How to make D&D loot matter

▼ INDEX ▼
0:00 Intro
1:09 Make it spendable
2:40 Items aren't money
4:18 Eldamon!
5:48 Skills & Abilities
7:32 Prestige & Reputation
8:47 Information & Access
10:09 Introduce risk

Loot in D&D is fun, right? At least... it should be. Dungeon Masters, do your players get excited about their treasure? Here are some tips for DMs on how to reward players after encounters in a way that ties into the story of the game.

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[relariis_the_paradox]

"A name change is way cheaper than college" Ginny please that line was way too good for a sponsor segment

[tessawidenhofer]

My one DM is absolutely incredible at this. Very early on, we took a job as guards on a ship protecting a princess. We hit it off with her, she and our paladin had a thing, and aside from some cool items, we also became friends of the crown. Awesome! And then she was coronated, and we were gifted an entire mansion, which we spent three or four sessions cleaning out, decorating, and hiring staff for- which our lower class characters REALLY got into. Later, that paladin turned evil and kidnapped the queen, and our manor staff ended up being essential in helping us rescue her, and we’re considering sending my eldritch knight/wizard’s parents to live there since their house was burned down. These are only some of the shenanigans we’ve gotten into there, all because we got a house instead of some money.

[shaunwelch]

Ginny: “Earning gold is only fun when there’s something worth spending it on.”

Dragon to their servant: “FETCH MY KEYBOARD!!!”

[FizzyMcPhysics]

Playing Lost Mines, the bugbear in the first dungeon has a gold frog statue under his throne. The book says nothing about it except it's value, but my players were convinced this bugbear was worshiping it, and asked if they knew which god it was. I said they did, but I'd have to give them details next week, because I hadn't prepared it. So later I googled 'D&D frog god' and sure enough, there's a really grim god from 3.5e with lore and everything. So at the start of the next session they all have the same nightmare about this god, and when they wake up they have this really great discussion about destroying it vs. exorcising it, and their effects on the value! Finding an exorcist became the first side quest of the campaign. So awesome!

[justinm]

I think I might be late to the game but I really wanted to say: Congratulations on getting You're such a fun and uplifting part of my day and it brought me a tonne of joy to see you two so happy. Hope the fairytale lasts forever!!! :D

[anstrengthkobold]

I personally prefer cursed items to be double edged swords rather then just traps.

I love the sword of vengeance and berserker axe for this reason.

[CrispysTavern]

Yes! Loot in D&D can be shockingly boring. For me, the most important element is PERSONALITY! If you want your party to grow attached to a particular piece of gear, it should have some history to it. Who cares about rapier #7 when you can have "Touch of Malice, " a rifle forged with the wicked heart of the BBEG you just defeated? That sort of story can build a true sentimental attachment and make that legendary loot actually memorable.

ALSO! You'd be shocked at what an interesting shopkeeper can do for your party's gold spending. My grouip just met Acheron, a beholder in a trenchcoat who sells magical items that he stole from pesky adventurers. They. Love. Him. Even if he's clearly evil. Last session, we spent 2 hours shopping and bargaining and they ended spending half their gold. The wonders of decent loot with an excellent shopkeep to boot.

[Spyronite]

Another idea I saw somewhere was magic items that could be upgraded, which could mitigate the game-breaking aspect and make it more interesting. Let's say you find a ring which gives a small bonus, and it seems there is room for something embedded in it, but the jewel is missing. It can prompt you to investigate this as a "side quest" until the day where you find a pearl/gem/whatever which will, once embedded into the ring, increase the bonus it gives

[rashkavar]

One thing about boons: also be careful not to make them *too* scaled back. I remember a campaign where each of us got a boon from a being we saved from a black dragon that took over its home. This campaign lasted for several months longer and all of us still had our 1 time use boons unused when that campaign came to an end - the boons were neat and flavourful but had such niche applications and minor benefits that we never really had cause to use them. Even that's better than nothing, but ...if you're running a campaign set in and around a desert, maybe the boon that lets you cast water breathing on the party isn't the one you go with....

