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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

Pathfinder RPG (1st Edition) Pathfinder RPG (2nd Edition) Starfinder RPG

Rules Index | GM Screen | Player's Guide
GM Core / Chapter 1: Running the Game

Rewards

Source GM Core pg. 56 2.0
In Pathfinder, player characters can receive three kinds of rewards for their heroic deeds: Experience Points, which they’ll use to level up; treasure, which can be anything from powerful magical items to more intangible benefits; and Hero Points, which they can use to get out of sticky situations.

Experience Points

Source GM Core pg. 56 2.0
As characters adventure, they earn Experience Points (XP). These awards come from achieving goals, completing social encounters, exploring new places, fighting monsters, overcoming hazards, and other sorts of deeds. You have a great deal of control over when the characters gain XP, though the following guidelines are what you're expected to give out in a standard campaign.

Normally, when a player character reaches 1,000 XP or more, they level up, reduce their XP by 1,000, and start progressing toward the next level, though you can choose to advance your players more quickly or slowly if it suits your group. These other means of advancement are noted in the Advancement Speeds sidebar on page 57.

XP Awards

Source GM Core pg. 56 2.0
Experience Points are awarded for encounters, exploration, and progress in an adventure. When the PCs face direct opposition, such as a fight or a social conflict, the XP earned is based on the level of the challenge the party overcame. Characters can also gain XP from exploration, such as finding secret areas, locating a hideout, enduring a dangerous environment, or mapping an entire dungeon.

The party is a team, so any XP awarded goes to all members of the group. For instance, if the party wins a battle worth 100 XP, they each get 100 XP, even if the party's rogue was off in a vault stealing treasure during the battle. But if the rogue collected a splendid and famous gemstone, which you've decided was a moderate accomplishment worth 30 XP, each member of the party gets 30 XP, too.

Table 10-8: XP Awards

AccomplishmentXP Award
Minor10 XP
Moderate*30 XP
Major*80 XP
*Typically earns a Hero Point as well.
Adversary LevelXP Award
Party level -410 XP
Party level -315 XP
Party level -220 XP
Party level -130 XP
Party level40 XP
Party level +160 XP
Party level +280 XP
Party level +3120 XP
Party level +4160 XP

XP Award
LevelSimple HazardComplex Hazard
Party level -42 XP10 XP
Party level -33 XP15 XP
Party level -24 XP20 XP
Party level -16 XP30 XP
Party level8 XP40 XP
Party level +112 XP60 XP
Party level +216 XP80 XP
Party level +324 XP120 XP
Party level +432 XP160 XP

Adversaries and Hazards

Source GM Core pg. 56 2.0
Encounters with adversaries and hazards grant a set amount of XP. When the group overcomes an encounter with creatures or hazards, each character gains XP equal to the total XP of the creatures and hazards in the encounter (this excludes XP adjustments for different party sizes; see Party Size for details).

Trivial encounters don't normally grant any XP, but you might decide to award the same XP as for a minor or moderate accomplishment for a trivial encounter that was important to the story, or for an encounter that became trivial because of the order in which the PCs encountered it in a nonlinear adventure.

Accomplishments

Source GM Core pg. 56 2.0
Characters' actions that move the story forward—like securing a major alliance, establishing an organization, or causing an NPC to have a change of heart—are considered accomplishments and should be rewarded with XP. Their significance determines the size of the XP award. Determine whether the achievement was a minor, moderate, or major accomplishment, and refer to the XP Awards table on page 57 to award an appropriate amount of XP.

Minor accomplishments include all sorts of significant, memorable, or surprising moments in the game. A moderate accomplishment typically represents a goal that takes most of a session to complete, and a major accomplishment is usually the culmination of the characters' efforts across many sessions. Moderate and major accomplishments usually come after heroic effort, so that's an ideal time to also give a Hero Point to one or more of the characters involved.

