D&D 5E XP for gold 5th Edition campaign

[Capn Charlie]

I needed a palate cleansing short game between campaigns, and I have just decided to do this. It was going to be a comically dark game anyway, and this will set a perfect tone. I kind of want the characters to be uneasy amongst each other, and now there is a concrete mechanic to make it out with more treasure than anyone else, and should lead to some interesting shenanigans.

We're doing session zero on new year's day, and combining it with "character draft" (we will break down race, class, background and boons by rarity, shuffle them, and let players draft them ccg style to determine the options each has to build their character).

After that, I will start iterating this at the table and let you know how it goes.

 

[Krachek]

Player's choice market and crafting on magic item allow optimization to go out of control.
Seen it enough in 3.5 and 4.

 

[CapnZapp]

Primeval Thule suggests using XP for Gold.

Rather than 1 GP = 1 XP, they suggest that an amount of treasure equal to one roll on a treasure table = one easy encounter of XP.

I can see what that comes from, but I think it is probably a bit too complex, at least for me.

I'd rather much make the roll, and if it indicates 120 gold, well, that's 120 XP for the party

 

[CapnZapp]

Player's choice market and crafting on magic item allow optimization to go out of control.
Seen it enough in 3.5 and 4.

Sure. This thread is mainly about an actual alternative to buying magic items, though.

I mean that the question and answer is:

Q. What should the PCs spend all their gold on, if they're not particularly interested in focusing on downtime activities. Many published adventure campaigns make gold feel worthless, since there is nothing to spend it on, and there is no time to waste stopping Tiamat/Demogorgon/Ogremoch/whatever.
A. XP! They can spend it on XP! The perfect motivation to make players still care about gold

 

[CapnZapp]

I should probably drop this here:

"You might be curious: if you use the treasure tables in the 5e DMG, how rich will the characters be? This becomes important if you want to do things like give characters XP for GP found."
​

http://blogofholding.com/?p=6760

If that page should ever fall off the internet, here's the summary:

"In short, the treasure expectations almost-but-not-quite work for 1XP=1GP. For that trick, the treasure finds really do need to be a little more regular. Here’s the fix I propose:

Whenever a monster is in the top half of a tier ([CR] 3-4, 8-10, 14-16) double the monetary treasure.

Ignore tier-four treasures. A steady diet of doubled tier-three treasures [is more than enough]"​

 

[Krachek]

Sure. This thread is mainly about an actual alternative to buying magic items, though.

I mean that the question and answer is:

Q. What should the PCs spend all their gold on, if they're not particularly interested in focusing on downtime activities. Many published adventure campaigns make gold feel worthless, since there is nothing to spend it on, and there is no time to waste stopping Tiamat/Demogorgon/Ogremoch/whatever.
A. XP! They can spend it on XP! The perfect motivation to make players still care about gold

If you allow a way to convert gold to XP or a la carte magic item, most players, and probably all players I know, will choose this option first.
Spending money in the DnD world to sometime useless hobby make it more realistic, more alive.
There is also character that will refuse money rewards, will they be penalized?
My actual character sent a good amount of money to his family, and have received no in game rewards so far. But I feel great about it.

 

[Capn Charlie]

If you allow a way to convert gold to XP or a la carte magic item, most players, and probably all players I know, will choose this option first.
Spending money in the DnD world to sometime useless hobby make it more realistic, more alive.
There is also character that will refuse money rewards, will they be penalized?
My actual character sent a good amount of money to his family, and have received no in game rewards so far. But I feel great about it.

Well, as I understand it, the idea is not to let players spend gold for MORE xp for but rather 'for any xp at all'. The theory being that characters spending their wealth in non-performance enhancing ways is how they get their xp. Drinking and whoring, getting married and building a farm, buying a title of nobility and building up an old keep, stuff like that. If you sit on your gold like a dragon, you start to look like one: soft, fat, and worth good xp.

 

[Krachek]

I know there are a few threads on this subject, but none that actually discusses the practical do's and dont's of an actual such campaign. So let me describe one way to do it, and you can comment on what you think will work well and less well.

This assumes a sandbox type of campaign, where you explore the map and involve yourself wherever you like. And walk away from anything you don't like to do.

The party gains no XP from me, the DM. Instead the rule is:

Every gp spent on carousing gives you 1 xp.

"Carousing" should be taken in its widest sense. I just dislike the term "downtime". So you can spend gold on building a church, or attend fighting school, or build a wizard's tower, or set up a thief's guild. Whatever. Or you can simply buy beers and wenches for thousands of gold, I'm no judge.

Spend 1 gp, gain 1 xp.

This means you don't have to fight the dragon. If you can get away with just stealing its treasure, fine. Don't complain if the dragon burns down the next village if you do, however.

It's not enough to do the looting. If you lose the gold before you get back to the village, you gain no xp. If you never spend your gold, you gain no xp.

The only exception to what you can gain xp for is equipment. If you buy a magic sword or a scroll, that means you get better as an adventurer. You do not gain any xp for this. Each character decides for herself which is most useful - a new level or a new item.

If you choose to save the princess instead of grabbing the gold you dont level! Hard time will come for paladin.

 

[Caliban]

I think this is a very interesting idea and I'd like to see how it plays out in practice.

The only downside I can see is that gives incentive for the PC's to be very mercenary - you don't save the village unless you know up front you are being paid or the monsters/bad guys have wealth/magic items.

But then again, a lot of PC's are like this anyway, so you may not see a difference.

(And it really would be a noble decision to go rescue the poor people instead of just another XP opportunity.)

 

[Edwin Suijkerbuijk]

Xp is a nice tool to help guide you player to the genre of game you want to play.