Rewarding your Emissary

[Taran]

This is a bit hastily posted...sorry, but I need it for my game tonight and am short on time.

I have a player who's playing an Emissary of a Fae Lord.

I was thinking that he needs a bit of a reward - say a new sword.  He's been weilding the same weapon 2 short sword since the game started.  I was going to upgrade it to weapon 3.  Is 4 to much?  Maybe I could do sword that does weapon 4 1/scene?


On that same theme...This player may get a new job...

Also, I'm doing the whole "Oberon is the Spring King".  Spring and Automn are trying to recover...Automn is less powerful than Spring so to maintain the balance Spring needs to help Automn before it can get more powerful.  So oberon made a sword for the Automn Knight. How would you stat out an Automn knights sword - made by a Spring Lord....just need some suggestions.

[Rubycon]

Doesn't look very fae-like to me. What kind of fae lord is he?

[Taran]

In my haste, I didn't do a very good description.  He's a collector of artifacts.  Kind of neutral Wyld Fae with the hunting theme excpet...he's more into trophies than actual hunting.

If you can think of a better reward that'd be neat, but the player is a combat junkie, so I'm not sure how much he'd get out of "creative" rewards.

[admiralducksauce]

I like the Weapon:4 1/scene idea, but instead of codifying it like that, why not make it a sword with an Aspect that can be free-tagged once a scene?  That way he can use that tag for +2 to his attack, which equates or compares favorably to a simple Weapon value increase.  He can tag it for effect too, and I'm sure the fairy lord can think of something that it can be compelled on.  Plus, it's not a Weapon:4 sword all the time, AND it's not simply a mechanical bonus.  It'll have some flavor, which IMO a magical sword needs to stand out from the pack.

[EdgeOfDreams]

A weapon: 3 sword is no problem. Weapon: 4 is a bit too strong for a melee weapon, I'd say.  Treating it as an enchanted item with a limited number of uses per session that boost the damage is probably fine.

Dresden Files doesn't do loot very well, really.  The only way that's really represented that I've seen is either an Item of Power or an aspect like "Loaded with Treasure" that gives a couple free tags on resources rolls.

[Rubycon]

That's better, I think. Especially when the aspect is something faelike

[gojj]

I gave my Autumn Knight a cloak with Inhuman Toughness and Inhuman Recovery to reflect the strength of nature and it's ability to recover from nearly anything given time. The Catch is Spring Court magic (+0 because it's so rare) but it can be researched by someone with the right materials so the catch gives +1, then the one-time discount is another +2, so the grand total is a pretty nifty Item of Power for only one refresh. You could easily put these on a sword (either one handed (W 2) or two-handed (W 3)), if you like these. Or if you want a more offensive weapon you could switch Recovery for Toughness. In my opinion nearly any enchantments can be justified given enough imagination and/or a lenient GM. You could also add a refresh or two to add an enchantment like (+2 damage vs. Fae) or a variation of the True Aim on the Sword of the Cross.

[EdgeOfDreams]

That's better, I think. Especially when the aspect is something faelike

Yeah. Actually, an aspect like "Owed a Fae Favor" with a free tag/invoke/compel available could be a pretty slick reward on the plot level without getting into mechanical issues.

[Haru]

A hunter who is more into trophies than hunting would be a collector in my book. To a hunter, the hunt would be more important than the catch. Therefore, despite the players combat junkieness, I don't know if just a weapon would fit.

On that note, how about something along the line of Jack Sparrows compass (it always points to what you want most)? This could in return lead to more artefacts (and of course trouble) he could find with it.

Also, there is a figure in Germanic mythology, Alberich, who is equivalent of Oberon. He was in possession of a cloak of invisibility, that he might be willing to give his emissary.

[bobjob]

With Fae, all gifts are about balance. Summer/Winter Spring/Autumn all cancel each other out completely (in theory with Spring/Autumn). There is information given and a commensurate amount of information taken in return. In order for your player to receive an upgrade weapon he would have had to given his lord something of equal value, whether an item or a plot hook. With the Fae, there ain't no such thing as a free lunch. Even if he's been doing a good job on his assignments, his lord has imbued power in him in order to enable him to do this. This is power given for missions completed.

So, what has he done for his lord lately?

[Taran]

Ironically, nothing.

He's being compelled to have a Pow-wow with his Lord.  If he turns it down there will be further compels revolving around his powers not working.

On the other hand, the player has a very difficult time with the RP parts and is trying more than I've seen him before...so I want to reward him(through his character).

[bobjob]

An idea: perhaps in the last mission with the group, the results of whatever they did gives the character's Lord some sort of greatly enhanced power. The player and party doesn't know about this yet (I would use it to screw everybody over later) but because the Fae are like they are, your player gets a more powerful weapon to equal the balance. He doesn't know why he's received it and may not actually realize what his Lord is doing other than giving him a gift. But now his Lord is more powerful and it was handed to him by his agent (unwittingly). As a gift, the Fae Lord must give a gift in return. Voila, powerful sword and you've got another story arch and hooks galore to dig into people.

[TitaniumMan]

My emissary was rewarded with bigger claws and tarantula hair...I don't think that's out of character for some lords, though.  Never read the books though.  Any boons ever turn out to be that sort of traumatic in them?

[BumblingBear]

A weapon: 3 sword is no problem. Weapon: 4 is a bit too strong for a melee weapon, I'd say.  Treating it as an enchanted item with a limited number of uses per session that boost the damage is probably fine.

I think that depends on the game.  I was going to play a PbP game a while back before the GM lost interest and my character in that game had a weapon:4 weapon, inhuman strength, and the ability to up his weapon with hellfire, resulting in an 8 shift weapon.

::shrug::

Dresden Files doesn't do loot very well, really.  The only way that's really represented that I've seen is either an Item of Power or an aspect like "Loaded with Treasure" that gives a couple free tags on resources rolls.

I could not agree enough, and it's actually one of the things that's beginning to turn me off to the system a little bit.

I like how non-crunchy fate is, but if feels hard to reward my PCs sometimes and buying things is a bit too hand wavey for me.

I've been thinking about making my own completely overhauled house rules system of fate to be used in a medieval world, where money matters (no resource stat), and weapons/stress is handled completely differently.  If stress tracks were a lot longer, the weapons value of various sharp pokey things could have a lot more diversity.

[UmbraLux]

Regarding loot - I like to give an appropriate aspect (The Vampire's Stash or whatever) and some number of free tags based on how much may have been there.  That way it's compellable (it's probably dirty money), taggable for bonuses to Resources, and potentially invokeable (for a limited time) after they've used up free tags.  For larger piles of loot I might (haven't yet) give a permanent Resources boost.

It keeps things simple while still allowing a lot of flexibility.