Treasure and Rewards

Well, it's definitely been on my mind as a Pony Handler for the past few weeks so I figure I'll toss this topic up. Let's think about rewards and treasure or neat gear that you can give your players to add a new dynamic to the game.

Potions - In my first game, I made three of them that the player had a choice of making, and he would get the potion if he could complete a moderate skill challenge. The potions in battle are standard actions that grant the player 1 pip when used.
His choices were:

-Potion of Regeneration: Out of Battle Effect, For the next 10 minutes you gain +5 to endurance checks. In Battle: You gain Regen 2 for the rest of the battle

-Potion of Invisibility: Out of Battle Effect: 2 minutes after consuming this potion, you, but not your equipment, are invisible for 1 minute.

-Potion of Fire (Alchemist's fire) : Out of Battle Effect: This oily potion can be used to light any surface, up to 9 square feet ablaze for three minutes, even usually inflammable surfaces. (Like a rock). In Battle Effect: [+1] - Deal target, and adjacent enemies 1d10 dmg and ongoing 5 dmg (save ends).

In any case, I'd like to hear what treasures and reward ideas you have

Slaves.
.
..
....
What? There's a fallout setting being worked on.

.....

*runs away*

Ramsus wrote:Slaves.
.
..
....
What? There's a fallout setting being worked on.

.....

*runs away*

Well Slaves/Pets are good too.

In fact in my campaign they managed to get Peewee (the baby Phoenix) to join them on their quest.

It's stat-block is this:

Peewee – 15 HP
Trait – Rebirth
When Peewee reaches 0 or lower HP, all his pips are removed, and he is healed for 2 hp per pip removed.
[+2] Phoenix Down
Target ally is healed for 3 hp
[-6] Phoenix Tears – Minor Action
Target ally, whose hp is 0 or lower, is healed for 3d10 HP

I made it more to compensate for the lack of a full-sized party.

Though I think Slaves might end up being a FoE Boon or something.

On a more serious note...

gems and artwork and other trinkets are always decent rewards. Favors work too. Depends a lot of the quest really. If you route out a spy in Celestia's royal guard you probably aren't getting paid in slaves (would be funny though, Celestia the Barbarian?) or money but, a favor or a medal or just the political status.

There really don't seem to be much in the way of magic objects in Equestria though.

Ramsus wrote:On a more serious note...

gems and artwork and other trinkets are always decent rewards. Favors work too. Depends a lot of the quest really. If you route out a spy in Celestia's royal guard you probably aren't getting paid in slaves (would be funny though, Celestia the Barbarian?) or money but, a favor or a medal or just the political status.

There really don't seem to be much in the way of magic objects in Equestria though.

I seem to recall Rarity singing about putting 'magic in the dress'. I always figured that unicorns would be able to enchant items to make them magical. Maybe we could eventually have a unicorn talent for that.

But, it was probably magic for looking pretty. That's pretty different from magically fire-proof armor or such. Though, having a Utility to temporarily do things like that would be pretty neat. It just might be an infinite money source if they were permanent enchantments. Unless the Utility only allowed you to maintain a set amount of such items? I suppose then there would be magic items lying around, unless the magic turned off when the creator died?

Ramsus wrote:But, it was probably magic for looking pretty. That's pretty different from magically fire-proof armor or such. Though, having a Utility to temporarily do things like that would be pretty neat. It just might be an infinite money source if they were permanent enchantments. Unless the Utility only allowed you to maintain a set amount of such items? I suppose then there would be magic items lying around, unless the magic turned off when the creator died?

I figured it would be similar to DnD in that you need to get some sort of residuem or components to make it, so it's not exploitable. Though it could also be a talent that uses a magic point to instill a day-long bonus to an object or something.

But still, I think it would be awesome, and entirely possible in the setting, to have permanent magic items around. It would just take a lot of balancing to make it not a broken ability, as well as a semi-functioning economy.

Isn't it kind or weird to add stuff that doesn't show up in the show though? Adding it as a personal power is one thing but, adding an entirely new element to the lore of the world (or rather all the worlds) is kinda weird. Still, obviously some people's setting are going to want magic items because, yeah. Each GM is virtually a new world. But, we shouldn't treat it as if we expect it to be universal really.

