Help controlling player wealth

[Ridley's Cohort]

I am trying to run a by the book campaign. But no matter what I do it seems like the amount of gear they carry gets way out of kilter compared to the DMG guidelines for wealth at their character level.

I think the root of the problem is that they scoop up the wealth fallen of PCs -- the ones the players have give up on when they decide to try something else after dying. Fair enough. Who wants to stop someone from trying something new after 3 or 4 deaths?

When these new characters come in they need to have level appropriate gear. They can't show up in a bar wanting to adventure naked.

Take a run of the mill 9th level character. 36k in wealth. Raise a him a few times, regenerate a limb, cure insanity, then give up on him. Even after all those costs it is a net inflow of cash into the party that rapidly adds up. Repeat this a few dozens of times and what do you have? A very, very wealthy party!

They are high enough level with so much magic that it is difficult to prevent them from successfully recovering the bodies of fallen comrades. Fireballing the fallen bodies every combat seems a little gamey.

Maybe I should just Disjunction their ass?

 

[LondonReign]

Could you simply reduce the amount of *new* gear you hand out in treasure hordes by the same amount they scavange from dead PCs?

 

[jmichels]

I had a player that kept changing his PC over and over. What I did was have his new guy enter with no treasure. One was a rescued Kuo-Toan sacrifice and the other was an escaped slave. Each time the party had to give him some of their old stuff and sell the dead PCs gear to properly outfit him. It worked well to keep the party's wealth even. It also made the player think ahead about whether he should abandon a PC or not.

 

[shilsen]

Could you simply reduce the amount of *new* gear you hand out in treasure hordes by the same amount they scavange from dead PCs?

That's a nice simple solution. Also, use all the various resources in the game for affecting equipment (sunder, for one) rather than its users. I usually keep my PCs at a level of wealth one higher than recommended in the DMG for their level. Not only does that make them feel wealthy, it allows me to affect their equipment without feeling that they are being rendered too weak.

 

[Mark]

Could you simply reduce the amount of *new* gear you hand out in treasure hordes by the same amount they scavange from dead PCs?

It would seem that simple, wouldn't it?

 

[Storyteller01]

Convert the opponents wealth to things they value (gems, forgein coin, etc). Then opt with 'okay, how do you convert it to gold? Who has that much gold/treasure to give you?'

As for the character death/treasure grab, find out who in the village wants to bury the character with their gear. "It's the honorable thing for this honorable person." difficukt to say "Ummm, it was left behind..." when armor usually doesn't fall off. If they go digging him up later, work on the 'village hates pillagers' angle.

 

[Arkhandus]

Aye, use a combination of these and other suggestions.

When a PC is abandoned (whether dead or just retired), if the other PCs are going to recover his/her gear, reduce the amount of treasure they get afterward; maybe they just end up facing several treasureless critters for a bit (i.e. animals, vermin, oozes that don't carry junk in their bodies, elementals, plants, incorporeal undead).

Maybe the ghost/wraith/spectre/allip/whatever of the dead PC decides to haunt them once they start taking his stuff rather than burying it with him, or rather than returning it to his family? Then they have to put him to rest somehow (and maybe he's a powerful spectre or whatnot that they can't just beat down), like, say, by returning his former possessions to his family whom the items rightly belong to? Not like the player was going to keep the PC anyway, and by letting him stay dead, he's no longer got any say as to whether or not the spirit of the character decides, as an NPC, to have a strong desire to see his personal belongings returned properly to his family or perhaps buried with his corpse.

Also, regardless of this, you may want to have an occasional opponent try sundering the PCs weapons and such, so they have to expend their spare resources on replacing stuff rather than just selling the old PC's junk to buy themselves better gear (or rather than just using the old PC's junk to boost their power currently). Maybe have an enemy cast Disjunction on one or two of them at some point, but only do it once or twice, as Disjunction can be a terribly frustrating spell for players.

And as mentioned by others, it's possible that a new PC may come in without any gear, due to just escaping capture by some nasty enemies, or due to just being robbed, or perhaps having just been raised/resurrected and having to leave all but his clothes and a mundane weapon with the priests in payment. Maybe the new PC has valuable information to the current PCs though, so they have a reason to take him with them and equip him. Maybe his gear is still in the hoard or whatever of the folks/monsters/whatever that he just escaped, so he may be able to recover them with the party's help (but counting that gear as part of the normally alloted treasure of the enemies), and perhaps those enemies are ones whom the PCs have a grudge against, or have good reason to attack. Or maybe they have to recover/steal some item or piece of lore that the PCs need, and so they take the new PC along with, equipping him for the moment with the caveat that he return the stuff to them once they help him recover his own gear from the enemy while they raid.

 

[Arkhandus]

Oh, or.......you could have the vast majority of some enemies' wealth be in copper coins and big, heavy things that aren't very valuable (i.e. lumber, the value of a mine, the value of a fortified home, or whatever), which the PCs can't really take with them, and can't really find a buyer for in any reasonable timeframe.

 

[Steel_Wind]

I solve it by hardly giving any money and not allowing magic to be bought and sold.

They spend their wealth on horses; usually I kill the horses to give them something to aim for again.

It works out reasonably well so far.

Party of six barely has 350 GP between them.

 

[Vraille Darkfang]

My PC"s are ALWAYS way above the wealth guidelines. But, I know this and judge accordingly. Mainly be throwing things several CR above what they copuld normally handle, but only give them the XP for the lower CR.

But, ways to rid PC's of wealth wihtout being a rat bastard. (Note sundering their stuff once is OK, after the 15th time you do it....Don't hold me responsible for being duct-taped to a stop sign).

Cash is the easiest thing to get rid of. Ruined keep to fix up. Ailing monarch who needs cash to maintain his kingdom. Church needs tithe, etc...

But, I think what you're worried about is "Equipment Caching"

1. Old character dies, why should the PC"s get all his stuff. The PC has no family, wife, parents etc to which his belongings should go. Make each PC write out a Last Will. Admittadly, teh Power Gamers will sau something like "Bob my back-up guy gets everything".

2. Good Followers. I know the DMG says you have to take Leadership to get them, but. If you are a 15th level orc barbarian, You got orcs following you. If they have an entourage, outdated items will be passed down rather than sold to Buff Up the rest of the party.

3. Uncle Sam. Tax Time Baby! Once a year, local King, President, Despot, Duke, Whatever asks for his share. They can pay or fight as they will. Of course being ruled enemies of the state might cramp their style or give them bragging rights.