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Do We Really Need a Lot of Gold? (D&D 5th Edition)
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<blockquote data-quote="Steampunkette" data-source="post: 8311664" data-attributes="member: 6796468"><p><strong>1) I don't use Magic Item Shops. </strong>I find them crass and silly. The idea that magic items are no more rare or distinct than common weapons is annoying, to me. Instead, I use Magic Item Commissions, Magic Item Creation, and Magic Item Intermediaries.</p><p></p><p>You want to <em>-make-</em> a Magic Item? Awesome! I'll set up a little side-quest to gather some important materials or ritual components, give you the method to create the item, make you buy or craft the "Base Item" (Like a suit of armor or a weapon or a leather bag) and then run a short ritual description in which you and whomever else is helping you get the magic into the item! It'll cost you a bit, but less than other methods!</p><p></p><p>You want to <em>-commission-</em> a Magic Item? Awesome! I'll set up a little side-quest to gather some important materials or ritual components, give you an NPC you can task with the purpose, and a nice price-tag for their time and effort. Then you get to either wait for the item to be completed, or be a part of the short ritual description!</p><p></p><p>You want to <em>-buy-</em> a Magic Item? Awesome! You can go to an Intermediary such as an Antiquities Dealer or an Import/Export business and give them 1/10th of the price they set on the item as a commission. They'll use their connections to find out who has the item you're looking for, whether they're willing to part with it, and how much they want for it. If you're agreeable, you give the Intermediary the price and they buy it and deliver it for you. It'll take more time and be more expensive than just making one yourself, but you don't have to do a mini-quest.</p><p></p><p>You want to<em> -hunt-</em> a Magic Item? Awesome! You can either research it yourself or go to an Intermediary like a Library, Wizard's Tower, or Monastery to ask about legends and lore relating to a magic item you're hunting down. Put down 20% of the price and they'll figure out where it is, and then you're off on a quest to recover your magic item!</p><p></p><p><strong>2) I try to provide non-reward reasons to spend gold.</strong> Yeah, building a stronghold is good, but I'm also more than happy to provide downtrodden people who will ask for the Heroes' help in restoring their village after the heroes fight off the monster attack, healing funds, or purchasing of large quantities of food to replace what was lost. Encounters with Royalty or Nobility where a gift is customary. You'd be -amazed- at how much money a player will -pour- out of their pockets to diamond-encrust literally anything to hand to a Queen in the hopes of showing up everyone else's gifts at the reception.</p><p></p><p>NPCs in combat situations will also target replaceable possessions. Like raiding the party's Wagon during a fight, or shooting one of the Horses hauling their stuff around so that the players need to either resurrect a horse or buy a new one. Fancy Clothes get dirty, torn, or ruined and while Mending and Prestidigitation are low-level magics a lot of players are willing to just buy replacements in the next town. If they -do- have a stronghold they can expect to be attacked there, and have Damage to it that must be Repaired, servants who need medical aid, and other costs.</p><p></p><p><strong>3) Social Costs are also a thing. </strong>I try to put Businesses in my games and aristocratic interests in cities and towns. Players often find themselves doling out bribes to accomplish tasks, loans to nobles seeking their aid (That may or may not be repaid before the end of the campaign), or even pour their adventure-winnings directly into their own businesses, schemes, or machinations. You want to -ruin- the Evil Lord Connover who was an absolute jerk to you in an earlier session but whose rank and finances make him largely untouchable? Buy out his interests, shrink his businesses, besmirch his reputation, and see him stripped of land and title through cunning investments and careful planning...</p><p></p><p>But also... Lovers are expensive. I'm not talking about purchasing pleasurable company for an evening. I mean wooing someone with intent to wed. Players often wind up trying to get in with NPCs. So make it real. Buying jewelry for a Paramour costs money. As does taking them on fanciful dates to fine restaurants. You want a wedding? How -big-? Oh no! You have a child on the way. More money. More money. More money. Better get a bigger house. You want tutors for that kid? You want more kids? Health Issues. Life stuff.</p><p></p><p><strong>4) Organizations. </strong>Independent of Businesses are Organizations. A Thieves Guild may choose to squeeze one of their more wealthy members for additional aid in trying times, or to expand their Organization to the higher class parts of town (lowering the class of those parts of town in the process, often!). A Church may call upon a wealthy Priest or Paladin to help fund construction of a new temple. A King may demand Taxes for the raising of an army or the creation of an Aqueduct.</p><p></p><p>And Taxes are a thing, anyhow, that most DMs don't put onto their players. Spring -that- on them one day when a Tax Collector pounds on their door with a ledger that shows the PC has yet to pay their monthly taxes to the local lord or the distant king, and have them get audited for the wealth they've collected. Sure, they'll probably decide the Taxman is a villain, and you can maybe turn him into one, Sheriff of Nottingham style, but they're still obligated to pay and refusal would be criminal...</p><p></p><p><strong>TL: DR</strong></p><p>There's tons of reasons you can give your players to spend their gains. Sometimes those expenditures increase their power, sometimes they're petty abuses -of- that power, and sometimes they should just be expenditures that exist to strip money away from the players to enrich the game world.