D&D 5E Deconstructing 5e: Typical Wealth by Level

[CapnZapp]

Was it a significant part of 3e? I skipped that edition so I don't really know. How was it significant? What impact did it have on play?

Personally I stopped giving out treasures hoards back in our 1e/D&D days in the 80's. We didn't really track treasure in 4e or now in 5e. It has never been a significant or interesting feature of the games I have been a part of.

I'm not sure we have any common ground to base a discussion on, then

If you're interested in a historical overview of all the faults of the 3E implementation of magic items, I'm sure somebody else is about to give it to you. Just remember that I'm not literally asking for 3.x to be back - only the idea of converting all that otherwise-useless cash into useful gear for those not interested in castles.

And be sure to tell them none of this means I want to take their castles away.

Just that the argument "you can always build a castle" is not a valid excuse for not providing both up- and downtime alternatives to how to spend gold!

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Did you miss the many opportunities to spend gold in the downtime rules?
In Xanathar's guide there are guidelines on how to create magic items and so on... so what exactly do you miss?

 

[dave2008]

Every campaign is still written exactly as before, where you could convert your tens of thousands of gold pieces into useful adventuring gear. Except the system for doing so is not even half-arsed, as the (now years old) "sane magic pricing" system so clearly illustrates.

Is this completely true? Again, we don't play official adventures, but I have several of them. I grabbed the closest at hand (ToA) and the first pages I turned to (25-27) had several entries about things you could purchase (they seemed quite pricing to me). Then a quick look through the adventure itself and I found very few "treasure" entries that really didn't amount to much. Maybe there are hoards of treasure there I just missed (I didn't look at the Tomb itself), but it didn't seem like it at a quick glance. It seemed like you could easily spend all the treasure you collected in the adventure. I believe you have played this adventure, does it contain mountains of treasure?

 

[dave2008]

I'm not sure we have any common ground to base a discussion on, then

If you're interested in a historical overview of all the faults of the 3E implementation of magic items, I'm sure somebody else is about to give it to you. Just remember that I'm not literally asking for 3.x to be back - only the idea of converting all that otherwise-useless cash into useful gear for those not interested in castles.

And be sure to tell them none of this means I want to take their castles away.

Just that the argument "you can always build a castle" is not a valid excuse for not providing both up- and downtime alternatives to how to spend gold!

Not really looking for a discussion, I was just curious how it was a significant part of 3e. I guess that is not really the point of your argument so I apologize for taking it off track.

 

[Zardnaar]

I'm not sure we have any common ground to base a discussion on, then

If you're interested in a historical overview of all the faults of the 3E implementation of magic items, I'm sure somebody else is about to give it to you. Just remember that I'm not literally asking for 3.x to be back - only the idea of converting all that otherwise-useless cash into useful gear for those not interested in castles.

And be sure to tell them none of this means I want to take their castles away.

Just that the argument "you can always build a castle" is not a valid excuse for not providing both up- and downtime alternatives to how to spend gold!

They did its in the DMG, try reading the books before you rant. Theres things you can do with downtime and prices of magic items the only assumption is you can only buy common magic items. If you want to ignore that rule you can and the prices are in the book.

I'm sure your rant has nothing to do with the idea if such rules were in the book they would be used in AL like the various races and classes so DMs in home games would have pressure to allow them. The rules are there what you use is up to you. 5E modular something something something.

If I had to guess a lot of 3E and 5E players still seem to be active, if I had to guess though there has been a near extinction of that playstyle (unless you play Pathfinder), so I guess its something most players don't miss or actively don't want. Makes the DMs life harder and there are lots of new players for 5E?

 

[jgsugden]

One thing to note about the lowest tier is that you're expected to spend less time at levels 1 and 2 than 3 and 4. As such, those treasure bundles are more likely to be found at those higher levels.

 

[CapnZapp]

Did you miss the many opportunities to spend gold in the downtime rules?
In Xanathar's guide there are guidelines on how to create magic items and so on... so what exactly do you miss?

Sorry but if you genuinely are new to this discussion you will have to ask again.

Too many bad-faith questions from people who really deep down know the difference between what WotC gave us and a true utility-based pricing system; people who really know rarity is fundamentally broken but for some reason can't admit to themselves WotC essentially phoned in something useless just to be able to fake-news-style claim they did offer a system even though it is by no means a worthy successor to the 3E DMG system...

But assuming you don't recognize yourself in any of this, by all means ask again.

 

[CapnZapp]

Is this completely true? Again, we don't play official adventures, but I have several of them. I grabbed the closest at hand (ToA) and the first pages I turned to (25-27) had several entries about things you could purchase (they seemed quite pricing to me). Then a quick look through the adventure itself and I found very few "treasure" entries that really didn't amount to much. Maybe there are hoards of treasure there I just missed (I didn't look at the Tomb itself), but it didn't seem like it at a quick glance. It seemed like you could easily spend all the treasure you collected in the adventure. I believe you have played this adventure, does it contain mountains of treasure?

I really wish I had the energy and willpower to answer you properly. In the meanwhile you'll just have to trust me.

 

[CapnZapp]

Not really looking for a discussion, I was just curious how it was a significant part of 3e. I guess that is not really the point of your argument so I apologize for taking it off track.

For some of us, it was a fun and significant part of the game.

Others didn't use it at all, as you've seen from other posters.

Even so, judging purely by page count, it is obviously one of the main d20 subsystems.

 

[CapnZapp]

They did its in the DMG, try reading the books before you rant. Theres things you can do with downtime and prices of magic items the only assumption is you can only buy common magic items. If you want to ignore that rule you can and the prices are in the book.

I'm sure your rant has nothing to do with the idea if such rules were in the book they would be used in AL like the various races and classes so DMs in home games would have pressure to allow them. The rules are there what you use is up to you. 5E modular something something something.

If I had to guess a lot of 3E and 5E players still seem to be active, if I had to guess though there has been a near extinction of that playstyle (unless you play Pathfinder), so I guess its something most players don't miss or actively don't want. Makes the DMs life harder and there are lots of new players for 5E?

You know me better than insinuating I'm new to 5E, or that I haven't read the books.

The "forced into AL" argument is yet another bad-faith strawman. The core books are already printed. No reason they could not publish a "magic item compendium"-style sourcebook. That you don't have to buy.