Treasure Parcels

[Trit One-Ear]

Just had the first session of my new campaign (cannot begin to stress how much help everyone here has been to ensure that that even happened!) Now that we've started, there are some little things creeping up I realized I'm under-prepared for.

Treasure. The DM's guide has fairly explicit guidelines on how much and what types of treasures to distribute to the group. Do you find these to be accurate? I'd prefer to rely more on story to help distribute treasure, and can think of ways to put these two elements together.

Do you guys have any advice/tricks/tips in the ways you do treasure?

Trit

 

[Truename]

You can take a story-driven approach to treasure, no worries. For the game's math to work, everyone needs a +1 weapon, +1 armor, and +1 neck slot item by the end of level 5 at a minimum. Hand them out as you see fit. Gold is not important after the first few levels; 4e uses a magic item economy and gold has no real use other than for flavor and to buy magic items.

If you don't want to be forced to hand out any magic items at all, use the inherent bonus system from DMG 2: everyone gets an automatic +1 enhancement bonus to hit at level 2 (increasing by 1 every five levels thereafter) and a +1 enhancement bonus to all defenses at level 4 (increasing by 1 every five levels thereafter).

If you want to hand out the same amount of treasure as you would using the parcel system, make sure every PC gets a new magic item every level, ranging from their level to their level + 4.

Add gold and healing potions to taste.

 

[S'mon]

Treasure. The DM's guide has fairly explicit guidelines on how much and what types of treasures to distribute to the group. Do you find these to be accurate? I'd prefer to rely more on story to help distribute treasure, and can think of ways to put these two elements together.

Do you guys have any advice/tricks/tips in the ways you do treasure?

Trit

Yeah: Give more. Give out about twice what the DMG recommends, especially at low level. This is especially so if you don't give out 'wish list' magic items. It helps if you key treasure parcels off encounter level rather than party level.

Alternatively use the DMG2 Inherent Bonuses system and story-based treasure.

 

[Ryujin]

+1 to the inherent bonus system. It leaves you free to pursue story elements more, rather than worrying that you haven't matched the treasure requirements.

Another option is what I refer to as "campaign items." These are character inspired and driven magic items, that automatically level up with the character at appropriate times. The Paladin, in the group I DM, was especially happy when his marshal gifted him with the order's prize heirloom weapon, a +1 sword that also acted as a holy symbol, when he created his character. Ultimately it would become a Holy Avenger.

You just have to remember to let the character know, "You sword Foeblaster is now +2" when the time comes.

 

[Riastlin]

You can easily enough merge the concept of story-based rewards and treasure parcels. Simply because there are ten parcels per level, doesn't mean that you need to award a parcel after each encounter. Enter the dragon's lair and slay her? Guess what, you also find her hoard, which just very well may be worth all ten parcels.

More to the point though, I also agree with the idea of the inherent bonus system. My current campaign is at 16th level now (started at 1st) and I really wish I had used the inherent bonus system. Making sure that everyone not only has appropriately leveled gear, but also gear they like, can be a real chore at times. As a result, I've taken to starting to simply "level up" their current items (and creating a story around them). The avenger now has a falchion that is an honored relic of his church and which is sentient. In game terms, its simply a jagged falchion but given the item's back story, he cherishes it and has made sure that the invoker (who worships the same deity) will recover the falchion should anything happen to the avenger. As the campaign goes on, the falchion will get more powerful, etc.

 

[riotshieldnation]

Just had the first session of my new campaign (cannot begin to stress how much help everyone here has been to ensure that that even happened!) Now that we've started, there are some little things creeping up I realized I'm under-prepared for.

Treasure. The DM's guide has fairly explicit guidelines on how much and what types of treasures to distribute to the group. Do you find these to be accurate? I'd prefer to rely more on story to help distribute treasure, and can think of ways to put these two elements together.

Do you guys have any advice/tricks/tips in the ways you do treasure?

Trit

Personally, I love giving out random salvage treasure ala donjon.bin.sh. It's more flavorful to have a few gems and an antique painting in a room than 300 gold pieces.

But like truename said, everyone should have +1 stuff by level 5.

 

[Neonchameleon]

1: Use inherent bonusses. They cover a multitude of sins.

2: Treasure parcels are a decent guideline for roughly how much treasure the PCs should have and at what rate and how to hand treasure out to keep the PCs at that level. You will never produce a bad game if you follow them - but it's the "behind the curtain" mathematics - pile them up and stick them in where it fits the story. As long as you aren't off by an order of magnitude across a several level range, it's all good. (I've gone a level or two without handing out any treasure before now, and then gave the PCs gold to swim in at the end of a quest - it really doesn't break the game).

 

[drow]

my group has responded a lot better to handing out more treasure but less powerful magic items (i.e. nothing of higher level than the PCs themselves) than they ever did to the parcel system as-writ (which tends to award a small number of relatively more powerful items). this is precisely the logic behind the donjon treasure generator (linked above). ymmv.

 

[Tallifer]

The treasure parcel system is quite fair, but it is still needlessly complicated. Here is how I work treasure in the Fourth Edition:

1. During the adventure, I roleplay the treasure. “You find a heap of gold coins and other valuable items in the orc chieftain’s chambers.” “You find many trophies, components, treasures and what look like magical items in the wizard’s library.” “You come across a well-stocked armoury.” The players can likewise roleplay what they found immediately: “We shove all the loot on a mule.” “Do I find a wand?” “Indeed you do: when you get out the dungeon, you can figure out what it is.”

2. Add up the total amount of treasure a party should get for a given level (add the gold piece value of the parcels together: there are tables on character optimization boards which give these numbers, but it is not hard to do). Divide this by the number of players: each player will have that abstract number measured in gold pieces, but the treasure can take whatever form they wish.

3. At the end of an adventure (not every session: that is too disruptive), the players can “find out” what they found in the adventure. That is, out of character the player chooses what his character found in the dungeon, limited by the gold-piece value of his portion. Players who cannot be bothered to choose can ask me for an item.

4. This means that players are not limited to one item of a specific level. Under the official system two players cannot choose an item of the same level or get two low level items instead, and one player is always left out, et cetera. My system allows all the roleplaying during the adventure that people want, but very simple bookkeeping at the end of the day and absolutely no frustration. Indeed, I allow people to save up their treasure points for another level if they imagine some great magical treasure would suit their story better.

 

[Trit One-Ear]

Love all the comments/ideas. My guess is I'll most likely do a combination of adding all the treasure parcels together and roleplay-ily inserting them into appropriate situations (hoards, armories, significant plot items etc.)

I'm really interested in all the different responses too. It's cool to see how different GM's and players handle such an integral part of the game in so many different ways.

Trit