Simpler Economics, reducing the costs. Help needed

My campaign has a cashless economy and instead access to wealth is determined by social influence.
For this influence mechanic I adapted the Wealth rules from D20Modern with a few tweaks of my own.

Influence is PC level + Cha + Status mods and measures a persons ability to call on favours. Status mods are anything which can affect a persons social standing/recognition (including adventuring, great skill use, family background etc). Leadership (a Lvl 1 Class Ability of the Aristocrat class) also merges with Influence to determine number of people willing to 'do stuff' for the character. Followers can be applied to different tasks (like farmng resources or gathering information) and cohorts (who can be higher level than the PC) become family,friends and allies *Ally refers to a cohort of higher level than the PC

So a PC might have as an Ally the local Blacksmith (who he decides is his Uncle Joe SMith) anyway using his influence he might be able to get Uncle Joe the Blacksmith to make him a Sword +1 (because IMC Experts can add Masterwork bonuses to items). Of course Uncle Joe might require the PC to do him a favour in return.

Spirits and Sacred Sites are also common IMC and a persons infleunce is important when interacting with them (and possibly gaining boons - which might include magical items or bonus feats). So the above PC might take his Sword +1 to the Shrine of the Volcano Spirit who if the PC is worthy might enchant the sword as a 'Flaming Fang of Mahuluhulu '

As to magic items because these tend to be empowered by spirits they can also be restricted by use of a influence limit eg perhaps the Flaming Fang of Mahuluhulu can only be weilded by someone whose influence is '50' or greater and in the hands of anyone of lesser influence it is just a sword

P.S. consider allowing the favored in house feat from the ECS but..you know...Favored in Guild/Kingdom/Clergy/Order as appropriate. I mean that sort of feat can be roleplayed out, but if you want the crunch of actually having it down on paper.

I use a Silver based system, at 40 silver = 1 gold. Then I essentially cut the price of everything in half and put it in silver. In other words, a Longsword is 300 silver "dollars".

I adjusted the value of some things quite a bit, because they're seriously overpriced in the PHB or DMG. Start with a basic assumption of $50 per GP and then look at the price of some things. Outrageous! $500 for a flask of acid, $2500 for anti-toxin that doesn't really do much, but then - all the alchemical stuff is massively overpriced. Had to completely throw out the prices of the special alchemical stuff. And seriously...the Stronghold Builder's Guide? Laughable.

Then you gotta look at other items too. $7500 for a riding dog? $3,750 for a regular longbow?

But then again, I also completely redid the magic item cost progression. I use a Cumulative Spell Level system. RAW: 1 = 1, 2=4, 3=9, etc. CSL: 1=1, 2=3, 3=6, etc. Minimum spell level is assumed, with a 0.5 addition for every caster level above minimum. This flattens the curve a bit (9th level spell at 17th CL per RAW = 153, as per CSL = 45), but greatly increases my work. Especially when they don't exactly provide great formulas for Wondrous Items.

Going back to the first paragraph and the 300 silver thing. There's still a sense of worth when you get 20,000 'dollars' (silver) of treasure, even if you eventually figure that it's only 500 gp (more or less). In my world, that's a fair amount of money. A lesser man might think "I could sell that magic sword for 20,000 dollars and live like a King for the rest of my life!" (which, if he makes 3 dollars a day and works like a normal peasant, means about 22 years of normal wages for him.)

For my game group, what it means is that they've found magnitudes more "money" in magic items than they have come up with in coins and gems.

Sound of Azure said:

Coool. Sounds good to me!

Hey, are you still doing your Amnian campaign in the Murann area?

Click to expand...

Aww, I have a fan

Yes, although plans have been changed

Basically, the plan I have is a blatant rip-off of that new series of Drizzt books about King Obould Many-Arrows.... with a twist or two and a retco or seven p) and the addition of the Ogre Mages of Murann plotline.

