Platinum pieces in Trollhaunt

[JustKim]

I'm ready to run the last stretch of Trollhaunt, where the PCs are truly ushered into the paragon tier. I understand that there's a big leap from heroic to paragon in terms of treasure, but the rewards here seem to be a bit much.

The first feywild encounter rewards the PCs with 570p. The old-school DM in me thought that was fine, but then I remembered that platinum pieces are worth 100g each in 4E. So I'm really looking at a reward of 57,000g.

The next encounter gives a reward of 93,000g in platinum, and the final encounter has platinum coinage worth 108,000g alongside objet d'art in the low four digits: a 1,000g emerald, a 1,500g ring, etc.

Is it reasonable to let PCs finish the adventure with 300,000g in treasure? Or should I assume the platinum piece rewards were written by someone still under the impression that 1g = 10p?

 

[Flipguarder]

you mean 1p = 10gp?

 

[CapnZapp]

You're not the only one noticing:
Link

One way is to make the module's coins into "electrum" or whatever and make those equal to ten gold.

 

[JustKim]

Thanks for the link! That sounds reasonable, but the main reason I didn't go ahead and reduce the treasure value is that I like the idea of welcoming PCs to paragon level with scads of platinum pieces. I think I could reduce the number somewhat and get the same effect, but what I'm wondering is, how unreasonable is it to just give it to them as written? These are PCs who've gone through the WotC adventures from level 1, with the poverty that goes with that.

 

[Hejdun]

I certainly wouldn't let them spend all 300,000gp on magic items. That's 270,000gp more than they are "supposed" to have gotten. And being behind in Heroic tier is a matter of at most a few thousand GP for each PC--not enough to warrent such a huge windfall now.

I'd say the safest option is to just lay out the situation to your players and divide the number of PP by 10, maybe giving them a bonus if you feel they are behind.

The alternative is to let them keep the 300,000gp in platinum and highly encourage them to invest most of that into some sort of stronghold or similar roleplaying device. Let them go wild for a bit with buying some magic items, but make sure they don't spend ALL the platinum on that or you'll end up with some serious balance issues. A stronghold can make for good roleplaying, and players typically enjoy them, and it'll be a good thing for them to sink a lot of their money into.

 

[Cadfan]

Its not that bad. Let them have the money.

They should be at a level where +3 items are standard, and they've just gotten their first +4 item. Suddenly they get all this cash, and they go to buy some shiny new +4 gear- and you get to watch their eyes pop when they see the prices. Seriously, three hundred grand won't go all that far.

 

[KarinsDad]

I certainly wouldn't let them spend all 300,000gp on magic items. That's 270,000gp more than they are "supposed" to have gotten.

Actually, they are supposed to get 78,000 from levels 11 through 13, so it is a ~4 times as much.

So, divide by 4.

Seriously, three hundred grand won't go all that far.

Must be the new math.

With 300,000 GP, each PC can deck themselves out with the equivalent of 3 to 4 +3 additional cool items each. With the 78,000 GP in cash, they could only get one such item each (limited to level 13 on average).

Considering that they already should have ~4 +3 items each from normal magic item parcels, it would mean that they can fill in the blanks with higher level rings, boots, shields, etc.

Or another way of putting it, at level 13, PCs should have 3 +4 items in the group total. This would allow them to have 8 or 9 +4 items in the group.

Btw, that module hands out extra magic items above the DMG recommended as well.

 

[CapnZapp]

Or another way of putting it, at level 13, PCs should have 3 +4 items in the group total. This would allow them to have 8 or 9 +4 items in the group

I would say Cadfan's point is that this isn't as big a balance issue some of you might think (especially if you're used to previous edition D&D).

--

The only real problem, as I see it, is that you will be setting up your players for mild disappointment when they don't get anything better in their next (mid-Paragon) adventure.

I feel this discussion is a bit strange though, because there cannot be any doubt the designers indeed made a currency conversion gaffe. Yes, it won't wreck your campaign, but no, that isn't a good reason not to correct a super-obvious mistake like that.

 

[Obryn]

I was under the impression - and correct me if I'm wrong - that the cash found in the Feywild more or less compensates for the otherwise-crap treasure leading up to it.

I mean, you can't just look at it as money - there aren't enough magic items in Trollhaunt leading up to the end, either.

-O

 

[keterys]

Supposedly there are more magic items leading up to the end than you'd normally get over that level range.

And the amount of money given is several times too much. It seems pretty likely it's a mistake. And an easy one to make at that.