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The Role of Rewards

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The Role of Rewards

Source GameMastery Guide pg. 102
Much of the famously addictive appeal of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and its predecessor games lies in its variety of reward mechanisms. These most obviously include experience points, treasure, and magic items, but also such in-story advantages like information, property, status, titles, even the possibility of eventual godhood.

Rewards mark the PCs’ victories. The act of scribbling down a new item or quantity of coins on a character sheet solidifies one of the game’s key pleasures. These moments cement the players’ commitment to the game by connecting them emotionally to what has just happened, while at the same time hooking them with the promise of future gains. Players revel in the success they’ve just scored, while also looking forward to the future triumphs their characters will be able to rack up after leveling up, using new gear, or making use of a long-forgotten scrap of lore.

Expect responses to rewards to vary from group to group and between individual players. Some players enjoy constant rewards and actively alter their play styles to maximize the benefits they receive. Others regard them as a bookkeeping necessity they’d rather keep in the background. Observe your players’ responses to see where they fit on this continuum. As you make decisions affecting reward distribution, seek out the sweet spot of compromise that makes the experience as compulsively entertaining as possible for the majority of your players.

Generalizations don’t always hold but can be useful as a starting point in determining what your players will enjoy. Younger or less experienced players often tend to prefer frequent rewards, with no benefit too small to lovingly describe. Even the most jaded players can remember their first few sessions, when a measly clutch of copper coins wrenched from a stinking kobold warren seemed like the most awesome haul ever. Older players, especially ones who are squeezed for time and can only meet for short sessions, may prefer to move the rewards process to the background. In this mode, shopping, swapping, and leveling up usually occurs outside of precious session time.

Whatever their amount of experience, some players remain more oriented toward rewards than others. Players heavily invested in their characters' abilities and in slaying monsters tend to want their rewards as soon as they can get them. Becoming more powerful is their biggest thrill. A steady stream of small power boosts suits them just fine. They don’t want to go into the next fight until they know they’ve squeezed every last iota of potential ability from their past accomplishments.

Players more focused on characterization or story progress may look at reward management as a form of homework. They’re more interested in seeing what’s on the other side of that hill, or talking to the crazy hermit, than stopping every scene to add up their XP totals or divide treasure. They’ll find it easier to stay engaged with the game if you bundle rewards together, dealing with them all at the same time.

The diagram on the next page lays out in graphic form the various considerations to take into account when deciding how much emphasis to give to rewards over the course of a session. Factors on the left side of the continuum lead to giving out awards in occasional bundles. Factors on the right side argue in favor of giving out rewards throughout the session.

Experience

Source GameMastery Guide pg. 102
Experience points are the lifeblood of the Pathfinder rewards system. They determine the rate at which the PCs progress, and form the currency with which the most spectacular and reliable abilities are acquired. By deciding when and how to give out XP, you’re establishing the expectations the players will bring to the rest of the game’s reward system.

Treasure

Source GameMastery Guide pg. 105
Game balance depends on rewarding the treasure values as given on cost of living guidelines in the Core Rulebook provide an easy way to quantify such expenditures. You can place specific treasures in particular encounters, making sure that the overall amount equals the recommended character wealth by level by the time the characters reach a new level.

In extreme cases for the left side of the continuum, you can handwave treasure altogether. As characters level up, award them the cash they need to bring them in line with Table 12–4. The assumption is that they’ve picked this up along the way, but in a way that wasn’t interesting enough to make a big deal about. Similarly, assume that the characters spend enough to keep themselves in reasonable comfort while in towns and leave it at that.

On the other hand, more reward-focused groups on the right side of the continuum often enjoy tracking treasure. To please them, you can research historical economies and describe each treasure horde in loving detail. For variety, include art objects, gems, and notable or valuable mundane equipment. For example, in the medieval era, items of luxury clothing were among the most highly valued trade goods. A little later, spices became wildly desirable.

Some groups prove particularly cash-obsessed, more interested in leveraging the economic system than killing monsters. If so, assume that they’ll go the extra mile to get a higher than usual percentage of the base price, and build that into your game. Peg the ultimate cash values of their treasures to the amount they can get if they coax, haggle, and swindle maximum prices out of their merchant partners. Use this interest to build in plot elements. They might happily spend more time spying on rivals, muscling out competitors, and fending off bandits than they do fighting orcs and demons. Rather than discouraging this behavior, you can go with it, building your treasure values and plot elements around it. The profit motive may not be traditionally heroic, but it does provide an easy source of story hooks. For example:

The Skull of the Crimson Khan might fetch little in the farming community surrounding the dungeon, requiring a dangerous overland journey to the Bazaar of the Silver Kingdoms.
The corpse of a bizarre aberrant creature, if properly preserved and maintained, might fetch a pretty penny from the crazy wizard-sage of the Spiral Tower—if his automaton rivals don’t swoop in and steal the coffin first.

Magic Items

Source GameMastery Guide pg. 105
Magic items are an integral part of treasure calculation in the Pathfinder RPG. The system determines a baseline treasure haul per character for each level, assuming that most of the treasure will be used to buy magic items.

Rewards-oriented groups, on the right end of the continuum, enjoy finding, trading, and selling magic items. Often they’ll enjoy the economic aspect of the game so much that they’ll set up lucrative side businesses making and selling enchanted objects. Let them feel rewarded for these activities, while subtly reducing dungeon treasure hauls to keep the group’s overall access to cash in line with Table 12–4. They might face early successes only to see the value of manufactured items drop as they contribute to an oversupply. Let them get away with what seems like a score or two, then add complicating factors that can also act as story hooks, such as:

Other shady adventurers come after the characters, as easier sources of treasure than dungeons.
Competing enchanters target the PCs for elimination.
Supplies of raw materials dry up, requiring quests into the dangerous wilds.