We're way too rich

[drothgery]

If you want to turn the gems into cash quickly, you'll probably have to spend some of your new-found wealth hiring wizards to teleport you from major city to major city. The idea here is to make sure you don't sell too many gems in one place, and therefore don't create too much of a pearl glut in the market anywhere. You'll also want to hold onto some of the gems in case you need cash quickly in the future. And if you picked up a large enough quantity of pearls, you may want to spread your sales of them over several years, again to avoid disrupting the economy too much.

Then drop a good chunk of your wealth on setting up a stronghold (making sure it's got income sources to be self-supporting) and staff. It may be possible (and legal) to buy your way into the nobility, which will be helpful if you want a castle but haven't done enough to have a title granted to you yet.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Solution: bandits!

solution 2 : taxes!

Just to compound what has been said, I read that the emperor of Mali went on a pilgrimage (to Mecca?) and was so lavish along the way that gold was virtually worthless for two or more years from Him showering the loacals with his wealth.

g!

So true! Don't forget cons!

The problem is where are they going to stash it all. If you do not have a banking system, you may find the PCs with only what they can carry.

Something I do is let the PCs bank it with the church, this allows them to get those special healings and such.

 

[Lord_of_Doom]

Just to compound what has been said, I read that the emperor of Mali went on a pilgrimage (to Mecca?) and was so lavish along the way that gold was virtually worthless for two or more years from Him showering the loacals with his wealth.

Bizarre. I just had to write a school report about this.

Back on topic: How big are these pearls? If they fit in a chest or two in shouldn't be too hard to carry them around and sell them.

The other posters who said theft is likely should keep in mind that characters have no concept of level, so the idea that "only" a fifth level party should be so rich is meaningless. At most, other people would be aware that a relatively obscure group suddenly acquired a fairly large amount of money. They'd be as likely to attract a 1st level would-be-thief as a 15th level champion.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Oh, here is a trick...have them dropped into vinegar...after a little time (not that long really) they will be worthless, gone too!

 

[Pielorinho]

Great ideas, folks! Lemme add a suggestion.

Since you're worried about this, take your DM aside and ask him a question.

What you did was original, but not ingenious. Given the presence of moneygrubbing merchants in a world with waterbreathing magic, surely other have thought of making exactly the same trade you made.

So why haven't they done it? What do they know that you don't know?

Or is it just that others HAVE made this trade, and people consider it wise not to talk about what happened to them?

Hmm.

Daniel

 

[Sodalis]

i would have to agree-

1) bandits or a group of theives catch wind of your fortune...

2) you dont get a good price for teh pearls. You are obviously near and ocean- and so the city can be flooded with pearls this time of year- and you dont get a good price for them.

3) Weapons are expensive- you tade in your pearls for weapons- but only get 1/3 their worth. or the specific weapon you are looking for is overpriced...

4) he may be coaxing you to build a stronghold... why look a gift horse in the mouth? make him one that is floating and reinforced with runes...

 

[Chun-tzu]

Oh, here is a trick...have them dropped into vinegar...after a little time (not that long really) they will be worthless, gone too!

Won't that ruin the vinegar?

 

[Voadam]

Identify to your hearts content.

Don't sell more than 10 to 20 at a time and you will be all set. If they were worthless to the underwater people, how many had they collected to have to trade?

 

[drothgery]

I'd vote against the suggestions to take away most of the PC's new-found wealth by taxes or outright theft, mostly because it's discouraging to player morale when you put a lot of effort into a scheme, and were successfule, but you're not able to get the benefits. It's like sending a paladin with a warhorse and the mounted combat chain into a constant stream of dungeon-crawls.

What the DM should want to do, IMO, is to encourage the PCs to spend their money on interesting things that are useful but have plot hooks (like strongholds or titles of nobility), not on +12 Hackmasters for everyone.

 

[The Kender]

I also agree that you guys pulled something off pretty well. But seriously, why would you want to get rid of so much wealth? I think it would be fun to own your own castle. Dig a moat, fill it with Fiendish Undead Aligators. I think I will have to play a "Capture the Flat" type of game pretty soon.