I am running my first ever campaign as a DM and planned a short adventure with a corrupted temple of monks. After they beat the encounter, they will find a magic quarterstaff that contains the knowledge of previous monks who wielded it, and I wanted to give whoever picked it up a level in monk, since the staff contained all this knowledge. However, now I'm wondering if that is a bad idea. First off, I'm worried that just giving a player a level instantly is way to overpowered, even though my PCs are only level 3. Secondly, I'm worried that if I did that, I would be hijacking the player's plan for their character. I wanted to ask the players if any of them would like to take a level of monk before hand, but that could just spoil the entire adventure.
I had a pc in game one time make deals with a dark power. They made a pact with the power and agreed to terms on the deal. To the player it was 100% RP with nothing else in mind. Started the same for me as well. Then once the deal was solidified as a reward for insane RP I gave him a free level in warlock. The player loved it.
And to the other question, you should not give a player a level for free. Maybe the whole party, but not just one player. And if you do, you shouldn’t choose it. Maybe with player input you could make an offer if they wanted it, but not as a mandate.
Many classes don’t work well together, so you could be giving them something useless. Also, you are cutting off any chance they have of getting their level 20 ability, and setting them back from getting the abilities they actually want.
I like the idea, but I think the staff should grant something to players that already are monks. The powers it grants right now are useless for a monk, so no monk would desire it. The only excuse would be it's a respected item, otherwise the monks should have destroyed it.
Perhaps have it add +2 ki points if you already have ki points. And/or increase your Martials Arts damage die by 1 level, becoming 1d12 at level 17?
Or maybe it takes time to tap into the experience of the monks, so mechanically it manifests that the player can use their next level to multiclass into monk and in the fiction that can be the player having mediated on the staff and its contents a sufficient amount.
And maybe it gives an extra bonus to characters with a level in monk, to incentivize players to take the level. Or, if they don't want to multiclass, you can grant them a lesser, secondary benefit so the staff is still useful to them.
I'd just look at the monk level as part of the Item as intended and just balance accordingly. I do similar things with Lycanthropy in my own campaign. Ultimately you as the DM determine if its overpowered. To me, the issue at hand isn't "Did i give one player too much power?" the real issue is "Are my players gonna get jealous when this wizard starts doing cartwheels?". The Human element always trumps the rules as written.
I like the idea of the staff giving off some Monk-like skills or abilities. Especially if it is NOT a magical weapon. For a level 3, the additional abilities are cool and will be used for a bit. Heck, even give the staff 3 Ki powers that recharge at dawn. In a few levels, as they encounter magical weapons the staff will be used less and less. They still got some cool use out of a great story reward, but it didn't derail anyone's plans.
I wouldn't just give a character a level of a specific class. Maybe the player doesn't want that level... Remember, you only get 20 total (depending on how long the campaign goes, what level they started, etc). You're now forcing them to be, at max, 19/1. Maybe the player wants to have all 20 levels of sorcerer (or whatever). It may seem like not a big deal to you, but to me, if I'm that player -- I want control over my character design decisions.
I would say a better way to do this is to tell the player, "Next time you level up, if you wish, you may take a level of Monk."
But then -- I do not allow multiclassing unless there is a good RP reason for it... so this would provide the reason. But if you would let anyone else take monk also, without the rod, then you'd need to think of something else. Maybe "you may use class-specific monk items even though you don't have any levels of monk" or something.
But whatever you do, don't just force a level of a class onto a player because his character picked the item up. IMO that's not a treat -- it's almost like a curse.
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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.
I come from the old school of D&D when things happened to our characters all the time that we weren’t expecting or planning for. Something like picking up a scepter and having our character arc shifted when we didn’t plan on it was not unheard of in the least. In fact, we usually got excited about that stuff because we were interested to see how the characters would develop. Of course, back then, most characters died before 5th level (if not by 3rd) so we weren’t as heavily invested in a long-term plan for the characters. Once we started rolling dice we expected crazy $|-|¡+ to happen to our characters.
My point is, what are your players’ expectations? Have you discussed the possibility of such things happening in the campaign? Was this covered in Session 0? Would they enjoy or hate having a left turn dropped on their characters?
In short, there is no “right answer,” only “the right answer for your group.”
