Character Wealth Confusion

[blargney the second]

Well, if players like to create magic items, they tend to sell any items which does not fit to their needs and use gold gained to create or upgrade magic items specially tailored for them. In such cases, ongoing PCs tend not to be using most of the "random" magic items at all.

So it will depend largely on each play group and party, if having that much "random treasure" is reasonable or not.

Yeah, I agree that's always their prerogative.

Btw, by "semi-randomly" I meant that I look through the MIC, make a little list of items that could be useful to the character, and roll on there to see what they end up with. My intent is that the items are ones that the PC would conceivably have chosen from loot as something useful for their role.
-blarg

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

A lot of DMs put a cap of no more than 50% of starting gold can be spent on any one item. That helps prevent someone running around with a holy avenger type weapon and nothing else.

 

[Starbuck_II]

A lot of DMs put a cap of no more than 50% of starting gold can be spent on any one item. That helps prevent someone running around with a holy avenger type weapon and nothing else.

According to the DMg, the cap should be 1/3rd. DMs let players get up to 50%?
Where can I find these nice DMs (doesn't cause balance issue to allow so much though?).

 

[azhrei_fje]

Heh. I allow the most expensive item to 1,000 gp * square root of the PC level. But then I don't mind a little math when it's only going to be needed once anyway.

 

[Delta]

It's funny, because IMO the system is more susceptible to players taking a whole lot of relatively cheap items (because of the square-cost principle) that then add up to a better total result (and also make a headache out of tracking all of them).

One of my first house rules these days is to prohibit any more than five magic items. But that's a slightly different issue (see link below).

 

[Humanaut]

Generally DM's call for the game at hand. Myself, until about a year and half, maybe two years ago I've been running my 1e (houseruled) game where new PCs got only a little starting gold and magic I doled out based on their level. Generally this was a few potions and a permanent item starting around 3rd or 4th level... and one more every 2-3 levels on top of that.

When i jumped into 3.5 the thought of calculating all that average treasure for each PC seemed daunting so i changed to let new PCs choose their gear to the value shown in DMG, max 50% on any one item. BIG mistake i personally feel. Where once magic items were these relatively rare items to cherrish, now they start with Dream Team items... what is there to lust for then? So i'm switching back to picking/ random determaning for them... what % they get to choose i'm unsure now. I'm thinking of A) get 1st level starting gold (max), and magic i choose or B) 1st level starting gold (max) and they choose NPC ammout of gear, i choose balance to get them to PC levels. or now C) do the 50/50 me and them choose mentioned above. or... i dunno yet.

 

[Starbuck_II]

Generally DM's call for the game at hand. Myself, until about a year and half, maybe two years ago I've been running my 1e (houseruled) game where new PCs got only a little starting gold and magic I doled out based on their level. Generally this was a few potions and a permanent item starting around 3rd or 4th level... and one more every 2-3 levels on top of that.

When i jumped into 3.5 the thought of calculating all that average treasure for each PC seemed daunting so i changed to let new PCs choose their gear to the value shown in DMG, max 50% on any one item. BIG mistake i personally feel. Where once magic items were these relatively rare items to cherrish, now they start with Dream Team items... what is there to lust for then? So i'm switching back to picking/ random determaning for them... what % they get to choose i'm unsure now. I'm thinking of A) get 1st level starting gold (max), and magic i choose or B) 1st level starting gold (max) and they choose NPC ammout of gear, i choose balance to get them to PC levels. or now C) do the 50/50 me and them choose mentioned above. or... i dunno yet.

I still feel the Core rule about no more than a 3rd or 4th is most balanced.

50% has too much broken potential (game was not designed for it for one).

 

[Humanaut]

1/4 to 1/3 max per item... hrm... may give that a try so i do not have to sit and pick items for PC's.

 

[Thurbane]

1/4 to 1/3 max per item... hrm... may give that a try so i do not have to sit and pick items for PC's.

That's how my group usually play it. We just started EttRoG, 8th level. 27,000gp, no more than 7,000 on any one item, and no more than 4,000 cash in pocket...

 

[Firesong]

You can place restrictions on a magic item until it is only usable by the character it is made for. This reduces the cost so dramatically that the power of the item is way beyond the scope of the current character level.

I've always treated such discounts primarily as economic benefits rather than actual reductions in creation cost (meaning no more than 5% off the crafting costs, if the PC is doing it); one is likely to pay less for the same longsword if only a paladin can use it, for example, simply because the said paladin who purchases it is, when he grows tired of it, going to have a harder time selling it.