In between adventures I like to give my players downtime for item creation, training, etc, and depending on what they pick and how it relates I try to give them something extra in the way of a bonus that applies in-game. Examples:
Our halfling Rogue is taking linguistics (abyssal) to help with information gathering since we're facing an otherworldly threat, and he decided he's spending his 3 weeks honing that skill and making contacts. As such I'm giving him a +2 bonus to diplomacy/bluff when speaking abyssal.
Our Tactician is pouring through the hall of records trying to find clues about where to find the bad guy lair. He is, in fact, spending all 3 weeks doing this. He gets a +2 bonus on knowledge local for the area he's been searching.
The Cavalier has been riding sorties with other mercenary groups and has made some contacts that could give him objectives counter to the party. He gets a +2 bonus to bluff against the group.
Lastly the wizard has been totally obsessed with getting a lesser metamagic rod and decided he was going to watch the local item crafters as they made HIS rod. Because he was so intimately involved with the process I'm giving him a +2 on the DC of spells he casts with spells modified by that rod or a +1 to hit.
and so on and so forth. Has anyone else done stuff like this or has any other suggestions? Thanks.
I like the first two. They're situational, but its a free +2. The third is a bit odd. Is the cavalier seeking to lie to the party? I don't know how often the wizard will be able to use the rod, but his freebie seems more powerful than the others.
I like the first two. They're situational, but its a free +2. The third is a bit odd. Is the cavalier seeking to lie to the party? I don't know how often the wizard will be able to use the rod, but his freebie seems more powerful than the others.
A lesser metamagic rod is 3x per day. Also, I like to give the party conflicting missions sometimes, to add an element of drama.