But I'm putting it out there for general discussion. Is spending gold in your campaigns a big issue? Do you think that the best solution is to reduce the amount of gold (either by reducing the amount, raising prices, or move to a silver standard), or to have additional rules for spending gold that go beyond what we've already seen? Is the additional material we've seen so far sufficient, or insufficient, for the gold problem in your campaign?
Spending gold, or other wealth is a big thing in my campaign. I can't see why it shouldn't be given how pervasive it is in our world and in the stories, myths, and legends we have. If gold isn't important, then finding the leprechaun's pot of gold or a pirate's treasure becomes far less exciting. If our campaigns are on a [ open sandbox - episodic serial - adventure path ] continuum the further to the right of that continuum I would imagine the less important material wealth is to the flow of the game. There may be a point where you need an expensive gift, bribe or measure of status before you can explore a particular avenue of the adventure, but wealth to be spent on particular peripheral needs becomes less useful.
In order to make wealth useful at all, however, there has to be a game effect, hard or soft. Hard would be buying improved gear. Your armor grants +5 to AC rather than +2, &c. Soft could be nice clothing. You aren't getting into the Noble's Quarter to talk to Baron McGuffin in torn clothes spattered with mud and blood. You need to freshen up a bit. While I greatly appreciate the resource management part of D&D, I also try to declutter it a bit and simplify it to key decisions. Having a monthly upkeep cost with specific benefits for each tier is a way for me to do that. While I don't allow for the direct purchase of magic items in general, simple gold can acquire minor potions, scrolls, and charms. More moderate strength items can be commissioned, and the potent items can be commissioned but require reagents, quests, and favors as well as mundane currency.
I think the real culprit is the shift in the game’s focus over time. As the game has moved away from troupe play in a shared sandbox and towards following the exploits of a particular group of characters, the things PCs used to spend their gold on has lost its value to most players. What do I care that my character owns a house if the gameplay entirely takes place away from that house? What use is a mage’s tower when I’m off on an adventure? And a boat is only useful if you’re specifically playing a nautical adventure, and if you are, you’ll get a boat anyway because otherwise the adventure can’t happen.
I think this plays directly into downtime activities. (I really don't like that phrase since the characters are almost always actively doing things.) If the wizard is brewing potions, the cleric writing scrolls, the fighter training with troops, &c. the place they do that is in their home. Regardless of how much you travel, it's always good to be home. It order for that to be meaningful to the people playing the game, there needs to be at least a minor benefit. Normally I would say your characters heal faster, but a long rest resets everything in this edition. One thing I have added is that if your character does nothing for two weeks, just being on vacation as it were, they gain +1 hp/level to start out. This boost lasts until it is lost, a form of long lasting temp hps.
Yeah, this shift towards adventure-path play is definitely what I was zeroing in on.
... It’s a lack of campaign-level focus, because “campaign” has become synonymous with “adventure path” (for most players).
... They could become an incentive though, if they did something other than soak up gold. Hypothetically, your character’s lifestyle is supposed to affect them socially - NPCs will associate with characters in similar lifestyle categories and distance themselves from characters in lower categories. But, it’s all very nebulous with no hard rules for how it actually affects any given character, and again, none of this matters while adventuring, so nobody cares.
... This is I think part of why 3e moved to generic diamond dust and 4e used residuum. 4e’s ritual spells were actually an excellent gold sink in my opinion.
I agree with the adventure path assessment. It strikes me as a movie-like situation. We don't see the downtime of the characters, except maybe as a montage. In this case gold, downtime, magic item fabrication, hireling acquisition, and other "passive" activities are pretty meaningless. The DM talks to the players, figures out what they want vs. what they have acquired, and awards appropriately. While a valid way to play I find it limiting.
Huh, I'll have to look into how 4e did it. I really dislike how free magic is in 5e, in particular ritual spells.