As mentioned earlier, it's up to you how much XP to give out for accomplishments. As a general guideline, in a given game session, you'll typically give several minor awards, one or two moderate awards, and only one major award, if any. Try to be consistent about what is worth accomplishment XP and what isn't, and give out at least some accomplishment XP every session.

If two PCs pull off the same magnitude of task, they should get an equal amount of accomplishment XP. That doesn't mean you should allow XP “farming,” however. Part of the assumption of accomplishment XP is that the accomplishment is novel and the result of something challenging. If someone got accomplishment XP for snatching a dragon's egg from a lair, someone collecting another egg wouldn't necessarily get accomplishment XP.

Party Size

Source GM Core pg. 56 2.0
The rules for advancement assume a group of four PCs. The rules for building encounters (page 57) describe how to accommodate groups of a different size, but the XP awards don’t change—always award the amount of XP listed for a group of four characters. You usually won’t need to make many adjustments for a differently sized group outside of encounters. Be careful of providing too many ways to get accomplishment XP when you have a large group, though. Since they can pursue multiple accomplishments at once, it can lead to the PCs leveling up too fast.

Group Parity and Party Level

Source GM Core pg. 57 2.0
It's recommended that you keep all the player characters at the same XP total. This makes it much easier to know what challenges are suitable for your players. Having characters at different levels can mean weaker characters die more easily and their players feel less effective, which in turn makes the game less fun for those players.

If you choose not to keep the whole group at the same character level, you'll need to select a party level to determine your XP budget for encounters. Choose the level you think best represents the party's ability as a whole. Use the highest level if only one or two characters are behind, or an average if everyone is at a different level. If only one character is two or more levels ahead, use a party level suitable for the lower-level characters, and adjust the encounters as if there were one additional PC for every 2 levels the higher-level character has beyond the rest of the party.

Party members who are behind the party level gain double the XP other characters do until they reach the party's level. When tracking individually, you'll need to decide whether party members get XP for missed sessions.

Hero Points

Source GM Core pg. 57 2.0
Unlike Experience Points and treasure, which stay with a character, Hero Points are granted and used on a persession basis. At the start of a game session, you give out 1 Hero Point to each player character. You can also give out more Hero Points during the game, typically after a heroic moment or accomplishment (see below). As noted in the Player Core, a player can spend 1 Hero Point for a reroll, or they can spend all their Hero Points to recover when near death.

In a typical game, you'll hand out about 1 Hero Point during each hour of play after the first (for example, 3 extra points in a 4-hour session). If you want a more over-the-top game, or if your group is up against incredible odds and showing immense bravery, you might give them out at a faster rate, like 1 every 30 minutes (6 over a 4-hour session). You might also give them out at a faster rate during a shorter session. Try to ensure each PC has opportunities to earn Hero Points, and avoid granting all of the Hero Points to a single character.

Brave last stands, protecting innocents, and using a smart strategy or spell to save the day could all earn a character a Hero Point. Look for those moments when everybody at the table celebrates or sits back in awe of a character's accomplishments; that's your cue to issue that character a Hero Point.

You can also give out a Hero Point for a less impactful, but still notable moments. A PC landing the killing blow on a difficult foe or successfully navigating a social challenge could earn a Hero Point. There are times when the PCs' actions aren't exceptionally dramatic or worldshattering, but that shouldn't prevent you from handing out a Hero Point as a reward.

The party could also gain Hero Points for their accomplishments throughout the game. For a moderate or major accomplishment, consider giving out a Hero Point as well. This point typically goes to a PC who was instrumental in attaining that accomplishment.

Advancement Speeds

By varying the amount of XP it takes to gain a level, you can change how quickly characters gain power. The game rules assume a group playing with standard advancement. Fast advancement works best when you know you won't be playing a very long campaign and want to accomplish as much as possible quickly; slow advancement works best for a gritty campaign where all progress is hard won.

You can alter XP from one adventure to the next to get a different feel. During a street-level murder mystery and travel through a haunted wilderness, you might use slow advancement. When the PCs reach the dungeon, you might switch to standard or fast advancement. The values below are just examples. You can use values even higher or lower.

