D&D reward cards
📆 Created on November 26, 2025.Six months ago I started DMing my first ever D&D campaign. It's a short campaign - in fact we just had the finale session and are taking a break before our next adventure - but it was a really great experience. I think the thing I enjoyed most was how much I able to empower the players in the campaign to change and impact the story in unpredictable ways.
From the start I wanted to really lean into the idea of the players and I crafting a story together, putting the characters into harrowing scenarios and have them overcome seemingly impossible challenges.
These goals, along with wanting to keep player engagement high throughout the campaign lead me to including a reward that I could present to players for good engagement with the game: doing solid roleplay, helping each other out with good teamwork, and even stepping out of the game a bit to take useful notes or give a recap when everyone else forgot what happened last session.
I knew I wanted something more than giving out inspiration, although that is still a good reward but I knew I wanted to give players something that could genuinely alter the course of the game if used well.
So I drafted up a set of eight reward cards that gave players useful, powerful, and sometimes down-right ridiculous abilities or one-time effects. Since the campaign is full of really good friends, and none of us are taking this campaign too seriously, it didn’t matter if some of the cards were a little broken or wildly overpowered. If anything, those cards just made things more memorable.
I've included each of the cards below, feel free to use or remix them as you like if you think they'd be a good addition to your campaign.
I can do this all day...
You immediately regain all your HP and the Resilient feat.
I'm your huckleberry
The current combat encounter stops. You and the opposing groups leader settle the fight one-on-one.
There's no place like home.
You immediately teleport yourself and up to 4 medium sized characters or creatures within 15ft of you to any location you have visted within the last three days.
A martini. Shaken, not stirred.
Your reputation precedes you. The local innkeeper is excited about your visit and invites you to eat, drink and stay at their establishment for free. You gain a +10 on charisma checks when talking to the innkeeper.
Fight in the shade...
For the duration of the current encounter, you get an additional ranged attack during your turn.
THIS. IS. SPARTA.
For the remainder of the encounter, the hero gains +3 to all attack rolls and damage. If they are attacking the enemy leader, or the enemy has an opposite alignment, the hero gains +6 to all attack rolls and damage.
Hasta la vista, baby.
When played, you say the title line to your current target and your attack roll is a natural 20.
I will have my vengeance...
In battle, if they have less than 10 HP, the player of the card gains 10 HP and their next attack is a natural 20.
In the end, the cards did exactly what I wanted: they encouraged players to show up, be involved in the story, help each other, and make the game as fun as possible for everyone. If you do use any of these or if you have your own "reward cards" system, shoot me a message on mastodon!