The other issue is that the system wasn't designed with magic items figured in. They could quite easily break combat balance. (It would be harder to break out of combat balance because Utilities can already do basically anything and everything.) So we have to be pretty careful about combat effects to magic items.

Have there even been magical items in the show? The Elements of Harmony are one set but I don't think there's anything else that can be viewed as a typical (magic) artifact.

As for rewards, one of my groups get paid by an employer while the members of the other group have made withdrawals from their bank accounts (all ponies have life savings)
What they do with it is up to them.
As for treasure, I haven't handed anything out yet for the reason there isn't any canon lore on it (aside from potions, courtesy of Zecora)

Tank the heliturtle. That is all.

Those potions are great concepts!

Tying the in-combat and out-of-combat together that seamlessly is really slick. Very cool.

Alchemist Stone - 2/Day
Out of Combat - Converts a valuable object (e.g. gold nuggets, gems...) into an equivalent amount of bits. Large objects (such as large golden statues or diamond walls) can only partially be converted, up to 4000 bits, or a volume of 1 meter cubic.
In combat - Lick the stone to gain regeneration 5 for three rounds.

Sun Stone - Daily
Out of Combat - Passively shines natural sunlight, similar to how a unicorn's horn glows. When invoked, it completely illuminates the current room for 10 minutes and removes minor illusions or darkness/shadow magics.
In combat - Invoke to blind all enemies (Save ends), as well as stun nocturnal, shadowy, darkness, demonic or vampiric creatures for one round.

Pink Party Invitation - One use
Out of Combat - Pinkie Pie appears and performs a free Instant Party. In addition, all participants need to only roll 15 or higher to gain a magic point, instead of a natural 20.
In Combat - Pinkie Pie appears and does one of the following (player choice):
1) Distracts the enemies, allowing the party to escape or avoid the confrontation entirely.
2) Causes an effect from the "Tons of Fun" table, which affects combats directly (At DM's discretion).

Overdue Library Book - One use
Out of Combat - You can leave this in some other creature's possession, which will cause a furious Twilight Sparkle to arrive within a day, enacting cosmic punishment (Ranging from a fine, to catastrophic property damage/bodily harm/mental trauma) on it's current "owner". The longer the book is unused, the greater the punishment.
In Combat - Throw onto a target enemy. In two rounds, or at the end of combat (if you lose the encounter), they will receive 8*X damage, X being equal to number of days the book was in the parties possession, up to a maximum of 42. If the target is knocked unconscious before this happens, the book is recovered and unused.

Note: If you still own this book at the end of the campaign, may Celestia have mercy on you.

I like the first two a lot. Do you think the Sun Stone should apply to Changeling disguises? I'd actually vote yes.

15+ is almost guarantee that someone gets a magic point. If you wanted to tone it down I'd suggest 18+.

That's a lot of damage (both in and out of combat) but, I suppose it'd be fine as long as people didn't get more than a few in a whole campaign. Certainly would be bad if it was a common item.

Zarhon wrote:Alchemist Stone - 2/Day
Out of Combat - Converts a valuable object (e.g. gold nuggets, gems...) into an equivalent amount of bits. Large objects (such as large golden statues or diamond walls) can only partially be converted, up to 4000 bits, or a volume of 1 meter cubic.
In combat - Lick the stone to gain regeneration 5 for three rounds.

Sun Stone - Daily
Out of Combat - Passively shines natural sunlight, similar to how a unicorn's horn glows. When invoked, it completely illuminates the current room for 10 minutes and removes minor illusions or darkness/shadow magics.
In combat - Invoke to blind all enemies (Save ends), as well as stun nocturnal, shadowy, darkness, demonic or vampiric creatures for one round.

Pink Party Invitation - One use
Out of Combat - Pinkie Pie appears and performs a free Instant Party. In addition, all participants need to only roll 15 or higher to gain a magic point, instead of a natural 20.
In Combat - Pinkie Pie appears and does one of the following (player choice):
1) Distracts the enemies, allowing the party to escape or avoid the confrontation entirely.
2) Causes an effect from the "Tons of Fun" table, which affects combats directly (At DM's discretion).

