Rhasta's Guide to Quick Gold @ Low Levels.

10 Immoral Ways to make quick money in D&D 3.5

This guide is primarily for wizards of the 5th level. Ive never really seen guides or creative ideas on ho to make fast gold in D&D. All of the following as just examples of immoral ways that i personally have used in previous DnD campaigns to make a quick buck.

1. Use the Mount Spell, sell the mount to unsuspecting buyers.
2. Sell false magical items, more dangerous than #1, NPCs will likely look more into a false aura than a false mount.
3. Use suggestion on the city mayor to sign a forged document without reading its contents. Various ways of making money from this.
4. Ransom; works in the movies, why not DnD?
5. Profession Pimp. Prostitution is the oldest profession, become a Mack-Daddy Pimp if ya know what i mean Boi!!
6. If you read #6 make a reflex save to avoid explosive runes damage.
7. Steal a sea-going vessel.
8. Use said sea-going Vessel to smuggle illegal goods, use illusion to hide the objects.
9. Blackmail the other players into giving you thier gold.
10. Bribe the DM.

OK, so maybe 6-7 aren't really ideas, but there is still 8 other useful ways to make a quick buck. Post reply's on how you have earned gold in an immoral way with your DnD characters!

Sounds like a great way for the DM to execute righteous fury. Anyone smell TPK?

I would allow everything except the last one; As expected however, there would be consequences...

If EL x rewards y gold, then y gold brings EL x problems....right?

No mention of ladders and 10 ft poles?

RhastaPasta said:

1. Use the Mount Spell, sell the mount to unsuspecting buyers.

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This one was always ingenious, though sure to make the DM angry. Easy to counter by the prospective customer demanding to leave it in the stables for the day to prove that it's real and not going poof.

RhastaPasta said:

2. Sell false magical items, more dangerous than #1, NPCs will likely look more into a false aura than a false mount.

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That's what Nystul's Magic Aura is for.

RhastaPasta said:

3. Use suggestion on the city mayor to sign a forged document without reading its contents. Various ways of making money from this.

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Interesting.

RhastaPasta said:

4. Ransom; works in the movies, why not DnD?

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In D&D there are higher level characters, that's why. And if a person is worth enough to ransom, he's worth enouth for the people you're in contact with about the ransom to hire a bunch of people to kill your asses in return for the ransom money themselves (if you're going to lose money, may as well at least spend it to murder the bastards that kidnapped you). Not to mention the problem of the randomly passing by band of do-gooders.

RhastaPasta said:

5. Profession Pimp. Prostitution is the oldest profession, become a Mack-Daddy Pimp if ya know what i mean Boi!!

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Back in 3.0 when I was just starting to play, I actually made a very, very complex set of rules for Profession (pimp). It was a charisma based skill, andyou only earned money nights you were in town. There was a masterwork tools bonus for the pimp ensemble (cape, flashy clothes and hat, cane...), you could every so many ranks buy a hired goon to boost your earnings (the nightly payouts assumed some people didn't pay; the goons helped to recoup that loss), rules for DCs to convince creatures to work under you (orcs were low DC; Nymphs epically high, etc...), and so on.... Seriously, it was like 2 pages long.

RhastaPasta said:

6. If you read #6 make a reflex save to avoid explosive runes damage.

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Not sure how that makes money. And by level 5-6 when you're casting that, you could be reliably crafting magic items anyway. So...yeah.

RhastaPasta said:

7. Steal a sea-going vessel.

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That sounds like a collassally stupid idea...

RhastaPasta said:

8. Use said sea-going Vessel to smuggle illegal goods, use illusion to hide the objects.

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What illusion? Image spells need concentration and Sequester, Mirage Arcana, Illusory Wall, etc... are all not "low level." If the smuggling operation is good, probably easier and lower level required to simply buy off the guards.

RhastaPasta said:

9. Blackmail the other players into giving you thier gold.
10. Bribe the DM.

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Heh, this makes me think of the losers who pay real, existent dollars in order to buy completely fictional gold for their World of Warcraft games. "Hey, DM! If I pay you $50 can my character start with a +1 sword?"