Advancement Speeds

Advancement SpeedXP to Level Up
Fast800 XP
Medium1,000 XP
Slow1,200 XP

Story-Based Leveling

If you don't want to deal with managing and handing out XP, or if you want to have progression based solely on events in the story, you can ignore the XP process entirely and instead simply have the characters level up at story-appropriate moments. Generally, the characters should gain a level every three to four game sessions, just after the most appropriate big event that happens during that time, such as defeating a significant villain or achieving a major goal.

Treasure

Source GM Core pg. 58 2.0
As the GM, it's your job to distribute treasure to the player characters. Treasure appears throughout an adventure, and the PCs obtain it by raiding treasure hoards, defeating foes who carry valuable items or currency, getting paid for successful quests, and any other way you can imagine.

The game's math is based on PCs looking to find, buy, or craft items that are the same level as them—this includes weapons and armor with fundamental runes, and items that help with the PC's favorite skills or tactics. A PC who gets the item at that level will typically be ahead of the monsters, hazards, and skill DCs briefly, before their challenges start to catch back up. The guidelines for awarding treasure, meanwhile, have you give the party items 1 level higher than the PCs. This means the items found on adventures are more powerful than those a PC could make (which are capped at the PC's level).

The treasure assignment is measured across a level instead of per encounter because some encounters won't have treasure, some will have extra treasure, and some treasure hoards or rewards might be found outside encounters entirely. You always have the freedom to assign extra treasure for a high-powered game, less treasure for a gritty survival horror adventure, or any amount in between.

As you choose treasure, look at the flow of treasure in the campaign, and see which PCs are ahead and which are behind. It's usually best to mix “core items,” treasure linked to a PC's main abilities, with treasure that has unusual, less broadly applicable powers. For instance, the party's sword-and-shield fighter might not go out of their way to purchase an lodestone shield, but they'll likely use it if they find it. These items should always be useful—a party without a primal spellcaster won't have much use for an animal staff. The number of core items to give out depends partly on how much the campaign allows for crafting and buying items.
  • If there are few limits on buying items and there's plenty of downtime to craft items, make about half the permanent items you give out core items. The PCs have plenty of ways to obtain the items they want.
  • If purchasing items and obtaining formulas is somewhat difficult, make about three-fourths of the permanent items core items. If a PC really wants an item, they might have to do extra work to get it.
  • If there are no magic item shops or other ways to purchase items and formulas, make all the permanent items core items. In this case, it might work better for your game to use Automatic Bonus Progression (page 83) to eliminate the need for core items.

Treasure by Level

Source GM Core pg. 59 2.0
The Party Treasure by Level table above shows how much treasure you should give out over the course of a level for a group of four PCs. The Total Value column gives an approximate total value of all the treasure, in case you want to spend it like a budget. The next several columns provide suggestions for breaking down that total into permanent items, which the PCs keep and use for a long time; consumables, which are destroyed after being used once; and currency, which includes coins, gems, and other valuables primarily spent to acquire items or services.

The final column gives the amount of currency to add for each PC beyond four in the group; use this only if you have more than four characters in the game. (Different Party Sizes on page 61 provides more guidance on this.)

For instance, between the time your PCs reach 3rd level and the time they reach 4th level, you should give them the treasure listed in the table for 3rd level, worth approximately 500 gp: two 4th-level permanent items, two 3rd-level permanent items, two 4th-level consumables, two 3rd-level consumables, two 2nd-level consumables, and 120 gp worth of currency.

When assigning 1st-level permanent items, your best options are armor, weapons, and other gear from Player Core worth between 10 and 20 gp. The treasure listed in the row for 20th level represents a full level's worth of adventures, even though there is no way to reach 21st level.

Some creature entries in Monster Core list treasure that can be gained by defeating an individual creature; this counts toward the treasure for any given level.

