Realistically...
No, I don't adjust to make it easier for the party.
29,000 is a lot; perhaps on the extreme edge. But that giant represents a hazard that has *probably* killed 1,000 or more peasants, each with an average of 29 sp in his purse.
The D&D rules are based on a "silver piece standard", meaning that most transactions are geared around prices in silver pieces in the normal economy. Sometimes the treasure handed out is designed in such a way that the party has to *choose* whether it is worth carrying it all around. Some parties might choose to bury all or some of such a bulky hoard, using it as an emergency fund. This is especially good when it is all in silver pieces.
Consider this... the US Mint says that the $20 bill is the most commonly used bill. Think about how often the average worker sees a $100 bill. It usually stands out as an unusual event. That's how gold coins work in D&D.
The treasure tables are designed to dispense more silver than anything else, because that is the most commonly used denomination. They are a nice, quick solution and work well, especially when the DM wants to focus on the adventure and not too much on economics.
Now, an *evil* DM would see the PCs coming into town with 29,000 silver pieces and see an opportunity. If the PCs start spending cash that is a significant portion of the "total cash" in the community, the local economy can become seriously skewed. This is mentioned in the DMG (Chapter 6: World Building, p.156), if the party starts pumping a lot more cash into the local economy... there could be reprecussions. Naturally, this is more of an issue in smaller communities.
Most people trade in goods (this is mentioned, PH, p.96), swapping chickens for nails, or pigs for firewood, and so on. If the adventurers buy up a big chunk of the local supplies, they may find that their cash is not accepted. Picture a local farmer "Can't put silver in m' fireplace... chop me some firewood, sonny, then we'll talk."
Take a large town, with a 3,000 gp limit. That 29,000 silver pieces is equivalent to being able to walk into a modern large town and purchase, in cash, the one Ferrari that the local car dealer keeps as a showpiece.
Personally, I don't use the tables. I prefer to tailor my treasures, and I make use of commoddities. Instead of giving the PCs 30 gp, I might give them 30 gp worth of sheep and cattle. This was especially true in an adventure where the PCs chased some Orcs who had been raiding the nearby farms. The farmers did not have coins; they had sheep, pigs, and cattle. So that's what the PCs found in the Orc camp on the mountainside.
Of course, then the Dwarf made a big fire and roasted a pig. It was tasty (good Profession (Cook) check), but it looked to the people in the valley below like the Orcs were signalling for an all-out assault. *That* did not go over well.
No, I don't adjust to make it easier for the party.
29,000 is a lot; perhaps on the extreme edge. But that giant represents a hazard that has *probably* killed 1,000 or more peasants, each with an average of 29 sp in his purse.
The D&D rules are based on a "silver piece standard", meaning that most transactions are geared around prices in silver pieces in the normal economy. Sometimes the treasure handed out is designed in such a way that the party has to *choose* whether it is worth carrying it all around. Some parties might choose to bury all or some of such a bulky hoard, using it as an emergency fund. This is especially good when it is all in silver pieces.
Consider this... the US Mint says that the $20 bill is the most commonly used bill. Think about how often the average worker sees a $100 bill. It usually stands out as an unusual event. That's how gold coins work in D&D.
The treasure tables are designed to dispense more silver than anything else, because that is the most commonly used denomination.
They are a nice, quick solution and work well, especially when the DM wants to focus on the adventure and not too much on economics. Now, an *evil* DM would see the PCs coming into town with 29,000 silver pieces and see an opportunity. If the PCs start spending cash that is a significant portion of the "total cash" in the community, the local economy can become seriously skewed. This is mentioned in the DMG (Chapter 6: World Building, p.156), if the party starts pumping a lot more cash into the local economy... there could be reprecussions. Naturally, this is more of an issue in smaller communities.
Most people trade in goods (this is mentioned, PH, p.96), swapping chickens for nails, or pigs for firewood, and so on. If the adventurers buy up a big chunk of the local supplies, they may find that their cash is not accepted. Picture a local farmer "Can't put silver in m' fireplace... chop me some firewood, sonny, then we'll talk."
Take a large town, with a 3,000 gp limit. That 29,000 silver pieces is equivalent to being able to walk into a modern large town and purchase, in cash, the one Ferrari that the local car dealer keeps as a showpiece.
Personally, I don't use the tables. I prefer to tailor my treasures, and I make use of commoddities. Instead of giving the PCs 30 gp, I might give them 30 gp worth of sheep and cattle. This was especially true in an adventure where the PCs chased some Orcs who had been raiding the nearby farms. The farmers did not have coins; they had sheep, pigs, and cattle. So that's what the PCs found in the Orc camp on the mountainside.
Of course, then the Dwarf made a big fire and roasted a pig. It was tasty (good Profession (Cook) check), but it looked to the people in the valley below like the Orcs were signalling for an all-out assault. *That* did not go over well.