RhastaPasta said:

Post reply's on how you have earned gold in an immoral way with your DnD characters!

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One time we started an Eberron game at level 5 and I was a Changeling Rogue. We had some off time before setting out on our first adventure, and I spent it crafting a masterwork bow. I then forged documentation claiming it to be made by [that world's most famous bowyer] and that it was a rare one of a kind collectible type item. Then I used my bluff and diplomacy to sell it for the "bargain" price of 900 gp. And then quickly walked away and changed my clothes and shapechanged into a different type of humanoid.

Another time, the whole party put on a carnival show featuring our undead elephant doing tricks along with other zombies and such, called "Circe de Necro." The Bard used his music and spells to lure people to it and then kept the lot of them Fascinated with the mediocre entertainment (as in the bard song) while myself (a different rogue; I like rogues) and the monk snuck around the mostly deserted city and looted peoples' houses. That DM was kind of laid back exact opposite of a RBDM type, so we ended up getting away with it and making a tens of thousands of gp in loot. At around level 8.

In D&D there are higher level characters, that's why. And if a person is worth enough to ransom, he's worth enouth for the people you're in contact with about the ransom to hire a bunch of people to kill your asses in return for the ransom money themselves (if you're going to lose money, may as well at least spend it to murder the bastards that kidnapped you). Not to mention the problem of the randomly passing by band of do-gooders.

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Ya, this one ended up putting my character at more harm than good...

Back in 3.0 when I was just starting to play, I actually made a very, very complex set of rules for Profession (pimp). It was a charisma based skill, andyou only earned money nights you were in town. There was a masterwork tools bonus for the pimp ensemble (cape, flashy clothes and hat, cane...), you could every so many ranks buy a hired goon to boost your earnings (the nightly payouts assumed some people didn't pay; the goons helped to recoup that loss), rules for DCs to convince creatures to work under you (orcs were low DC; Nymphs epically high, etc...), and so on.... Seriously, it was like 2 pages long.

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Awesome. Love unique ideas for proffessions, may have to end up buying a masterwork cane now =D

That sounds like a collassally stupid idea...

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I ended up selling it to a band of pirates in our campaign, who later took the fall for bieng the thieves and the smugglers.

One time we started an Eberron game at level 5 and I was a Changeling Rogue. We had some off time before setting out on our first adventure, and I spent it crafting a masterwork bow. I then forged documentation claiming it to be made by [that world's most famous bowyer] and that it was a rare one of a kind collectible type item. Then I used my bluff and diplomacy to sell it for the "bargain" price of 900 gp. And then quickly walked away and changed my clothes and shapechanged into a different type of humanoid.

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Lol.....i love this story, so something i would do in a campaign setting.

Another time, the whole party put on a carnival show featuring our undead elephant doing tricks along with other zombies and such, called "Circe de Necro." The Bard used his music and spells to lure people to it and then kept the lot of them Fascinated with the mediocre entertainment (as in the bard song) while myself (a different rogue; I like rogues) and the monk snuck around the mostly deserted city and looted peoples' houses. That DM was kind of laid back exact opposite of a RBDM type, so we ended up getting away with it and making a tens of thousands of gp in loot. At around level 8.

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Interesting....to say the least. Would have never taught of doing something like that in a million years. Btw, thank you for being the first to reply with actual stories on how you netted profits with misfortune. Was kind of the point of this post, too many serious posts going on these days, a little laugh goes a long way.

Wow, people must be far too much into playing good-goody characters or arcane casters who no longer have concerns for the mortal world. One of my favourite characters ever was a halfling rogue with loaded sleight of hand skills. It wasn't a good session if he wasn't busted by the Town Guard for thieving at least once (20' move sucks for running away if caught).

Our party came up with the idea of burning down a small town and telling the king it was a dragon attack and that for a large sum of money, we would defeat the dragon and bring him its head to prove it. We then proceed to behead some homeless guy in the city and use paper mache and some paint to make it look like a dragon head and rub some soot on our armour and make ourselves look very worn. We return in a few days and waltz out of the town with our gold in hand.