In a recent session of the campaign I Co-GM, our gunslinger had a duel with one of the main antagonists. She won the duel and was given an enchanted scroll containing schematics of firearms and notes scribbled on the margins. She read the scroll and it gave her the Unblemished Barrel trait.
I wanted to know if anyone else has done this in their home campaign and does it unbalance the game?
I wanted to know if anyone else has done this in their home campaign and does it unbalance the game?
I think it is a great idea. I gave my crew of pirates a bonus trait of my own devising for defending a shrine of Besmara in my home game. I wouldn't do it often, but it's a nice bit of acknowledgement of achievements and role playing.
Here's what my crew received in the way of Besmara's Blessings:
Drunk Halfling Oracle- Pickled- +2 fort saves
Mad Sorcerer- Stolen Lore- bonus spell known
Besmaran Inquisitor- Sheltering Sea- immune to fear on the water
Acrobatic Swordsman- Keep your Blade Close- blade teleports to hand as a swift action
Half-orc Thug- Takes a Lickin'-double rogue resiliency bonus
Does the traits given reflect the character they were given to storywise?
I think the idea of learned, story gained traits would be good but better as new category of traits because of how traits are already balanced.
Does the traits given reflect the character they were given to storywise?
Definitely.
The halfling is a lush and boozing at every opportunity so the fort bonus was a nod to his superhuman tolerance of alcohol and other poisons at this point.
The sorcerer is a serpent-blooded descendant of serpentfolk who is pursuing the lost lore of his creepy ancestry.
The inquisitor came to Besmara after being drowned and revived and has managed to make every save vs. fear that I've thrown his way anyway!
Our swashy fighter has put A LOT of time and money into customizing his signature rapier so I gave him a little trick which he has used to good effect once or twice.
The thug was getting knocked down to 0 hp all the time, but never killed so a little perk to keep him standing longer.
Said adventures are here on the PbP boards should you have the inclination to read through 2+ years of adventure link ; )
I think the idea of learned, story gained traits would be good but better as new category of traits because of how traits are already balanced.
The Legacy of Fire Player's Guide introduced Achievement Feats back before Traits were introduced with the PF game system. These were feats that you could take if you met certain condition in game such as kill 20 gnolls, take fire damage 10 times, confirm 50 crits. They never really went anywhere and were probably too much record keeping.
I make my own traits and they might be a little more powerful than standard traits, but my players aren't really optimized so it hasn't affected balance at all.
We use achievment feats in our game, its not that much record keeping on the players part. I posted a thread on homebrew achievment feats.
Feel free to put some of your traits here if you like. Maybe we can use them as story awards.
I've never done it, but I think its a superb idea, so long as the traits stay character and rp experience appropriate, that sounds like a wonderful thing to do - especially in a lower magic environment.
I did this for a campaign. Sadly, it didn't last long enough to put it into effect. The players were going to be offered one pick from a range of traits for each 'chapter' of the game, based on their activities during that time.
We use achievment feats in our game, its not that much record keeping on the players part. I posted a thread on homebrew achievment feats.
ah, this- link
Feel free to put some of your traits here if you like. Maybe we can use them as story awards.
Story traits, boons, whatever you want to call them would likely be pretty specific to your game. So long as they meet the trait feel- equivalent to half a feat- they should be good.
I just realized that I did a similar thing with my Legacy of Fire campaign. I gave my players boons based on what they did in the year off between book 1 and 2.
Our Rogue focused on restoring Kelmarane as a trade destination so I gave him a wholesaler boon: 1/2 price for mundane goods. that could be abused, but it hasn't been a problem.
Our Bard took over the alchemist shop in the Battle Market with his NPC wife so I gave them 1/2 price for potions and alchemist goods. Basically, his wife is crafting for the party.
They don't have a healer so I gave the Conjurer access to one cleric conjuration spell. I think he took lesser restoration. He spent the break on spell research.
Finally, our Fighter has Tempest so she already has a nice bonus. She worked at Fort Longjaw with the gnoll hunting cavalry over the interim so I gave her a horse trader boon to get full hp mounts when it comes up.
Traits as story awards are a good idea.
Personally in my campaign to engage players in creating website chronicle of our campaign I gave the one writing the chronicle 1 trait of his choice per one part of AP chronicled.
Sometimes i do. Like I have this guy who managed to avoid, save or help every ettercap and spider I threw at them, there were not many, but still... I decided to give him the "spider-folk ally", granting bonuses to social checks with spiders and ettercaps.
Then there was a guy who was send into minus hit-points at least 3-4 times every game... He got a few interesting traits as well :D
In last nights session we fought a trio of giants, it was an exciting battle. Our fighter took the brunt of the attacks and was getting wounded pretty bad but was dealing out just as much back. He threatened 5 criticals and confirmed 3 in a row. He and one of the giants were both bloodied up, but our fighter prevailed and we won the combat. When all was said and done, our GM asked him how many hp he had left, he said 1. So she decided that he deserved a reward for roleplaying the fight and gave him 'Blood of Giants' from People of the North. She said that with all the wounds he suffered and inflicted on the giant, the giants blood got into his system and after he was magically healed it stayed in there.
Our fighter is pretty happy about that little extra, now I'm just waiting to see what she has cooked up for me.