Tag: Adding Favours to Treasure Bundles

While the Dungeon’s Master team enjoys some well-deserved vacation time, we’re breaking out the greatest hits and shining a spotlight on a few of our favourite articles from 2010. We’ve searched for hidden gems that our newer readers might have missed and our long-time readers will enjoy reading again. Enjoy a second look at these greatest hits from Dungeon’s Master.

When I wrote this article my games were in the early paragon tier (around level 11-12). Now that I have a few different characters nearing epic levels I’ve realized, as both a player and a DM, that favours are usually considered more valuable than monetary treasure.

As I noted in the original article, the characters reach a point when they don’t really need any more equipment and money just starts to pile up. The only thing that tougher PCs want is to upgrade from a +3 weapon to a +4 weapon. In the grand scheme of things the difference of +1 isn’t nearly as exciting or interesting as a favour.

I’ve found that the aspect of D&D that really appeals to me as my characters become more powerful is the role-playing. Sure combat is fun, but by the time I’ve reach level 20 combat often gets stale. However, role-playing a level 20 character and all the perks and privileges that come along with that kind of power, is where things get really interesting.

Part of what makes characters this powerful so interesting is knowing what they’ve accomplished and who they’ve met along the way. By accumulating favours over multiple levels you give yourself a good reason to keep in touch with NPCs from your character’s past, especially if you ever plan to collect that favour.

As a DM who often awards favours, I’ve found that the players keep better track of their previous deeds and the names of important NPCs so that they can collect the favour when needed. Players with a pocket full of favours will come up with the most creative and unexpected ways to call in those favours in order to accomplish their latest challenge.

If you’re not already awarding favours in your game, be it in place of treasure bundles or as an additional perk, I strongly encourage you do begin doing so. It will enrich your game more than you might expect. At least it has for me and my gaming group.

“Your reward for rescuing the Duke’s daughter is a magical weapon, a suit of enchanted armor and a favour.”

As D&D characters become more and more powerful they always seem to become filthy rich along the way. At first they reinvest their newly gotten gains in themselves, purchasing new weapons, armor and magical items. But after a few levels they have everything they need and they start accumulating wealth. Massive amounts of wealth.

I have numerous characters at or above level 10 and all of them have thousands of gold pieces recorded on their character sheet. And the money continues piling up as they continue adventuring. Now I can spend the cash for the sake of spending the cash, but honestly there’s nothing that these character want or need. They already have magic items in every item slot of their character sheet. Eventually these PCs hit a point where any monetary rewards become inconsequential. I mean what can you buy with 20,000 gp that you couldn’t buy with 15,000 gp?