D&D 5E Rewards of the Factions

[Mhyr]

Hey there! (My first post on these lovely boards!)

I am running LMoP for my group and plan to switch to Episode 5 of HotDQ. Up till now I wrote the play session reports IC. The authors were the five NPCs of the five factions from LMoP, to introduce the players to the factions and thinking of members of them. As the PCs joined various factions I intend to let the players do this work from now on. IC, of course!

And I want to reward them in game. So I made up a list of uncommon magic items the authors could get as a "welcome gift" by their faction.

Harpers: rope of climbing (for the drow sorcerer of the group)
Emerald Enclave: boots of elvenkind (for the wood elf ranger of the group)
Order of the Gauntlet: +1 shield (for the shield dwarf cleric of the group)
Lord's Alliance: cloak of protection (for the moon elf fighter of the group)
Zhentarim: +1 dagger (for the moon elf rogue of the group)

What do you think? Too powerful/generous?

 

[PnPgamer]

Not too powerful, let them have their toys.

 

[77IM]

Wow, that's a lot of elves.

 

[KarinsDad]

Wouldn't it seem odd if every faction gave every PC a magic item? Is this like a signing bonus in the NFL?

 

[CapnZapp]

Wow, that's a lot of elves.

All four of my players choose the half elf race.

Most goodies other races get quickly become insignificant; darkvision and skills are hard currency.

Or so I'm being led to believe...

 

[77IM]

All four of my players choose the half elf race.

Most goodies other races get quickly become insignificant; darkvision and skills are hard currency.

Or so I'm being led to believe...

No dispute here; I love half-elves. Two floating ability mods is delicious, +2 Cha is icing on the cake, but it's the two skill picks that keep me coming back for more.

To address the OP, this is a great idea. The nice thing about magic item rewards is you can regulate them -- if one PC's faction gift is too strong, make sure their next item is slightly weak, etc.

 

[Cernor]

IMO faction benefits should be more RP based than power based. Joining a faction makes other members of that faction automatically friendly, making things like safe haven or small favours easier to come by. If you get a mentor, then you have a patron who can be a source of adventures and information. Just giving a magic item for membership in an organization, however, seems to be a huge benefit that would need to be outweighed by negative consequences. Enemies of their respective factions become their enemies, so they might be attacked seemingly without provocation, sometimes two party members might be given the same goal and have to decide which faction's orders are the most important, and if they fail to live up to the ideals of their faction then they will suffer consequences (like losing ranks and the associated privileges, having a hefty fine, etc.).

 

[Mhyr]

Wow, that's a lot of elves.

I know, I know.
But I got the feeling 5E is all about "saying yes" (hence a drow!) and it works pretty good to be honest.

To give you a complete picture: there WAS another wood elf druid and there IS a human wizard.

 

[Mhyr]

Wouldn't it seem odd if every faction gave every PC a magic item? Is this like a signing bonus in the NFL?

It may seem so, yes. But I really want to reward helpful players (in game) and they should get the feeling joining a faction is advantageous. speaking of it, to me mere inspiration wasn't strong enough here.

 

[Mhyr]

IMO faction benefits should be more RP based than power based. Joining a faction makes other members of that faction automatically friendly, making things like safe haven or small favours easier to come by. If you get a mentor, then you have a patron who can be a source of adventures and information. Just giving a magic item for membership in an organization, however, seems to be a huge benefit that would need to be outweighed by negative consequences. Enemies of their respective factions become their enemies, so they might be attacked seemingly without provocation, sometimes two party members might be given the same goal and have to decide which faction's orders are the most important, and if they fail to live up to the ideals of their faction then they will suffer consequences (like losing ranks and the associated privileges, having a hefty fine, etc.).

That would be my take on factions as well, but as mentioned above I have out of game reasons for this measure and I don't want to make roleplaying too "rules heavy".