D&D 5E Forget about the treasure and pricing system of 5E!

[Mistwell]

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Please note, that it is NOT the intention of this thread to discuss whether or not prices and/or gold distribution of the RAW are broken or not. The assumption of this thread is that both are broken. I neither want to prove that nor do I want to discuss that. It's my intention to find out a reliable way of gold distribution concerning Sane Magic Item Prices. Please keep that in mind, because I don't want this discussion to take the wrong direction.

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I understand. But I disagree with your premise. And you posted on a public message board. If your premise is flawed, then everything flowing from that premise may well be flawed. It should be (and is) open for discussion that one of the essential points that gets you to your conclusion might be faulty.

 

[Blue]

In earlier editions, items were part of the character advancement math,baked in. So you needed to be able to ensure you got them, so you could buy items. This has left a feeling that gold should somehow be used to enhance the numebrs on a character sheet. That's not true in 5e.

Gold is immensely useful - for the things you would use gold for. Bribe a guard or a baron, start an orphanage, hire investigators to get you background material, tithe to your church, spend to have spells cast for you like teleportation, hire bards to blacken a rival's reputation, create scholarships to the wizard college, buy land and build a stronghold, start a line of inns that actually work as a spy network, outfit a dozen knights, put a bounty on someone's head, hire someone to steal architectural plans to look for secret passages, avert a famine.

 

[CM]

Wait, you're saying there's rules for treasure distribution in the DMG?

 

[Staccat0]

This is not a perfect solution for everyone's game, but I am running a campaign where the players are enrolled in a school for heroes. There is almost no starting equipment and for each level they have to pay tuition to access the next round of classes to level up. Each assignment has a deadline of 1 week with bonuses for early completion. It has created an environment where the players really think about what they buy, what they carry and what they are willing to spend their time on.

It's been exciting seeing the players take huge risks to save time or make extra money.

 

[Tony Vargas]

In earlier editions, items were part of the character advancement math,baked in. So you needed to be able to ensure you got them, so you could buy items.

That was very true in 3e & 4e, of course, by design. In 1e, items were also assumed in advancement, and quite vital for some classes, but it was just alluded to, not baked into any obvious math - and there was no make/buy system to speak of, and wealth/level only indirectly in the sense you got exp for acquiring treasure...

This has left a feeling that gold should somehow be used to enhance the numebrs on a character sheet. That's not true in 5e.

Items can certainly enhance the numbers on your sheet. Including the odd expensive mundane item, like plate armor. With that exception, though, 5e could be run quite independent of wealth as well as items. A party could luck into a treasure trove at low level and be rich from then on, or they could be struggling mercenaries, fighting for their supper the whole campaign.

In genre, when a character is out hunting for a treasure it's usually either for a specific end (lift a curse, pay a ransom, save a kingdom, whatever) or for it's own sake, find the treasure, live out your days in wealth & splendor. In genre, treasure may be a distraction, or an end unto itself, but it's only rarely capital to be re-invested in your own personal power...

 

[Yaarel]

Ideally, money is for setting flavor only. It has nothing to do with leveling.

If they are in a poor setting, they get no money. If they are in a wealthy setting, they get lavish lifestyles.

Tiers are a good guideline for the DM to determine lifestyles.

Laborer tier, L0 − recognizable to family and friends
Student tier, L1-L4 − recognizable to local community (such as a school)
Professional tier, L5-L8 − recognizable to town
Master tier, L9-L12 − recognizable to region
Leader tier, L13-L16 − recognizable to nation
Legend tier, L17-L20 − recognizable to planet/plane
Epic tier, L21+ − recognizable to multiverse

Keep magic strictly away from the economy, and assign magic items cautiously − and only for the sake of story and flavor.

Players probably do well to lack +2 magic weapons or armors below Master tier Level 9.

 

[Warmaster Horus]

What case is that and what are those third-party systems besides Sane Magical Prices?

