Starting wealth by level?

[jkohlhepp]

I'm using the character builder and when I ask it to use level appropriate gold for an 8th level character it is giving 2600 gold. Where in the rulebooks is this amount coming from? The only thing I could think to do is add up the treasure parcel amounts of levels 1-7 and divide by 5 but it comes out to way more than 2600. 2600 seems quite low to me for an 8th level character.

What are other people using for starting gold when starting higher than 1st level?

Thanks,

~ Justin

 

[Oompa]

DMG page 143

For magic items, choose one item of your level + 1, one item of your level, and one item of your level – 1. In addition, you have gold pieces equal to the value of one magic item of your level – 1. You can spend this money on rituals, potions, or other magic items, or save it for later.

 

[Regicide]

Someone, sorry, forget who, figured it out based on if you had leveled instead of just 3 items. Considering how often I used the wealth by level table in 3E as my party death-marched it's way through modules replacing butchered characters every few sessions, I was surprised to see it not in 4E. But, different game. Anyway, here's the table I've shamelessly stolen from someone and whose name I can't remember.

level    5 PCs total    each / lvl    each total
1    3760        752        752
2    5360        1072        1824
3    7600        1520        3344
4    10480        2096        5440
5    14000        2800        8240
6    18800        3760        12000
7    26800        5360        17360
8    38000        7600        24960
9    52400        10480        35440
10    70000        14000        49440
11    94000        18800        68240
12    134000        26800        95040
13    190000        38000        133040
14    262000        52400        185440
15    350000        70000        255440
16    470000        94000        349440
17    670000        134000        483440
18    950000        190000        673440
19    1310000    262000        935440
20    1750000    350000        1285440
21    2350000    470000        1755440
22    3350000    670000        2425440
23    4750000    950000        3375440
24    6550000    1310000    4685440
25    8750000    1750000    6435440
26    11750000    2350000    8785440
27    14250000    2850000    11635440
28    16250000    3250000    14885440
29    17750000    3550000    18435440
30    21875000    4375000    22810440

 

[Nikosandros]

DMG page 143

For magic items, choose one item of your level + 1, one item of your level, and one item of your level – 1. In addition, you have gold pieces equal to the value of one magic item of your level – 1. You can spend this money on rituals, potions, or other magic items, or save it for later.

That rule doesn't seem to much the results given by following the guidelines for treasure parcels.

 

[jkohlhepp]

Thanks that clears that up.

 

[Lauberfen]

I think whatever system you use, you need to be very careful, because characters who have levelled up generally don't have much choice over their weapons- My group have just finished thunderspire after KOTS, and they mostly have only +1 items at 7th level, apart from a few amulets and a big hammer. When I DM I try to give more useful items, but it's still very different choosing exactly what you get.

Note also that characters who level pretty much lose the value of items they get early on- the sale price is tiny, and the items will be superseded by better versions.

I suggest you look at your group and see what they have, and give items of similar or lower level.

 

[LittleFuzzy]

I think whatever system you use, you need to be very careful, because characters who have levelled up generally don't have much choice over their weapons- My group have just finished thunderspire after KOTS, and they mostly have only +1 items at 7th level, apart from a few amulets and a big hammer. When I DM I try to give more useful items, but it's still very different choosing exactly what you get.

I don't know how Pyramid of Shadows or later adventures turned out, but for KotS and Thunderspire, treasure distribution did NOT match the parcel system laid out in the DMG. In aggregate, items were less powerful and there was less of them.

 

[Lauberfen]

Glad to have that confirmed, because I suspected so- for the 3(?) levels, you'd expect 1x10th, 2x9th, 3x8th, 3x7th, 2x6th, 1x5th level items. We ended up with a fair bit less.

Not to mention the bizarre selection- no magical longswords or plate armour in thunderspire, when these are probably the single most universal items. For my group this was exacerbated by (perhaps the DM's take) it being almost impossible to buy items, with no gap between the two adventures- I fought in non-magical armour until 6th level!

 

[coolcyclone2000]

then again, if you level up the old fashioned way, you spend some of your money on potions and other expendable items which are used to help take down monsters.

 

[fuzzlewump]

That rule doesn't seem to much the results given by following the guidelines for treasure parcels.

Whenever you start at level 5, if you add up all the parcels you gained from completing levels 1-4 with the monetary awards, you have 27035 in total among 5 people.

If you start at level 5 using the rules for starting at higher level, you instead have 22,400, or a discrepancy of 927 for each member of a 5 member party. Is the 927 loss balanced against the fact that the lower level items are being replaced and thus having their value lost? I don't really know, but maybe starting with a value of an item of your level + 1 would come close to equalizing it... at least at level 5 it would. If anyone has already researched this let me know, otherwise I'll calculate more tomorrow.