D&D 5E In fifth-edition D&D, what is gold for?

[FormerlyHemlock]

In my experience, it works best if you (the DM) allow players to convert gold to XP offscreen on character-related goals. That gives a guaranteed, concrete use of gold for anyone in any situation, so that the DM can bait hooks with gold and know that the whole party wants the same thing. (Even the Paladin has a use for gold--he can send it home to the Rebel Alliance or whatever. He has to establish this motivation in advance, e.g. at character creation time.)

But there are other things you can do with it too, and which can make spending gold to gain XP an interesting dilemma.

Combat enhancements: arrows, caltrops, horses, drow poison, purple worm poison, possible magic items, mercenaries, death benefits for mercenaries' widows, assassins, flying mounts, spelljamming ships
Spell components: Planar Binding, Glyph of Warding, Symbol, Clone, Gate
Spell enhancements: Spell research (needs rules from the DM) and research libraries, copying spells from other wizards
Magical creations: Golems, Helmed Horrors, Owlbears/other crossbreeds, magical items and formulas
Social influence: bribes, rewards
Luxury goods (character-specific): presents for loved ones, ostentatious homes, gigantic monuments, silks, etc. Works best if you tie this somehow to XP-for-gold so that the player's emotions are aligned with the character's emotions (ambition, enjoyment, satisfaction).

The fundamental observation about money is that people like to have it, so if your players don't want it they can always use it to get stuff from people that want it more than they do.

 

[cmad1977]

Basically nothing. I still like to amass it.


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[Tony Vargas]

One of the many things I like about 5e, as a DM, is the way treasure assumptions are virtually gone. (I'd like it even better if I didn't have to say 'virtually.') When passing out magic I still have to consider balance, but when deciding whether a dragon's horde of gold should fit in a footlocker or be a literal mountain, I'm pretty free to do what I like.

You can keep one dimension of campaign tone - the relative wealth of the protagonists - more or less independent of level in a way you couldn't easily (plausibly) do in 3e or 4e (because of wealth/level & assumed magic items - and ignoring inherent bonuses for the sake of argument). You could have a party of hard-bitten mercenaries still scrounging for survival at 8th level without having to pointedly ignore that they could just sell a left-over +2 mace and live well for a few years. Conversely, you could have a campaign where some of the party are already rich just based on backgrounds and the whole thing doesn't come crashing down ('cept for maybe an excessively high AC from plate armor).

 

[DeanP]

My group is still into building castles, towers, guilds, etc. When a character hits 20th level, it's fun to make them part of the "world building" fabric and add that dimension to the game.

 

[hawkeyefan]

So far in my campaign, the wealth the PCs have amassed has been used purely for story purposes. They've built up Phandalin a bit, and restored Cragmaw Castle, and built a fortification to defend the mine entrance.

They've also sunk a good deal of money into establishing a trade route across the North, through lower Anauroch, and into the Heartlands. They needed to appease the Shades (still around in my Realms). They've also established trade with the planar city of Crux on the World Tree (from the module "Dead Gods"). All of these business dealings have required lots of capital, so that's where most of their wealth has gone.

I'm glad to be free of any mechanical element for the money.

 

[MechaPilot]

My current character is saving her wealth to build a temple to herself, and to outfit the cult that worships her with weapons, armor, and religious paraphernalia.

 

[Hawk Diesel]

Purchasing of goods and services?

 

[Flamestrike]

What use are dollars, for us, today?

That.

 

[Jester David]

Really, you have the same things to spend free gold on in 5e as in 3e and 4e. But in 5e, you actually have free gold. You have the *option* of doing more things. Even if you never choose to use that option, it's still there.

Gold in 3e/4e was ridiculous. Unless you had a world ending plot there was no rational reason adventure beyond level 5. You adventured to get more gold to get more gear to adventure more to get more gear... It was grinding in the purest sense. For the longest time you never ended up with any actual gold, since it all went to gear. And then, later, your loose change made mundane purchases irrelevant. Things like ammo or food or clothing ceased to have meaning.

But you also couldn't do many campaigns. Like ones with a keep, since players could sell the keep and break their wealth by level. So you needed to invent crazy subsystems like "build points" or "kingdom resources" to avoid breaking the power level.
I tried to run a pirate game and the players quickly realized since ships sold for tens of thousands of gp by the book, it was very lucrative to just sell ships and buy magic items. The cost of maintaining the ship and paying crew quickly became irrelevant.

This also made dealing with NPCas weird. I had a situation where kids were being used as messengers, but the PCs were expected to pay in gold. So you had these poor orphans doing mundane tasks who were asking for hundreds of dollars for small tasks. But PCs paid. They threw around tens of gold pieces without a thought.

5e lets you strip characters of wealth if you desire. Like Conan, who starts every story broke. Characters can buy fine food, expensive luxuries, clothing, and the like without impacting their combat effectiveness. The characters can end up jailed and broke and still play: it's not a fate worse than death. The most dreaded monster you can throw against the party isn't a rust monster.

If you want to allow magic items for sale, then allow magic items for sale. I've let my players buy a few common and uncommon items. No big deal. They can still only attune to three.

 

[MechaPilot]

But you also couldn't do many campaigns. Like ones with a keep, since players could sell the keep and break their wealth by level. So you needed to invent crazy subsystems like "build points" or "kingdom resources" to avoid breaking the power level.

I tried to run a pirate game and the players quickly realized since ships sold for tens of thousands of gp by the book, it was very lucrative to just sell ships and buy magic items. The cost of maintaining the ship and paying crew quickly became irrelevant.

This also made dealing with NPCas weird. I had a situation where kids were being used as messengers, but the PCs were expected to pay in gold. So you had these poor orphans doing mundane tasks who were asking for hundreds of dollars for small tasks. But PCs paid. They threw around tens of gold pieces without a thought.

It's important to point out that this only works if you let it happen. If PCs are trying to sell assets for "tens of thousands of gp" they can't just redeem them for gp at the local shop. It's going to take time to find a willing buyer with that much liquid cash, if one exists. And even then authorities might get suspicious of this group who's constantly selling used ships, or even of non-locals selling a ship for the first time.