</p><p></p><p>That Temple might bear the Priest's name, for example. Or have a statue dedicated to the Paladin just inside the door.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Steampunkette, post: 8311664, member: 6796468"] [B]1) I don't use Magic Item Shops. [/B]I find them crass and silly. The idea that magic items are no more rare or distinct than common weapons is annoying, to me. Instead, I use Magic Item Commissions, Magic Item Creation, and Magic Item Intermediaries. You want to [I]-make-[/I] a Magic Item? Awesome! I'll set up a little side-quest to gather some important materials or ritual components, give you the method to create the item, make you buy or craft the "Base Item" (Like a suit of armor or a weapon or a leather bag) and then run a short ritual description in which you and whomever else is helping you get the magic into the item! It'll cost you a bit, but less than other methods! You want to [I]-commission-[/I] a Magic Item? Awesome! I'll set up a little side-quest to gather some important materials or ritual components, give you an NPC you can task with the purpose, and a nice price-tag for their time and effort. Then you get to either wait for the item to be completed, or be a part of the short ritual description! You want to [I]-buy-[/I] a Magic Item? Awesome! You can go to an Intermediary such as an Antiquities Dealer or an Import/Export business and give them 1/10th of the price they set on the item as a commission. They'll use their connections to find out who has the item you're looking for, whether they're willing to part with it, and how much they want for it. If you're agreeable, you give the Intermediary the price and they buy it and deliver it for you. It'll take more time and be more expensive than just making one yourself, but you don't have to do a mini-quest. You want to[I] -hunt-[/I] a Magic Item? Awesome! You can either research it yourself or go to an Intermediary like a Library, Wizard's Tower, or Monastery to ask about legends and lore relating to a magic item you're hunting down. Put down 20% of the price and they'll figure out where it is, and then you're off on a quest to recover your magic item! [B]2) I try to provide non-reward reasons to spend gold.[/B] Yeah, building a stronghold is good, but I'm also more than happy to provide downtrodden people who will ask for the Heroes' help in restoring their village after the heroes fight off the monster attack, healing funds, or purchasing of large quantities of food to replace what was lost. Encounters with Royalty or Nobility where a gift is customary. You'd be -amazed- at how much money a player will -pour- out of their pockets to diamond-encrust literally anything to hand to a Queen in the hopes of showing up everyone else's gifts at the reception. NPCs in combat situations will also target replaceable possessions. Like raiding the party's Wagon during a fight, or shooting one of the Horses hauling their stuff around so that the players need to either resurrect a horse or buy a new one. Fancy Clothes get dirty, torn, or ruined and while Mending and Prestidigitation are low-level magics a lot of players are willing to just buy replacements in the next town. If they -do- have a stronghold they can expect to be attacked there, and have Damage to it that must be Repaired, servants who need medical aid, and other costs. [B]3) Social Costs are also a thing. [/B]I try to put Businesses in my games and aristocratic interests in cities and towns. Players often find themselves doling out bribes to accomplish tasks, loans to nobles seeking their aid (That may or may not be repaid before the end of the campaign), or even pour their adventure-winnings directly into their own businesses, schemes, or machinations. You want to -ruin- the Evil Lord Connover who was an absolute jerk to you in an earlier session but whose rank and finances make him largely untouchable? Buy out his interests, shrink his businesses, besmirch his reputation, and see him stripped of land and title through cunning investments and careful planning... But also... Lovers are expensive. I'm not talking about purchasing pleasurable company for an evening. I mean wooing someone with intent to wed. Players often wind up trying to get in with NPCs. So make it real. Buying jewelry for a Paramour costs money. As does taking them on fanciful dates to fine restaurants. You want a wedding? How -big-? Oh no! You have a child on the way. More money. More money. More money. Better get a bigger house. You want tutors for that kid? You want more kids? Health Issues. Life stuff. [B]4) Organizations. [/B]Independent of Businesses are Organizations. A Thieves Guild may choose to squeeze one of their more wealthy members for additional aid in trying times, or to expand their Organization to the higher class parts of town (lowering the class of those parts of town in the process, often!). A Church may call upon a wealthy Priest or Paladin to help fund construction of a new temple. A King may demand Taxes for the raising of an army or the creation of an Aqueduct. And Taxes are a thing, anyhow, that most DMs don't put onto their players. Spring -that- on them one day when a Tax Collector pounds on their door with a ledger that shows the PC has yet to pay their monthly taxes to the local lord or the distant king, and have them get audited for the wealth they've collected. Sure, they'll probably decide the Taxman is a villain, and you can maybe turn him into one, Sheriff of Nottingham style, but they're still obligated to pay and refusal would be criminal... [B]TL: DR[/B] There's tons of reasons you can give your players to spend their gains. Sometimes those expenditures increase their power, sometimes they're petty abuses -of- that power, and sometimes they should just be expenditures that exist to strip money away from the players to enrich the game world. That Temple might bear the Priest's name, for example. Or have a statue dedicated to the Paladin just inside the door. [/QUOTE]
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