The core of what people want in the game when they bring this subject up is not, "How do I use wealth in a way that a person would realistically use wealth?" Instead it's, "How do I use wealth to make my PC a walking engine of doom!?" So D&D needs to have comprehensive rules on magic item/exotic mount purchasing & creation or it's broken. The DMG suggests that magic items are not items in common circulation and the 'Ye Olde Magik Shoppes' don't exist. Or, you know, the DM can do whatever they want. Sounds good to me.

Please shut the hell up with the lazy DM BS and stop suggesting money sinks. Instead, read this article http://theangrygm.com/nothing-here-but-worthless-gold/ and then come back with some advice that's actually within scope of this thread! Hint: it's not about taxes, tithes, castles, baronies, orphanages, sewer construction or anything else people keep spewing out as 'solutions'. Thank you.

I read the Angry GM article when it came out and disagree. And I'm not blaming just the DM. The players need to look beyond their character sheets and think about what they would do with lots of wealth. My first high-level PC began a private intelligence operation with his adventuring proceeds, as well as a large inn that hosted the best bards in the realm. All because I suggested it and my DM went with it with a few guidelines that we both hammered out over a couple conversations. These became foundations of several games as we continued the campaign.

 

[Krachek]

Treasure, and especially magic treasure is the one thing that can vary the most from table to table.
You can set magic treasure to none, low, medium, high, or crazy!
All the rest is almost the same. Ability scores, class feature, feat.
It is amazing that we can still play the same game with that much variety in magic treasure.
A level 10 party can be rich and building stronghold or poor and looking for cheap contract.
It will still fit with the rules.

 

[Wulffolk]

I haven't read the whole thread, so my apologies if this has already been stated.

That being said, gold pieces and others forms of wealth are actual physical items in a fantasy world. I think that many of us are so used to money being digital currency, and buying stuff with card transactions, that gold pieces become just a score on the character sheet. Any time I hear people complain about character's having 10's of thousands of gold pieces I find myself wondering where they keep it that is secure enough to not have to worry about losing it, or how they are transporting it everywhere with them.

Ok, so you have found 1000 gp for the 3rd adventure in a row. Now what? Where do you stash it? Do you actually carry around chests full of gold wherever you go? Why are you not being targeted constantly by bandits or greedy dragons? Has your DM created the Adventurers Guild Credit Union that pays you interest to store your gold and is impeccably honest? When you carry 400gp to the Smith shop for your plate mail armor does it really go unnoticed? Even if you don't get robbed that Smith now has 400 gp in his shop. Can he protect it? Possessing wealth makes you a target.

My point is that transactions of significant wealth in such a setting are not the secure mundane transactions that we perform daily in the real world.

My answer to character wealth . . . Use it or lose it!

 

[Yaarel]

I haven't read the whole thread, so my apologies if this has already been stated.

That being said, gold pieces and others forms of wealth are actual physical items in a fantasy world. I think that many of us are so used to money being digital currency, and buying stuff with card transactions, that gold pieces become just a score on the character sheet. Any time I hear people complain about character's having 10's of thousands of gold pieces I find myself wondering where they keep it that is secure enough to not have to worry about losing it, or how they are transporting it everywhere with them.

Ok, so you have found 1000 gp for the 3rd adventure in a row. Now what? Where do you stash it? Do you actually carry around chests full of gold wherever you go? Why are you not being targeted constantly by bandits or greedy dragons? Has your DM created the Adventurers Guild Credit Union that pays you interest to store your gold and is impeccably honest? When you carry 400gp to the Smith shop for your plate mail armor does it really go unnoticed? Even if you don't get robbed that Smith now has 400 gp in his shop. Can he protect it? Possessing wealth makes you a target.

My point is that transactions of significant wealth in such a setting are not the secure mundane transactions that we perform daily in the real world.

Heh, that used to be the main purpose of the Floating Disk spell, a wagon to haul the gold pieces.