In the army of the Principate, a common soldier got two types of rewards: promotions and decorations. The promotions may be made to a more honourable position, such as a signifier (standard bearer for a century or cohort) being promoted to aquilifer (standard bearer for the legion). He might get other privileges such as changing units, moving from an auxiliary unit a regular legionary unit, be exempted from fatigue duties, or sometimes could receive a gift of gold or silver as Augustus doled out now and then.

The Emperor would usually give decorations however. Soldiers and officers did receive decorations, and yes they were different. Soldiers usually received decorations ob virtutem (for courage), which normally took the form of phalerae (badges that are analagous to medals), collars and armlets. A highly decorated solder could have all of these things: my source provides an example of an aquilifer who possessed nine phalerae, two collars on his breastplate, and also armlets (62).

Soldiers could also recieve coronae (crowns) under exceptional circumstances, as crowns were usually reserved for higher-ranking perns. A soldier who was the first to reach/mount an enemy rampart might recieve a 'mural/rampart' crown, a soldier could recieve a 'civic' crown for conspicuously saving a citizen's life, and 'naval' crown can be given for courage at sea, a 'siege' crown for lifting a siege or a 'golden' crown for other exploits. Primipili could also receive a hasta pura (spear shaft) for courage, but other centurions generally only received crowns. We might assume that such rewards where they went to soldiers most often went to centurions.

Officers apparently received rewards not normally for courage but merely for taking part in a campaign. They could receive crowns, spear shafts and cavalry standards. The issue of rewards to officers was regulated according to three criteria: their military rank (higher rank meant one could accumulate more numerous honours), a division between two 'levels' of decorations for each rank,* and finally the role of personal merit. The Emperor's own character was also relevant: "some emperors, like Trajan, were more generous than others, like Marcus Aurelius." For instance, a legion legate under Trajan could receive 3 crowns, 3 spears and 3 cavalry standards. Under Marcus Aurelius they could only get 3 crowns, 2 spears and 2 standards. Trajan's general Lucius Licinius Sura however recieved 8 of each, and the same numbers for two particular generals under Marcus Aurelius. So basically, higher ranks (and grades of each rank) and greater deeds got more stuff, but there was significant scope for individual Emperors to give different amounts of awards to different generals.

For both officers and soldiers, repetition of any decoration apparently represented an honour, a "promotion with a rank". I don't know how many armlets and collars a soldier could accumulate, but they seem to have been able to wear up to nine phalerae, arranged vertically down the breastplate in different arrangements depending on their number. All said and done though, to answer your question: gifts to soldiers from/on behalf of the Emperor would usually take the form of decorations, which were usually given for courage and usually took the form of phalerae, collars and armlets, and sometimes crowns. Centurions recieved more crowns than did regular soldiers, and the primipili could also receive spear shafts. Officers (which I define below in terms of their ranks) usually received crowns, spear shafts and cavalry standards, and could accumulate quite a few of these awards depending on their rank, seniority, personal deeds and the whims of the Emperor.

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• If you're wondering what the officer 'ranks' in this instance are and how they fit into the organisation of the Early Imperial legion, the ranks are the following from lowest to highest (according to Le Bohec): Cohort prefect, augusticlavian (narrow-stripe) tribune/cohort tribune, cavalry prefect, laticlavian (broad-stripe) tribune a, legion legate and army legate. There was a junior and senior grade for each of these ranks. As far as I can tell a cohort prefect refers to an officer that generally served in auxiliary units (35). A legion have five augusticlavian tribunes, all equestrians, each commanded two cohorts. They were also members of the general's staff and oversaw numerous military and logistical duties outside battle. The cavalry prefect, also probably an equestrian, commanded the cavalry, a more prestigious position than the infantry. The laticlavian tribune was second in command of the legion, he had his own staff, he had great powers in the army and would replace the general if necessary, even though he usually only a 20ish year old senatorial male! The legionary legate commanded the legion, and an army legate simply refers to a general commanding multiple legions. Overall, a legion had one legate, one broad-stripe tribune, 1 camp prefect (who was usually an ex primus pilus and so is not so much of the 'officer class'), 5 narrow-stripe tribunes, 1 senior narrow-stripe tribune/cavalry prefect, and 59 centurions of whom 1 would be the primus pilus. There were ideally around 5000 soldiers and 120 legionary cavalry.

Source: Le Bohec, Yann. The Imperial Roman Army, New York: Routledge, 2000 (1989), 61-3.