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Forget about the treasure and pricing system of 5E!
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<blockquote data-quote="lkwpeter" data-source="post: 7256974" data-attributes="member: 6804713"><p>Thanks for your answers! I absolutely agree to <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?593074-Consistent-gold-amp-price-system&p=7256410&viewfull=1#post7256410" target="_blank">@CapnZapp</a> and <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?593074-Consistent-gold-amp-price-system&p=7256843&viewfull=1#post7256843" target="_blank">@James Gasik</a>. I think it's undeniable that there is a lack of consistency/rules. </p><p></p><p>Actually, my hope was that we would be able to find something like a <strong>rule of thumb</strong> to give any DM an idea of how to handle item distribution. Therefore, I guess we have to seperate the whole issue into different pieces/steps:</p><p></p><p><strong>Step 1: Setting consistent prices</strong></p><p>First of all, prices have to be dependend among themselves, so that there is at least a tiny bit of consistency. I searched Google for about an hour and didn't find anything useful besides <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8XAiXpOfz9cMWt1RTBicmpmUDg/view" target="_blank"><strong>Sane Magic Item Prices</strong></a>. This is far away from being perfect, but the suggested prices are more reasonable than the ones in the DMG, because they are calculated by item power, not rarity. So, this step is already done.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Step 2: Adjusting treasure distribution</strong></p><p>Going out from consistent prices (step 1), the DM can orientate himself on a <strong>rough gold-item-ratio</strong>. For example, he now knows that if he hands out the amount of 100G, the party will be able to buy <em>2x Potion of Healing</em> or <em>1x Potion of Poison</em>. The distributed amount is calcuable<span style="font-size: 12px"> (what it wasn't before, because it was simply impossible to find out what 100G is actually worth). </span></p><p></p><p>Now there are two possibilites to set the amount of gold treasure per encounter (including gems).</p><p></p><p><strong>a) Distribution based on decision:</strong> </p><p>The DM takes a look at the encounter and asks himself <strong>"How much do I want to reward the party for that encounter?"</strong>. Because he has a <strong>gold-item-ratio</strong>, he does not need to pick a vague gold amount anymore. He instead is able to answer his question in many different ways. He might come to the conclusion that the encounter should be rewarded with an amount of gold that is worth <em>1x Superior Healing Potion + 1x 3rd level Spell Scroll</em>. So, he hands out the amount of 450 + 200 = 600 GP. Of course, he could also directly hand that Superior Health Potion and a certain spell scroll to the party. But the idea behind distributing gold is, that the party is able to choose their spell scroll themselves or save gold to buy a more valuable item at a later time. Nevertheless, this should only be an example. Of course, it's absolutely imaginable that he does it either way. So, the advantage is that both ways (distributing consumables directly or gold) are legitimate whereas in the default system of the DMG gold is something abstract, because there is no gold-item-ratio.</p><p></p><p><strong>b) Distribution based on encounter XP:</strong> </p><p>Like <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?593074-Consistent-gold-amp-price-system&p=7256532&viewfull=1#post7256532" target="_blank">@Gansk</a> suggested, another possibility is to <strong>base the amount of gold treasure on encounter XP.</strong> This would be especially useful when running official WotC campaigns, because any encounter is listed with XP, so the DM doesn't have to ask himself over and over again, what he wants to distribute. He simply divides the amount of XP by a fixed number. And if there is some extra loot like potions or scrolls, he substracts their value from the total amount of gold treasure. <strong>Unfortunately, this requires some math, because you would have to set the ratio between XP and gold. <span style="color: #FF0000">Is there somebody experienced and willing to do this?</span> </strong>Furthermore, it would be perfect to have three different divisors, so the DM can easily adjust the wealth of the group: one divisor for "default loot", one for "reduced loot" and one for "increased loot".</p><p></p><p>Both variants are not perfect (which seems impossible without an economy system). But they give back a meaning/purpose to gold, what seems much better than giving away thousands of gold pieces, yet there is nothing to spend them on.</p><p></p><p>[HR][/HR]</p><p><strong>Side note:</strong> Of course, if you decide to offer magic items <u>others than consumables</u> for purchase, the amount of gold treasure has to be higher as if players were only able to buy comsumables. Actually, this is very tough, because the DM needs to have a very clear idea of which items should be affordable for the group. I noticed, that most DMs do not offer "real" magic items for purchase. So, maybe this problem isn't something we have to deal with in first place.