How Many Coins in a Sack of Gold?

[Xyrlove Woodsoul]

If you were to give out one sack of gold for just one encounter, how much gold would be in the sack? Sometimes my players have extra healing surges and daily powers after the main battle, so I let them do a small side trek, 1 or 2 encounters, but if I'm just giving gold, I never know how much gold to give them. I may be missing an obvious equation. It wouldn't be the first time, nor will it be the last.

 

[Amaroq]

See "Awarding Treasure", DMG p 125, for guidelines.

The quick answer is, you chose a level-appropriate amount of gold. Note, also, you don't need o give treasure for every encounter.

 

[Xyrlove Woodsoul]

I know I don't have to give out treasure for every encounter, I actually give out less treasure than anyone I know; but I was curious for when I do want to give out gold for one encounter, and only one encounter, what would be the appropriate amount of gold in that circumstance? I guess I'll have to re-read it, because all I can recall is it saying to give out a parcel, but then there are 10 different things to choose from. I'm thinking the answer I want may be the gold piece value of a magic item the same level as the encounter, but that seems a little high, no?

 

[Piratecat]

Pick a non-magic-item parcel and convert everythign into GP, then give out that amount; feel free to combine two or more parcels to give away more money. It doesn't matter how much cash you give away so long as the total per level is the sum total of all the non-item parcels for that level.

I'm a little more careful about exchanging magic items for cash when awarding treasure.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

As you feel apropriate for a monster of this type...

A goblin should not have more than some silver pieces, except for story reasons...

 

[Amaroq]

Right, there are ten things to choose from there. The idea is, you want to give out each of the ten parcels per level that the characters advance.

So, beat a small, non-story side encounter? Might have no treasure at all, or might get parcel #8, 9, or 10. Beat the bosses' lieutenant? Maybe parcel #2, 3, or 4 plus parcel #7, 8, or 9. Beat the main boss? Parcel #1, maybe #4 or #5, plus #6 or #7 and maybe any others that haven't been awarded yet.

One neat trick is that you can "borrow" against future levels; for example, with a party of 5, you only get 4 parcels with magic items at Level 1, so one of the characters comes out "short", which is a little lame. No biggie. You can "borrow", say, parcel #3 from Level 2, to give everybody a magic item by the time they level up.

This is particularly cool if you vary things a little bit: maybe you know the party are getting into some fast-moving plot stuff, so as they battle through Level 12 they only get about half of L-12's parcels .. then in L-13 they fight a dragon. The dragon's hoard might include the remaining L-12 parcels, all of L-13's parcels, and possibly even an item or two out of L-14's parcels, for one truly epic haul of treasure.

By the end of L-14, though, you've given out all of the L-12, L-13, and L-14 parcels, so it all balances out in the end.

 

[MrBeens]

I know I don't have to give out treasure for every encounter, I actually give out less treasure than anyone I know; but I was curious for when I do want to give out gold for one encounter, and only one encounter, what would be the appropriate amount of gold in that circumstance? I guess I'll have to re-read it, because all I can recall is it saying to give out a parcel, but then there are 10 different things to choose from. I'm thinking the answer I want may be the gold piece value of a magic item the same level as the encounter, but that seems a little high, no?

The parcels are a guideline - what they have done is determined the amount of treasure a party should get over the course of a level and divide it up into easy chunks so that you don't have to keep a running total of every GP all the time.
You can combine parcels or split them up anyway you want, swap gems for gold, gold for magic items, gems for valuable paintings etc.

 

[Infiniti2000]

If y'all don't mind, I need a quick clarification on terminology. Doesn't "parcel" refer to the entire list of ten things (i.e. the four magic items of levels n+1 through n+4, and the 6 other monetary treasures with possible potions)? So, if you combine parcels you're actually suggesting (based on terminology) combining treasures across different levels.

If this term is correct, then what's the term for each line item in a parcel?

I ask for this clarification because I think some of the responses here may be confusing to new DMs.

 

[Amaroq]

No, a parcel is a single line item within the "Party Level N" entry on DMG p126. Read p125 again to see that explained explicitly.

Note also that "Combining Parcels" is a concept explained on p126 as well.

What I was pointing out, at the bottom half of my post, was that you can combine parcels across levels, as well. Though its certainly non-standard, it does make sense a lot of times when you're designing your own adventure paths.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Thanks! Sorry for the question. I would've read it myself were I at home.