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DMG & MIC Random Treasure Tables Question
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<blockquote data-quote="delericho" data-source="post: 6299703" data-attributes="member: 22424"><p>It's perhaps worth noting that the "Wealth by Level" table isn't actually a balancing mechanism. Instead, it's built from the treasure tables - those tables are aggregated to give the "average treasure per encounter" table, and WbL is then calculated at each level by adding 14ish times the ATpE value to the WbL for the previous level.</p><p></p><p>(That is, to get WbL for level 3, start with WbL for level 2, and add 14ish x the EL2 treasure amount.)</p><p></p><p>So, it's not really a measure of how much stuff a PC <em>should have</em>, it's a measure of how much stuff a PC <em>is likely to have found</em> if you use the treasure tables.</p><p></p><p>(And, incidentally, that's why you can get problems if you add a new PC to a group that has been using the tables - because the new guy gets to buy his gear using WbL, he gets to optimise the costs perfectly, where the other guys do not.)</p><p></p><p>It's <em>also</em> worth noting that the DMG tables are absolutely no respecters of the "big six" - there's little or no guarantee that a <em>sword +N</em>, the <em>belt of giant's strength</em>, or whatever, will come up. And that's <em>another</em> bit of the 3e balancing puzzle - all the (Monster Manual 1) monsters are 'balanced' assuming PCs <em>won't</em> have these things. (Of course, in actual play they <em>do</em>, and so balance goes even more haywire than expected!)</p><p></p><p>The net effect of all <em>that</em> is that you probably don't need to worry about giving out "too much" or "too little" treasure - the thing to watch out for (mostly) is that you don't give out any single item that is over-powered. Which either the MIC or DMG tables more or less handles.</p><p></p><p>--</p><p></p><p>These days, I tend to give out significantly more treasure than the tables indicate, but with two caveats:</p><p></p><p>- 'Found' items are resold at 20% of the base price, rather than 50%.</p><p></p><p>- When assigning items, I deliberately stay away from giving the <em>exact</em> item a PC would want. Instead, I'll give something useful but not quite optimised - so maybe a <em>keen longsword +1</em>, but not just a plain <em>longsword +1</em>.</p><p></p><p>(Also, when giving items I tend to go for a one-third/two-thirds split - one third will be gold, gems, and other 'treasure' that can be easily turned into gp; two thirds are magic and masterwork items.)</p><p></p><p>This then gives the players a choice: do they sell the items and replace them with the Big Six, and so end up at WbL levels but with optimised items, or do they stick with what they found and so end up with nominally more, but optimised, stuff?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="delericho, post: 6299703, member: 22424"] It's perhaps worth noting that the "Wealth by Level" table isn't actually a balancing mechanism. Instead, it's built from the treasure tables - those tables are aggregated to give the "average treasure per encounter" table, and WbL is then calculated at each level by adding 14ish times the ATpE value to the WbL for the previous level. (That is, to get WbL for level 3, start with WbL for level 2, and add 14ish x the EL2 treasure amount.) So, it's not really a measure of how much stuff a PC [i]should have[/i], it's a measure of how much stuff a PC [i]is likely to have found[/i] if you use the treasure tables. (And, incidentally, that's why you can get problems if you add a new PC to a group that has been using the tables - because the new guy gets to buy his gear using WbL, he gets to optimise the costs perfectly, where the other guys do not.) It's [i]also[/i] worth noting that the DMG tables are absolutely no respecters of the "big six" - there's little or no guarantee that a [i]sword +N[/i], the [i]belt of giant's strength[/i], or whatever, will come up. And that's [i]another[/i] bit of the 3e balancing puzzle - all the (Monster Manual 1) monsters are 'balanced' assuming PCs [i]won't[/i] have these things. (Of course, in actual play they [i]do[/i], and so balance goes even more haywire than expected!) The net effect of all [i]that[/i] is that you probably don't need to worry about giving out "too much" or "too little" treasure - the thing to watch out for (mostly) is that you don't give out any single item that is over-powered. Which either the MIC or DMG tables more or less handles. -- These days, I tend to give out significantly more treasure than the tables indicate, but with two caveats: - 'Found' items are resold at 20% of the base price, rather than 50%. - When assigning items, I deliberately stay away from giving the [i]exact[/i] item a PC would want. Instead, I'll give something useful but not quite optimised - so maybe a [i]keen longsword +1[/i], but not just a plain [i]longsword +1[/i]. (Also, when giving items I tend to go for a one-third/two-thirds split - one third will be gold, gems, and other 'treasure' that can be easily turned into gp; two thirds are magic and masterwork items.) This then gives the players a choice: do they sell the items and replace them with the Big Six, and so end up at WbL levels but with optimised items, or do they stick with what they found and so end up with nominally more, but optimised, stuff? [/QUOTE]
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