Overdue Library Book - One use
Out of Combat - You can leave this in some other creature's possession, which will cause a furious Twilight Sparkle to arrive within a day, enacting cosmic punishment (Ranging from a fine, to catastrophic property damage/bodily harm/mental trauma) on it's current "owner". The longer the book is unused, the greater the punishment.
In Combat - Throw onto a target enemy. In two rounds, or at the end of combat (if you lose the encounter), they will receive 8*X damage, X being equal to number of days the book was in the parties possession, up to a maximum of 42. If the target is knocked unconscious before this happens, the book is recovered and unused.

Note: If you still own this book at the end of the campaign, may Celestia have mercy on you.

I rather like the alchemist stone idea. It would definitely be a highly sought-after artifact, and of course it would need to be balanced with whatever monetary system it was part of. I just wonder why it gives regen while in combat... I think it might make more sense to give Resistance (turn your skin metallic for 3 rounds).

And the sun stone is a lot of fun Though I think it should blind all combatants, not just enemies. Or perhaps target one enemy and it's adjacent allies.

I love seeing these ideas

And the other two could be used in a campaign where the Mane 6's appearance won't completely derail the campaign

Ideas for different types of armor:

Armored Saddle: - Cheap
Resist 2

Chain Vest: - Med. Cost
Resist 4, -2 initiative

Pony Plate: - A tad expensive
Resist 6, -5 initiative

Healer's Robes: - Med. Cost
Healing moves restore an extra 2 HP, + 2 to Heal checks

Magician's Cloak: - Very expensive
Start battles with 2 extra PiPs

Rogue Leather: - Med. Cost
Resist 2, + 1d10 damage on a crit

Bearskin Pelt - Med. Cost
+ 1d10 damage when bloodied

Dead Mender wrote:Ideas for different types of armor:

Armored Saddle: - Cheap
Resist 2

Chain Vest: - Med. Cost
Resist 4, -2 initiative

Pony Plate: - A tad expensive
Resist 6, -5 initiative

Healer's Robes: - Med. Cost
Healing moves restore an extra 2 HP, + 2 to Heal checks

Magician's Cloak: - Very expensive
Start battles with 2 extra PiPs

Rogue Leather: - Med. Cost
Resist 2, + 1d10 damage on a crit

Bearskin Pelt - Med. Cost
+ 1d10 damage when bloodied

two things cost ranges because say getting a pice of armor that gives resist 2 for say... 10 bits is not balanced with say +2 pips for 100,000 bits and the leather and Pelt might need reskining this is a pony setting... you could get away with it for necromancer stuff.

one more thing how did Trixie buy a Magician's Cloak!

The Armored Saddle runs for 300 bits in our campaign, with the "Med. Cost" ones at 500, the Pony Plate at 700, and the Magician's Cloak at 1,000 but the monetary system varies widely from game to game, so...

Those are some neat items. The thing about resistance items is that with every point you have of it, it becomes almost exponentially more effective, so I'd be careful about letting my characters get such items. Resist 6 (even resist 4) is SUPER powerful, I'd say the DM better have some tricks up his sleeve to make the encounters plenty interesting should anypony be wearing that awesome stuff.

Like Dead Mender said, how the DM handles money is going to vary with every game. In a game where typical damage die are d10s and d8s, and there's an armor with "Resist 6" out there, I would make that plate armor much rarer and much more expensive, and probably not something you could simply walk up and buy. Perhaps reduce the Resist numbers to make it so that a d8 might do more than 1 or 2 damage at a time, if the roller is lucky?

Also, instead of Leather and Hide, maybe Rogue Cloak and Barbarian Cloak? Magician's Cloak is made to help a primarily mage-based character get their super attack out faster, so cloaks for other class types might help play to their strengths as well. It sounds a bit silly, but it's a suggestion other than animals wearing the skin of other animals.

