Achievement Feats exist, mostly as an abandoned system (in the vein of Words of Power), but those aren't what I think of as a reward for achieving something. Most especially because you have to take them as a feat in place of something you could probably use more.
Given that, I'm going to try Earned Achievement Feats in my upcoming game. These will be feats that a character automatically gains once they've accomplished tasks or done particularly brag worthy things. They won't be amazing bonuses, but they will reflect the growth or bravado of a character.
Examples
Practiced Mercy - Practice makes better, this is true of healing magic as well. By helping others so often, you're more likely to heal effectively. When casting a spell with Cure in the name, count any rolled 1s as 2 when determining how many HP are restored by the spell. Earned after healing 100 HP cumulatively to other beings (healing in excess of maximum HP is not counted).
Shots Fired - Some heroes have a certain flair, that sense of style and timing that fuels tales and (if they live long enough) legends. Whether a noble guardian of justice, or a flippant braggart, if they can cash the check their mouth writes, they will be remembered. Gain a +1 bonus on Charisma based skill checks with village, town, or city NPCs that are not hostile. Earned by either publicly vowing to end a specific pressing threat to a settlement, and doing so without further losses, or delivering an effective insult, taunt, or threat to an opponent more powerful than yourself, and successfully overcoming said opponent with civilian witnesses for both.
Has anyone tried anything similar in their games? I'm not at all worried about balance (besides which, these are all pretty paltry bonuses), but I am concerned that the recordkeeping could be a pain.
I'm not a big fan, though this is something that you see in a few recent APs from Paizo.
Your first two examples look like horrible exercises in book-keeping. also, killing a scant 25 goblins is probably not enough, given the number PCs might slay even in a single gaming session.
My feeling is that this sort of character advancement is already accounted for by the experience system. You kill more critters and overcome more challenges, so you gain more xp and consequently advance in level. Certainly, there is no direct link between what you did to level up and the choices you make concerning classes, feats and other advantages. However, a good DM can certainly encourage players to choose options that are linked to their character's life experiences.
If I were going to implement this idea (of basically handing out free feats linked to various campaign-specific goals) I would start with existing feats which are suboptimal choices that very few players would ever choose on their own. But honestly, the level-advancement system already in place takes care of the perceived "problem" readily enough. Maybe all you need is a list of existing feats that correspond to various campaign-specific themes?
This is for use in a Runelords AP run, so the number of goblins is capped (as written there are around 38). It's almost more of an MVP reward to commemorate who was the most accomplished in the first chapter (after which, goblins evaporate from the story).
I'm not addressing a perceived problem, I'm adding bonuses based on character actions and choices. I enjoy adding bonuses and rewarding character behaviours.
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Goblin Slayer strikes me as bad all around:
- It requires one PC to get two-thirds of the killing blows, which indicates you might have an issue with group balance,
- By your description, it probably becomes completely useless once you earn it, and
- Rewarding a single player as the 'MVP' is rarely a good thing as it can cause resentment and discourages support roles (if nothing else, you are 'buffing' the character who is already out-performing the other characters).
Practiced Mercy just seems like a lot of tracking for something the party healer will earn eventually (unlike the goblins, the healer will heal 100hp fairly quickly, assuming no early adventure TPK). Even without a dedicated healer, anyone capable of casting heals will earn this at some point without doing anything special.
Shots Fired seems okay, beyond the issue of keeping track of exactly who you have a bonus with. Honestly, this seems more along the lines of a circumstance bonus from the storyline than a special ability.
I think the work/reward ratio for setting up this sort of thing is probably not very good: I don't see any major balance issues, but expect a fair portion of your work to be completely ignored by your players (either their playstyle leads them to not earn anything, or they just forget the bonuses once they earn them).
I'd just give out something like this to every PC in the group as a special reward for finishing a book, or at some such significant point. I'd pick each reward to be meaningful to the given PC, and to the plot I know is up-coming. No bookkeeping.
Runelords already wants the DM to keep track of character "sins and virtues" throughout the AP, so I'm really not concerned about keeping other records.
So, it seems like maybe nobody else has tried anything like this? That's encouraging, I can be the first to field test it.
I have not used anything like this in Pathfinder, but have while running other gamesytems. It was never a preplanned award, but something that seemed obvious or fun to do after the character in question had done the cool thing being awarded. It went over well with players and added to the enjoyment level of the table.