Published adventures include a suitable amount of treasure throughout the adventure, though you should still monitor the party's capabilities as the PCs progress through the adventure to make sure they don't end up behind. You might also consider making changes to the treasure found in a published adventure to better fit the needs of the party, such as changing a +1 longbow into a +1 longsword if none of the PCs use bows.

Table 10-9: Party Treasure by Level

LevelTotal ValuePermanent Items (By Item Level)Consumables (By Item Level)Party CurrencyCurrency per Additional PC
1175 gp2nd: 2, 1st: 22nd: 2, 1st: 340 gp10 gp
2300 gp3rd: 2, 2nd: 23rd: 2, 2nd: 2, 1st: 270 gp18 gp
3500 gp4th: 2, 3rd: 24th: 2, 3rd: 2, 2nd: 2120 gp30 gp
4850 gp5th: 2, 4th: 25th: 2, 4th: 2, 3rd: 2200 gp50 gp
51,350 gp6th: 2, 5th: 26th: 2, 5th: 2, 4th: 2320 gp80 gp
62,000 gp7th: 2, 6th: 27th: 2, 6th: 2, 5th: 2500 gp125 gp
72,900 gp8th: 2, 7th: 28th: 2, 7th: 2, 6th: 2720 gp180 gp
84,000 gp9th: 2, 8th: 29th: 2, 8th: 2, 7th: 21,000 gp250 gp
95,700 gp10th: 2, 9th: 210th: 2, 9th: 2, 8th: 21,400 gp350 gp
108,000 gp11th: 2, 10th: 211th: 2, 10th: 2, 9th: 22,000 gp500 gp
1111,500 gp12th: 2, 11th: 212th: 2, 11th: 2, 10th: 22,800 gp700 gp
1216,500 gp13th: 2, 12th: 213th: 2, 12th: 2, 11th: 24,000 gp1,000 gp
1325,000 gp14th: 2, 13th: 214th: 2, 13th: 2, 12th: 26,000 gp1,500 gp
1436,500 gp15th: 2, 14th: 215th: 2, 14th: 2, 13th: 29,000 gp2,250 gp
1554,500 gp16th: 2, 15th: 216th: 2, 15th: 2, 14th: 213,000 gp3,250 gp
1682,500 gp17th: 2, 16th: 217th: 2, 16th: 2, 15th: 220,000 gp5,000 gp
17128,000 gp18th: 2, 17th: 218th: 2, 17th: 2, 16th: 230,000 gp7,500 gp
18208,000 gp19th: 2, 18th: 219th: 2, 18th: 2, 17th: 248,000 gp12,000 gp
19355,000 gp20th: 2, 19th: 220th: 2, 19th: 2, 18th: 280,000 gp20,000 gp
20490,000 gp20th: 420th: 4, 19th: 2140,000 gp35,000 gp

Currency

Source GM Core pg. 59 2.0
A party will find money and other treasure that isn't useful on its own but that can be sold or spent on other things. The gp values in the Party Currency column don't refer only to coins. Gems, art objects, crafting materials (including precious materials), jewelry, and even items of much lower level than the party's level can all be more interesting than a pile of gold.

If you include a lower-level permanent item as part of a currency reward, count only half the item's Price toward the gp amount, assuming the party will sell the item or use it as crafting material. But lower-level consumables might still be useful, particularly scrolls, and if you think your party will use them, count those items at their full Price.

Adjusting Treasure

The treasure you award to the party should be monitored and adjusted as you play. You might need to give out treasure you hadn't originally planned for, especially if the group bypasses part of an adventure. Keep an eye on the party's resources. If they're running out of consumables or money, or if they're having trouble in combat because their items aren't up to the task, you can make adjustments.

This is especially common in adventures that have little downtime or that take place far from civilization. If the group goes a long time without being able to purchase or Craft useful items, the PCs will be flush with coins and valuables but behind on useful equipment. In a situation like this, you can either place more useful treasure in the adventure or introduce NPCs who are willing to trade.