An idea with armor: Instead of a flat increase, you toss a coin to see if an attack "hits" your armor (and thus applies the resist). For example:

Armored Saddle: - Cheap
Toss coin when attacked. Gain 2 resist for that attack if you win.

Alternately, the resist values could always be rolled for each type of armor (the armor may or may not protect you to its full extent). For example, going with the current armors:

Armored Saddle: - Cheap
1d2 resist (on attack)

Chain Vest: - Med. Cost
1d4 Resist (on attack), -2 initiative

Pony Plate: - A tad expensive
1d6 Resist (on attack), -5 initiative

Healer's Robes: - Med. Cost
Healing moves restore an extra 2 HP, + 2 to Heal checks

Magician's Cloak: - Very expensive
Start battles with 2 extra PiPs

Rogue Leather: - Med. Cost
1d2 Resist (on attack), + 1d10 damage on a crit

Flat value armors could be reserved for magical / special material armors.

Diamond Armor - Ultra expensive
6 Resist, always start last in initiative order

Dragonscale Mail - Ultra expensive
4 Resist

Enchanted Pegasus Plate (Pegasus/Winged creature only) - Very expensive
1d2 Resist, +5 Initiative

Magic Ring Focus (Unicorn/Horned creature only) - Ultra expensive
Toss coin at start of round for -1 PiP cost on next ability + 1d4 damage

I tempted to say "Peaches of Immortality". As in the fruit hoarded by the Jade Emperor of Chi-neigh?

Possible effects
Agelessness
Curing all ailments/diseases.
Filling you up for 10 days
Permanent bonuses to endurance.
Something else?

Decanter Of Endless Chocolate Milk
An ornate gilt bottle, when the stopper is removed, sprays chocolate milk at the rate of one cubic foot per round. All milk decanted from the bottle disappears 1d10 minutes after the bottle is opened.

Appkes wrote:Decanter Of Endless Chocolate Milk
An ornate gilt bottle, when the stopper is removed, sprays chocolate milk at the rate of one cubic foot per round. All milk decanted from the bottle disappears 1d10 minutes after the bottle is opened.

Hah! That way I can drink as much Chocolate milk as I want, and then ten minutes later I'll feel suddenly thirsty on account of all the chocolate milk I drank disappearing. Does consumed chocolate milk disappear as well? I got a good chuckle from this item regardless

In my campaign, I ended a retraining quest with a loot roll.  I used the trinket concept of several items of little direct combat, monetary, or magical worth but of possible sentimental or story worth.  This is not that exact list but I am providing a similar one pulled/modified from various sources online.  I chose twenty since it's an easy d20 roll, though these lists usually have numbers closer to 100 options.  Also, both my original list and this one were made "MLP safe" so I erred on the side of not having bones and organs as options while also adjusting the shapes and colors of a few.  GMs are obviously encouraged to adjust things as they see fit for their own campaigns.

1. A roc feather fan.
   
2. A shard of obsidian with a tiny heart shaped crystal inside of it.
   
3. A glass orb that replicates yesterday's weather inside itself.
   
4. A wooden amulet with a strange rune on it.
   
5. A piece of pure white cloth that never gets dirty.
   
6. A crystal prism that refracts shadow instead of light.
   
7. A yoke inscribed with a fire motif that is slightly warm to the touch.
   
8. A scroll with a spell written incorrectly on it.
   
9. A ceramic coin minted by a long dead civilization.
   
10. A glass orb that replicates yesterday's weather inside itself.
    
11. A glass disk in the shape of the sun.
    
12. A small vial of dark blue sand that glows slightly in the moonlight.
    
13. A quill pen which, no matter what color ink is used, writes in green.
    
14. A pouch full of rainbow colored sand.
    
15. Four dried corn kernels sealed in an amber sphere.
    
16. Folded parchment containing an intricate diagram of a complex machine of unknown origin and purpose.
    
17. A single drop of lamp oil sealed in a glass bead.
    
18. A horse shoe which makes a slight humming sound when it's about to rain.
    
19. A brass key that can lock any door, but unlock none.
    
20. A wooden sphere with a white marking that always faces the sun and a black marking that always faces the moon.