I am running my first ever campaign as a DM and planned a short adventure with a corrupted temple of monks. After they beat the encounter, they will find a magic quarterstaff that contains the knowledge of previous monks who wielded it, and I wanted to give whoever picked it up a level in monk, since the staff contained all this knowledge. However, now I'm wondering if that is a bad idea. First off, I'm worried that just giving a player a level instantly is way to overpowered, even though my PCs are only level 3. Secondly, I'm worried that if I did that, I would be hijacking the player's plan for their character. I wanted to ask the players if any of them would like to take a level of monk before hand, but that could just spoil the entire adventure.
What do I do? Any ideas?
I had a pc in game one time make deals with a dark power. They made a pact with the power and agreed to terms on the deal. To the player it was 100% RP with nothing else in mind. Started the same for me as well. Then once the deal was solidified as a reward for insane RP I gave him a free level in warlock. The player loved it.
I would have the item (which requires attunement) grant some specific monk-like abilities. For example:
Thanks, I will!
+1 to pantagruel’s idea
And to the other question, you should not give a player a level for free. Maybe the whole party, but not just one player. And if you do, you shouldn’t choose it. Maybe with player input you could make an offer if they wanted it, but not as a mandate.
Many classes don’t work well together, so you could be giving them something useless. Also, you are cutting off any chance they have of getting their level 20 ability, and setting them back from getting the abilities they actually want.
I like the idea, but I think the staff should grant something to players that already are monks. The powers it grants right now are useless for a monk, so no monk would desire it. The only excuse would be it's a respected item, otherwise the monks should have destroyed it.
Perhaps have it add +2 ki points if you already have ki points. And/or increase your Martials Arts damage die by 1 level, becoming 1d12 at level 17?
Good point
Or maybe it takes time to tap into the experience of the monks, so mechanically it manifests that the player can use their next level to multiclass into monk and in the fiction that can be the player having mediated on the staff and its contents a sufficient amount.
And maybe it gives an extra bonus to characters with a level in monk, to incentivize players to take the level. Or, if they don't want to multiclass, you can grant them a lesser, secondary benefit so the staff is still useful to them.
I'd just look at the monk level as part of the Item as intended and just balance accordingly. I do similar things with Lycanthropy in my own campaign. Ultimately you as the DM determine if its overpowered. To me, the issue at hand isn't "Did i give one player too much power?" the real issue is "Are my players gonna get jealous when this wizard starts doing cartwheels?". The Human element always trumps the rules as written.
I like the idea of the staff giving off some Monk-like skills or abilities. Especially if it is NOT a magical weapon. For a level 3, the additional abilities are cool and will be used for a bit. Heck, even give the staff 3 Ki powers that recharge at dawn. In a few levels, as they encounter magical weapons the staff will be used less and less. They still got some cool use out of a great story reward, but it didn't derail anyone's plans.
I wouldn't just give a character a level of a specific class. Maybe the player doesn't want that level... Remember, you only get 20 total (depending on how long the campaign goes, what level they started, etc). You're now forcing them to be, at max, 19/1. Maybe the player wants to have all 20 levels of sorcerer (or whatever). It may seem like not a big deal to you, but to me, if I'm that player -- I want control over my character design decisions.
I would say a better way to do this is to tell the player, "Next time you level up, if you wish, you may take a level of Monk."
But then -- I do not allow multiclassing unless there is a good RP reason for it... so this would provide the reason. But if you would let anyone else take monk also, without the rod, then you'd need to think of something else. Maybe "you may use class-specific monk items even though you don't have any levels of monk" or something.
But whatever you do, don't just force a level of a class onto a player because his character picked the item up. IMO that's not a treat -- it's almost like a curse.
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.
Maybe it’s just me, but....
I come from the old school of D&D when things happened to our characters all the time that we weren’t expecting or planning for. Something like picking up a scepter and having our character arc shifted when we didn’t plan on it was not unheard of in the least. In fact, we usually got excited about that stuff because we were interested to see how the characters would develop. Of course, back then, most characters died before 5th level (if not by 3rd) so we weren’t as heavily invested in a long-term plan for the characters. Once we started rolling dice we expected crazy $|-|¡+ to happen to our characters.
My point is, what are your players’ expectations? Have you discussed the possibility of such things happening in the campaign? Was this covered in Session 0? Would they enjoy or hate having a left turn dropped on their characters?
In short, there is no “right answer,” only “the right answer for your group.”
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Thanks, I appreciate the advice