Megadungeons And Sandboxes

Some adventures have an expectation that the player characters explore where they want and find only what their skill, luck, and ingenuity afford. Two common examples of this type of adventure are the sprawling dungeon with multiple different sections and paths, often called a megadungeon, and free-form exploration, often called a sandbox and typically occurring in a wilderness. If you want to build a free-form adventure like this where characters are likely to miss at least some of the treasure, increase the amount of treasure you place. Be aware, however, that a meticulous group can end up with more treasure than normal and will have advantages in later adventures.

For a simple guideline to these situations, increase the treasure as though there were one more PC in the party. If the structure is especially loose, especially in sandbox adventures, you can increase this amount even further.

Other Types of Treasure

Source GM Core pg. 60 2.0
Not all treasure has to be items or currency. Crafters can use the Crafting skill to turn raw materials directly into items instead of buying those items with coins. Knowledge can expand a character’s abilities, and formulas make good treasure for item-crafting characters. A spellcaster might get access to new spells from an enemy’s spellbook or an ancient scholar, while a monk might retrain techniques with rarer ones learned from a master on a remote mountaintop.

Treasure and Rarity

Source GM Core pg. 60 2.0
Giving out uncommon and rare items and formulas can get players more interested in treasure. It's best to introduce uncommon items as a reward fairly regularly but rare items only occasionally. These rewards are especially compelling when the adventurers get the item by defeating or outsmarting an enemy who carries an item that fits their backstory or theme.

Uncommon and rare formulas make great treasure for a character who Crafts items. Note that if an uncommon or rare formula is broadly disseminated, it eventually becomes more common. This can take months or years, but the item might start showing up in shops all around the world

Different Item Levels

Source GM Core pg. 60 2.0
The levels listed for items on the Party Treasure by Level table aren't set in stone. You can provide items of slightly higher or lower level as long as you take into account the value of the items you hand out. For instance, suppose you were considering giving a party of 11th-level PCs a runestone with a fortification rune (with a Price of 2,000 gp) as one of their 12th-level items, but you realize they've had trouble finding armor in their recent adventures, so you instead decide to give them a suit of 11th-level +2 resilient armor (1,400 gp) instead. Since the armor has a lower Price than the rune, you might also add a 9th-level shadow rune (650 gp) to make up the difference. The total isn't exactly the same, but that's all right.

However, if you wanted to place a 13th-level permanent item in a treasure hoard, you could remove two 11th-level permanent items to make a roughly equivalent exchange. When you make an exchange upward like this, be cautious: not only might you introduce an item with effects that are disruptive at the party's current level of play, but you also might give an amazing item to one PC while other characters don't gain any new items at all!

If you're playing in a long-term campaign, you can spread out the treasure over time. A major milestone can give extra treasure at one level, followed by a tougher dungeon with fewer new items at the next level.

Check back occasionally to see whether each PC's treasure is comparable to the amount they'd get if they created a new character at their current level, as described under Treasure for New Characters below. They should be a bit higher, but if there's a significant discrepancy, adjust the adventure's upcoming treasure rewards accordingly.

Different Party Sizes

Source GM Core pg. 61 2.0
If a party has more than four characters, add the following for each additional character:
  • One permanent item of the party's level or 1 level higher
  • Two consumables, usually one of the party's level and one of 1 level higher
  • Currency equal to the value in the Currency per Additional PC column
If the party has fewer than four characters, you can subtract the same amount for each missing character, but since the game is inherently more challenging with a smaller group that can't cover all roles as efficiently, you might consider subtracting less treasure and allowing the extra gear help compensate for the smaller group size.

Treasure for New Characters

Source GM Core pg. 61 2.0
When your new campaign starts at a higher level, a new player joins an existing group, or a current player's character dies and they need a new one, your campaign will have one or more PCs who don't start at 1st level. In these cases, refer to the Character Wealth table, which shows how many common permanent items of various levels the PC should have, in addition to currency. A single item on this table is always a baseline item. If the player wants armor or a weapon with property runes, they must buy the property runes separately, and for armor or a weapon made of a precious material, they must pay for the precious material separately as well.

