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Rewarding Players
When running official adventures, you'll see a variety of different rewards and rules for how they are rewarded, due to the official system (the Adventurers League) that this replaces changing the rules wildly over time. Instead of those rewards, provide your players with these instead.
Milestones
Each party member earns 1 milestone per night of playing an adventure (regardless of whether the adventure is completed). The milestones needed to level can be found on the player page about Milestones.
Magic Items
- Only one player may claim the magic item
- You may substitute the magic item with another of your choice unless the item itself is an integral part of the adventure, for example the Gem of Brightness in the Wreckers adventure is being used as a lighthouse. If this were an Alchemy Jug, the adventure would make no sense, but swapping a +1 shortsword for a +1 quarterstaff is totally fine. Always make sure the item you substitute makes sense - i.e. if an item is intrinsically bound to a setting such as a Ravnican guild signet, having it available outside of that setting makes no sense.
- Reward substitution should make the adventure more exciting for the players first. Don't swap items just because you want to equip your own characters. You may not change the item if it results in something that nobody in the party cannot use, or has no incentive to use (for example swapping a sword for a bow in a party with no primarily ranged combatants just because you want a bow).
- Magic items included in adventures should be those from official sources. This includes all campaigns, supplements, and other official sources. You may use D&D Beyond or any of the official books as a reference, so long as you exclude homebrew items.
- You may customize the flavour of magic items given, but not fundamentally change/add to their effects. For example an Alchemy Jug could be a cup instead of a jug, but you can't allow it to produce any other fluids than the original jug would provide. If in doubt about whether your idea is allowed, contact an admin.
Tier | Maximum item rarity |
---|---|
Tier 1 | Uncommon |
Tier 2 | Rare |
Tier 3 | Very Rare |
Tier 4 | Legendary |
If you wish to include an item from a lower rarity tier, you can instead include two items of a lower tier, for example two rare items in a tier 3 or 4 adventure instead of a single very rare item. As with the single item, these must be tied into the story of your adventure.
When awarding items, invite players to roll for them at the end of the session, and apply the following priority:
- Players who want to use the item on the character that has played the adventure
- Players who want the item for use on another of their characters
- Players who want the item for trading, their collection, or other lesser purposes
You may choose to ignore this if it is not relevant, for example a wondrous item that is generally useful, or if you believe it will cause undue stress and conflict at your table. You may also choose an alternative fair means of deciding the item's final recipient, provided it is accepted as fair by the majority of your players, such as a coin flip, acceptance of a terrible story “reward” or otherwise. In the event of a conflict, roll instead.
Banned items listed in Item Rulings may not be awarded in any circumstances.
Gold
Gold found throughout the adventure should be capped at the following maximum amounts (even if the adventure runs more than one night).
Tier | Maximum gold per adventure (per player) |
---|---|
Tier 1 | 80 GP |
Tier 2 | 240 GP |
Tier 3 | 800 GP |
Tier 4 | 3000 GP |
Distribute the gold throughout your adventure prior to running it to ensure that the gold is found in the world, and not just handed out at the end like wages. Similarly, do not reward the party with all the gold if they do not complete all objectives of the adventure.
If your players wish to give some of their share to a member of their party to reimburse them for things like casting a resurrection spell, paying bribes, an exceptional act of self-sacrifice, or other adventure-related expenses, they may do so only with your approval, without that amount being subject to the above limits. Only permit this in logical situations, do not if their rationale is simply “because I don't need the money” or “because Wizards use money more than Rogues”.
If your adventure involves gold that surpasses this limit, such as through gambling, you may allow them to keep up to double the adventure's normal reward. Only do this if it is integral to the adventure.
Renown
The party are always awarded with 1 Renown on completion of an adventure (again, not per night), and 1 Renown if they do not receive a magic item found by the party.
Story Rewards
Feel free to award any story rewards listed in your adventure, but in addition, writing new story rewards into your adventures is encouraged, particularly if you intend to run multiple adventures in the same setting, area of the world, or the adventures connect together.
This could mean, for example, giving players a bonus when interacting with a specific faction, making friends with a particular NPC, or being known as a certain title. These things add flavour without unduly influencing gameplay to a massive degree, but make your games feel tied together.
Feel free to add them wherever you see fit, and distribute them to players wherever makes sense, not just where noted in the adventure. Just remember: Story rewards should never provide combat strength or unfair advantages to a character. See Story Rewards for Players for more examples.