Question on Rewards

[Dankers]

Hi,
-Is the Cultural Reward Spear of King Bladorthin from the Bardings worth the investment in XP? As I understand it, it is only useful when throwing the spear. That is, once per combat maximum. Do you see this reward picked up in your games? any idea of tweaking this reward?

As a reward the Spears of King Bladorthin are "meh"... but they are absolutely game-plot-gold and I couldn't resist writing up an adventure where the descendants of King Bladorthin come the Erebor to pay for and claim the spears. (I don't agree with the game's assumption that he was Bard's grandfather as stated in the Tale of Years.) The setup was pretty simple... Bard has signed a contract with Dain to purchase the ancient weapons before the "true" (or potentially false) descendants of Bladorthin show up with payment to fulfill the original contract. My players had a blast sorting out the ensuing political mayhem, raising their standing with some groups while straining relations with others.

To bring my story back to the main topic of how useful/desirable the Spear is as a reward, I would consider adding a bonus to the bearer's standing (similar to the Bowman of the Guild virtue). Just a thought.

[Angelalex242]

Still say it's simpler to just NOT restrict the bonus to thrown only. That's what kills it.

[killianred]

Our group discussed this topic during last week's session. It does seem (to us at least) that some of the rewards are much less "rewarding" than others. "Close fitting" as an example. The player spends all those points to get a +1 to his protection test!? Am I reading that right? I guess that's just how the game goes.

On a (sort of) similar note, I also was shown an error in my judgement (as LM) because I created an Heirloom of lost Arnor for a ranger character with a blessing "foe slaying". I did not realize at the time that every time the player gains a level of Valor, the weapon Edge goes down automatically. That seems almost broken to me, but we are going with it.

[Glorelendil]

On a (sort of) similar note, I also was shown an error in my judgement (as LM) because I created an Heirloom of lost Arnor for a ranger character with a blessing "foe slaying". I did not realize at the time that every time the player gains a level of Valor, the weapon Edge goes down automatically. That seems almost broken to me, but we are going with it.

The beauty of RPGs is that we each get to tailor them to our own desires, but just in case you weren't clear on the rules-as-written: the "Blessing" on an Heirloom of Lost Arnor is not the same as an "Enchanted Quality". The Blessing on the Heirloom is supposed to be the same as a Blessing on a Wondrous Artefact: a bonus equal to the character's Wisdom to a single common skill.

[Majestic]

Yeah, Foe-slaying is an Enchanted Quality. But that big reduction (to the Edge) only works against Bane creatures it's used on, not all adversaries.

[Angelalex242]

...why is there a spear reward for throwing only in the first place? Why does this thrice forged tip not help in melee anyway?

[jacksarge]

...why is there a spear reward for throwing only in the first place? Why does this thrice forged tip not help in melee anyway?

That is a good question. Assuming that thrice forging somehow improves its armour piercing ability, surely it should apply to a thrusting attack as well as a missile attack?

[Dunheved]

Still say it's simpler to just NOT restrict the bonus to thrown only. That's what kills it.

I have to agree - just delete the word 'ranged' in the description of the Reward to match the description : "their thrice-forged heads never lose their keeness and their shafts are inlaid with gold".
Alternately if this makes it too big a Reward, then the impressive gold inlay could enhance Awe & Encounters in a minor way e.g. +1 to rolls for Awe and +1 to number of Tolerance rolls (or similar)

(If it was a thrown only bonus, then I would expect the Reward description to be based around either balance (for throwing) or some sort of enhanced streamlining; but I'm not asking for a re-write! The spear of bladorthin was rejected for the Dalish longbow, even though Agmund (my son when he's back from college) uses a spear and went for weapon skill 2 on creation.)

[Rich H]

... I've seen house rules/suggestions to turn it into a long sword - you could keep the Feat Die benefit or swap it out for something else.

[Angelalex242]

Longsword of King Blad would make a LOT more sense considering their swordmaster virtue and weapon packages. Bardings don't even get spears as a primary weapon type. I kept hoping they'd errata this, but I guess Francesco really likes thrown only spears.

For....no discernible reason.