These values are for a PC just starting out at the given level. If the PC is joining a party that has already made progress toward the next level, consider giving the new character an additional item of their current level. If your party has kept the treasure of dead or retired PCs and passed it on to new characters, you might need to give the new character less than the values on the table or reduce some of the treasure rewards of the next few adventures.

Table 10-10: Character Wealth

LevelPermanent ItemsCurrencyLump Sum
1-15 gp15 gp
21st: 120 gp30 gp
32nd: 1, 1st: 225 gp75 gp
43rd: 1, 2nd: 2, 1st: 130 gp140 gp
54th: 1, 3rd: 2, 2nd: 1, 1st: 250 gp270 gp
65th: 1, 4th: 2, 3rd: 1, 2nd: 280 gp450 gp
76th: 1, 5th: 2, 4th: 1, 3rd: 2125 gp720 gp
87th: 1, 6th: 2, 5th: 1, 4th: 2180 gp1,100 gp
98th: 1, 7th: 2, 6th: 1, 5th: 2250 gp1,600 gp
109th: 1, 8th: 2, 7th: 1, 6th: 2350 gp2,300 gp
1110th: 1, 9th: 2, 8th: 1, 7th: 2500 gp3,200 gp
1211th: 1, 10th: 2, 9th: 1, 8th: 2700 gp4,500 gp
1312th: 1, 11th: 2, 10th: 1, 9th: 21,000 gp6,400 gp
1413th: 1, 12th: 2, 11th: 1, 10th: 21,500 gp9,300 gp
1514th: 1, 13th: 2, 12th: 1, 11th: 22,250 gp13,500 gp
1615th: 1, 14th: 2, 13th: 1, 12th: 23,250 gp20,000 gp
1716th: 1, 15th: 2, 14th: 1, 13th: 25,000 gp30,000 gp
1817th: 1, 16th: 2, 15th: 1, 14th: 27,500 gp45,000 gp
1918th: 1, 17th: 2, 16th: 1, 15th: 212,000 gp69,000 gp
2019th: 1, 18th: 2, 17th: 1, 16th: 220,000 gp112,000 gp

Item Selection

Source GM Core pg. 61 2.0
You should work with the new character's player to decide which items their character has. Allow the player to make suggestions, and if they know what items they want their character to have, respect their choices unless you believe those choices will have a negative impact on your game.

At your discretion, you can grant the player character uncommon or rare items that fit their backstory and concept, keeping in mind how many items of those rarities you have introduced into your game. The player can also spend currency on consumables or lowerlevel permanent items, keeping the rest as coinage. As usual, you determine which items the character can find for purchase.

A PC can voluntarily choose an item that has a lower level than any or all of the listed items, but they don't gain any more currency by doing so.

If you choose, you can allow the player to instead start with a lump sum of currency and buy whatever common items they want, with a maximum item level of 1 lower than the character's level. This has a lower total value than the normal allotment of permanent items and currency, since the player can select a higher ratio of high-level items.

Buying and Selling Items

Source GM Core pg. 61 2.0
Characters can usually buy and sell items only during downtime. An item can typically be sold for only half its Price, though art objects, gems, and raw materials can be sold for their full Price. The PCs' ability to sell items plays a big part in their ability to equip themselves how they want. However, it may not make sense for the story that PCs can find a buyer for every item, especially if they're selling multiple copies of the same thing. Players should not have the expectation that they can sell whatever they want whenever they want. They might be unable to sell items that wouldn't be in demand, have to take a lower percentage, or have trouble selling items in places without massive wealth.

If you don't want to deal with that level of detail, you can choose to make selling items more abstract, allowing the PCs to sell anything for half Price essentially at any time. Since this makes it far easier for PCs to outfit themselves how they want, they might be more powerful.