Basically, the Meta-Campaign has gotten a bit (well, a lot ) more complicated, and allows for a lower level start (I have new players and don't want a level 10 campaign for starts... more like level 3 or 4) which is more what I now have in mind

It also basiclaly puts King Obould as a sub-boss. I dunno, I've been thinking alot about the game Diablo II lately, so that's where a lot of this is coming from

The Meta-Campaign:

The Coucil of Six, less a member who was lost in the Sacking of Murann, is requesting far and wide help for the re-aquisition of Murann, it's secondary port city and holder of much of the Maztican Gold which has been aquired from that distant land, and the surrounding lands which have fallen to Sythillis (Mike Mearls Ogre Mage Warlock 10-15 [not sure yet] and Cyrvisnea [Mike Mearls Ogre Mage Knight 10-15 [not sure yet]. They are offering a large percent of the many riches of Maztica in return for this help.

Thus far, few have heeded this call, save for some of the more northern cities, such as Waterdeep and Silverymoon. As time as gone on, The Ogre Mages have dug themselves in more - but word has it that Silverymoon, a stanuch defender of Good, and Waterdeep, a city known for it's hatred of orcs and their kin, will be sending down troops to aid in the defeat of the Sythillisian Empire, as the Ogre Mages fancy it. Thus, Syth and Cyr have opted for a devious diversion: King Obould Many Arrows.

Everyone who has heard of this Orc King knows of his legendary, flame-wreathed sword and his control of his orc-kin. No orc before has ever been able to command the numbers of orcs he has; it is improbable, but was likely to happen at some point. He has already retaken Citadel Adbarr, which was stolen from him within the past few years from dwarves, after a 300 year long occupation by orcs, who had stolen it from the dwarves in the first place. Now, he wants more, and though it is not common knowledge, he looks to all corners of the north to become his Empire - the Empire of Many Arrows. An orc nation neverbefore thought of.

The Ogre Mages are devious in this: The combined forces fo Waterdeep and Silverymoon, though may take many months by ship to reach Amn, would pose a threat enough to collapse this fledgeling nation. By getting Obould to deflect the attention of Silverymoon and Waterdeep northward, closer to home, they buy themselves time, in a number of fashions.

1) Troops would have to move by foot northward, defeat the orcs, and move southward again. That is a long campaign for either city-state, and requires many resources. Obouls goals are met by him meeting these city-states in combat, and battling them; it is exaclty what he wants. If Obould and/or his forces are killed, it doesn't matter to Syth and Cyr; it will have bought them one or two years at least.
2) If Obould is successful and defeats one or the other or both, the threat is nullified completely, and Oboulds goals are met again. This also opens up the possibility for a huge norht-south Orc and Orge Mage Alliance between the two Empires, which is not a bad idea, considering how many would oppose one or the other; together they are even stronger, if a bit seperated by distance.
3) Even if Waterdeep or Silverymoon (more likely Waterdeep) ignores King Obould, he will still attack the human lands, and wreak havok in the soldiers homelands. Men will abandon the armies cause, which is good for Syth's and Cyr's cause.

But, how to buy off Obould? With the Maztican Gold, of course! This also opens a key plot hook which will the players south, to get right into the heart of my Murann campaign. I will be sure to describe the various statues, relics, jewelery, etc as being foreign and exotic-looking in nature, and how it shows gods and demons and the like not foreign to Faerun.

Then comes the Amnian portion of the Campaign, with the PC's racing south to come to the aid of the Waterdhavian forces assisting the Amnian Guard in the re-aqusition of Murann and the (hopefully?) alive sixth Council Member. Plot hooks abound (and honestly need fleshing out....)

Character creating is this Saturday

Nyaricus

Cooool.

Kinda scary. My Shar cleric is beginning in Waterdeep this Saturday. Weird....

I wanted to add ideas to the Murann thread, but all the ideas I had were already given by the time I got around to it. Ah well.



To all>
Thanks for the excellent suggestions! Looks like silver standard + lots of RP and non-cash rewards is the way to go! Cheers!

Sound of Azure said:

Nyaricus

Cooool.

Kinda scary. My Shar cleric is beginning in Waterdeep this Saturday. Weird....

I wanted to add ideas to the Murann thread, but all the ideas I had were already given by the time I got around to it. Ah well.

Click to expand...

howzabout we move this over to said thread - your Shar cleric (formerly of Selune) has given me some ideas... especially since Selune has a large temple in Murann which Selunite clerics have began a crusade for...

And yeah, I am scary