[kelpiekit]

Loot doesn't just have to be for character benefit. Finding a toy for your character's children on bandits, winning your spouse a business of her own from her corrupt family, finding job opportunities for orphans you grew up with, or even a short pause in a war for soldiers to collect their dead and grieve can all be meaningful rewards that characters earn for others. Money still works well with this too though. More than just "You can buy a business or your own castle" you could offer for instance "You've just slain the dragon and, as you look over its hoard before you, you think back to the street you grew up on. That money could be stronger than any magic sword to them". Even hope that didn't exist before can be reward. "He doesn't change or stop but, after what you've done here, you notice the BBEG listens to your words without dismissal". The benefit of these rewards is that characters feel like they are changing the world. This is loot that can outlive a character.

[bobyhappy]

9:24 CAT SURGE

New item : the cat effigie 😼
Once per day it summons a giant cat that can do 1 random action
-Ask for attention (charm effect)
-Show it's butt before leaving
-Just watch you suffer...and Yawn
-CAT RAGE (deals massive damage)
-Take a nap
-Meow because it's hungry

[drskelebone]

Ginny: "More like Debt and Disbursements!"
Me, thinking about the accounting spreadsheet I put together solely to manage finances for the party: "Um. Mean."
:D

[graywolfdracon]

When I DM, I often take this route. For example, my party helped prevent some theives from rustling some animals from a specialty breeder. As thanks the rancher is going to give them a horse he "thinks they will like" when the horses come of age. I'm using this to give the party horses(and possibly other animals) with some special abilities that are taylored to each character. And it's not even an immediate reward. They won't get them for another level or so.

[JennyJohansen-rk]

@GinnyDi I want to say thanks. The person who taught me to play D&D (like 20 years ago) has been teaching me how to DM recently. I started playing in his regular campaign and expressed an interest in running a game for my sisters and my wife. He agreed to help me get started, and then we convinced him to play with us. At his urging, he and I have been watching one of your videos every week and discussing them. This one was last week. I took the lesson to heart, and today after killing a bulette, they found the bones of a dwarf ranger. Among the bones was a gold ring. When they buried the remains, the dwarf's shade asked them to retrieve his wife's bones (she had died 40 years earlier, and was buried nearby, with her wedding ring) and bury them with his bones. When they did, he told the ranger in the party, who was the one to think to bury the bones with the ring, to keep both rings for the ranger and her wife, as a sign of their gratitude for being buried together. Everyone in the party was teary-eyed and everyone thanked me for such an emotionally powerful finish to the adventure this evening. So thank you for helping make my game more fun for the players and more rewarding for me.

[willemverheij]

There's also something to say for non-magical loot that can be useful. D&D tends to focus a lot on magic stuff but I like other things to be useful too and be an advantage.

Like explosives or smoke bombs can be fun and are also things with just one use. Or weapons or armour made of specific material that gives some benefit without being magical, or with something unique about the design.

Like a pole axe that can do piercing, bludgeoning and slashing damage depending on how they hit with it.
Or a heavy longbow that requires strength, not dexterity to use.
Or a shield with a hidden compartment.
Or a thick armour that ignores any attacks that deal 5 or less damage, but does take full damage of any attack that deals 6 or more damage.
Or it could be a dwarven made armour that any dwarf you meet will have an opinion on if you are not a dwarf. Some might respect you more while others think you're appropriating their culture.

[DiehardMechWarrior]

Ginny: Creates a very informative, friendly, and helpful set of guidelines for DMs in regards to helping players with engaging with loot.

Me: “KITTY!”

[NegativeLegend]

I came up with a ring that helps with this problem.
Ring of Indulgences: For every 500G (or whatever amount you want), make an INT check DC 15. On every success, you can add +1 to any d20 roll. However the ring cannot prevent the negative circumstances of a natural 1.
You can up the cost or change the check. Whatever. I don't dish out a lot of money in my campaign, so for my players 500G is a whole lot.

[docmnc]

My DM's been really good with this. Our party frequently spends large amounts of out gold wining and dining potential contacts. We also dropped most of our gold on a bounty on a hag who was out to get us. The DM letting us turn our resources into aid with an arc that was troubling us was really fun

[castlecaster]

I appreciate the love for weird consumable items. I love giving them out in loot just to see what the players do with them

[lukedavis]

One of the things I like to do is when the players sell an item the effects of that sale show up later. For example, that Phoenix egg may allow a wizard to reincarnate continuously so long as he is killed by fire (so once he's low on hp he fireballs himself to escape). It reminds players the effect of their actions don't end when they collect coin and might even have the players start to ask what fun things they can do with such items.