</p><p></p><p>Regards!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="lkwpeter, post: 7256974, member: 6804713"] Thanks for your answers! I absolutely agree to [URL="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?593074-Consistent-gold-amp-price-system&p=7256410&viewfull=1#post7256410"]@CapnZapp[/URL] and [URL="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?593074-Consistent-gold-amp-price-system&p=7256843&viewfull=1#post7256843"]@James Gasik[/URL]. I think it's undeniable that there is a lack of consistency/rules. Actually, my hope was that we would be able to find something like a [B]rule of thumb[/B] to give any DM an idea of how to handle item distribution. Therefore, I guess we have to seperate the whole issue into different pieces/steps: [B]Step 1: Setting consistent prices[/B] First of all, prices have to be dependend among themselves, so that there is at least a tiny bit of consistency. I searched Google for about an hour and didn't find anything useful besides [URL="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8XAiXpOfz9cMWt1RTBicmpmUDg/view"][B]Sane Magic Item Prices[/B][/URL]. This is far away from being perfect, but the suggested prices are more reasonable than the ones in the DMG, because they are calculated by item power, not rarity. So, this step is already done. [B]Step 2: Adjusting treasure distribution[/B] Going out from consistent prices (step 1), the DM can orientate himself on a [B]rough gold-item-ratio[/B]. For example, he now knows that if he hands out the amount of 100G, the party will be able to buy [I]2x Potion of Healing[/I] or [I]1x Potion of Poison[/I]. The distributed amount is calcuable[SIZE=3] (what it wasn't before, because it was simply impossible to find out what 100G is actually worth). [/SIZE] Now there are two possibilites to set the amount of gold treasure per encounter (including gems). [B]a) Distribution based on decision:[/B] The DM takes a look at the encounter and asks himself [B]"How much do I want to reward the party for that encounter?"[/B]. Because he has a [B]gold-item-ratio[/B], he does not need to pick a vague gold amount anymore. He instead is able to answer his question in many different ways. He might come to the conclusion that the encounter should be rewarded with an amount of gold that is worth [I]1x Superior Healing Potion + 1x 3rd level Spell Scroll[/I]. So, he hands out the amount of 450 + 200 = 600 GP. Of course, he could also directly hand that Superior Health Potion and a certain spell scroll to the party. But the idea behind distributing gold is, that the party is able to choose their spell scroll themselves or save gold to buy a more valuable item at a later time. Nevertheless, this should only be an example. Of course, it's absolutely imaginable that he does it either way. So, the advantage is that both ways (distributing consumables directly or gold) are legitimate whereas in the default system of the DMG gold is something abstract, because there is no gold-item-ratio. [B]b) Distribution based on encounter XP:[/B] Like [URL="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?593074-Consistent-gold-amp-price-system&p=7256532&viewfull=1#post7256532"]@Gansk[/URL] suggested, another possibility is to [B]base the amount of gold treasure on encounter XP.[/B] This would be especially useful when running official WotC campaigns, because any encounter is listed with XP, so the DM doesn't have to ask himself over and over again, what he wants to distribute. He simply divides the amount of XP by a fixed number. And if there is some extra loot like potions or scrolls, he substracts their value from the total amount of gold treasure. [B]Unfortunately, this requires some math, because you would have to set the ratio between XP and gold. [COLOR=#FF0000]Is there somebody experienced and willing to do this?[/COLOR] [/B]Furthermore, it would be perfect to have three different divisors, so the DM can easily adjust the wealth of the group: one divisor for "default loot", one for "reduced loot" and one for "increased loot". Both variants are not perfect (which seems impossible without an economy system). But they give back a meaning/purpose to gold, what seems much better than giving away thousands of gold pieces, yet there is nothing to spend them on. [HR][/HR] [B]Side note:[/B] Of course, if you decide to offer magic items [U]others than consumables[/U] for purchase, the amount of gold treasure has to be higher as if players were only able to buy comsumables. Actually, this is very tough, because the DM needs to have a very clear idea of which items should be affordable for the group. I noticed, that most DMs do not offer "real" magic items for purchase. So, maybe this problem isn't something we have to deal with in first place. Regards! [/QUOTE]
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