did a campaign where all the items had some weird type of Glam effect. For example, boots of climbing actually had 8 legs coming off the sides of the boot. Every item had an effect like that, which made for some crazy roleplaying interactions once the party got a few magic items, as it was a relatively low magic world.
You could consider brooch ing the topic of Crafting with your party. What tools and proficiencies do they have to make their own cool (possibly magical?) items. That gives a party member (ideally) more control over random things to make that even the DM hadn't considered, and more character investment.
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My players are great a combat so I'm looking for rewards, possibly magical, that are great for role playing but don't directly help in combat.
How about a document from a duke or a count that gives them access to something they wouldn't otherwise get? A part of town closed off to peasants or perhaps an audience with the king or something.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
There are a lot of magic items with only out-of-combat uses. Else, see BioWizard, favors, land, followers, all possible and non-combat.
Do you know the story of the White Elephant?
In Burma, they were considered Holy. As such they could not do any work, instead must be treated incredibly well. Which costs a ton of money. So the King would give them out as 'rewards' to his most effective minions. This costs them money and time, making it more difficult for them to rebel against him.
Give the players things that look wonderful but are expensive and take a lot of time. The modern day equivalent of a White Elephant is a Boat. Or, as many boat owner describes them "Holes in the water you pour money into."
Land works almost as well, particularly if they have to pay taxes, which are easy to do when you farm the land, but that requires actually knowing how to farm or hiring people that do.
But a boat works great. Costs a ton of money to pay the sailors and keep the wood in good shape. Taxes also, and the boat will absolutely get damaged at some time.
Depending on your campaign setting, a deed to a place could also be an interresting thing to give. In Dargon Heist, the players are given a tavern very early. It grounds them a little in a town and gives them a reason to come back and it can become a great place to have plot hooks happen and informations transfered.
Also temporary use homebrew content could be interresting, like limited use magical item or a deck of illusions is alot of fun both for players and you as a DM, make combat interresting and offering non-combat ways of resolving them (the illusion makes the monster flee only to come back later with reinforcements let's say)
Don't be affraid to use some content and twist it to your liking, maybe they do find a nice sword, but that one has a soul trapped inside and wants to be released and will pester the player until it performs whatever action they need to be free of their imprisonment. Then once free, the magic of the item is gone.
Also remember that you have control of encounters, if you know your characters are stronger, feel free to boost your monster's HP accordingly or add one more than usual just to keep fights challenging. I personnally prefer being generous with my players, the whole Hero fantasy only works when the players feel heroic and nothing say heroic like being able to hit and succeed in fights. Players tend to like larger dmg number, it won't bother them to have to hit it more then the actual HP it should have.(they souldn't know the monster's HP anyways)
So depending on your playstyle and your campaign setting, I hope you find the right answer for your group!
If you’re looking for stuff in the book, bag of holding, Hat of disguise, The various goggles of (blank), immovable rod, quills feather token, decanter of endless water.
Those are the first that come to mind.
XGtE has also a bunch of flavorful magic items.
My players Just went through a festival, They loved the Giant stuffed animals from the games of skill(target shooting, ring the bell by hitting the thing with the hammer ect) one of them turned theirs into a backpack. I'm also fond of the common magic item list (Shiftweave clothing so they are never at a loss when invited to a Baron's party ect.)
We once did a campaign where all the items had some weird type of Glam effect. For example, boots of climbing actually had 8 legs coming off the sides of the boot. Every item had an effect like that, which made for some crazy roleplaying interactions once the party got a few magic items, as it was a relatively low magic world.
Alchemical Jugs are fantastic utility items.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
You could consider brooch ing the topic of Crafting with your party. What tools and proficiencies do they have to make their own cool (possibly magical?) items. That gives a party member (ideally) more control over random things to make that even the DM hadn't considered, and more character investment.
Boldly go