How do the Wealth Guidelines affect your style of play?

[The Shaman]

I don't use the Wealth guidelines. Rewards are whatever my experience tells me is appropriate to the adventure, as are challenges and hazards.

 

[FireLance]

In a way, I strictly enforce the wealth guidelines, and I find that this has simplified my style of play. My house rule is that every time a character gains a level, his equipment refreshes to the standard wealth guidelines for his new level. 1st-level characters start out with 300 gp worth of equipment, and when they reach 2nd level, they replace their existing gear with 900 gp of new stuff. The player may justify this in any manner he pleases: perhaps a relative gives him a gift, or he has unlocked new abilities of an existing item, or he earns a reward of some kind. The standard handwave is that the characters belongs to organizations that supplies them with gear appropriate to their level.

What I like about this system:
1. I don't have to worry about putting too much or too little treasure into the adventure.
2. The players have much better control over their characters, and I don't have to second-guess what cool stuff they actually want.
3. The players are more inclined to use charged and one-shot items instead of hoarding them.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

I actually try to stay pretty close to the guidelines. I think my GMing style is "Moderation" and I try to give everybody the kind of gaming experience they're looking for. Some people get hot and bothered about finding treasure and selling it and getting an enchanted sword comissioned. Some people get hot and bothered about role playing dramatic situations between their characters and NPCs ... I try to cater to both types on trips into town, etc etc.

I use a piece of software called DMGenie to run my D&D games, where I keep everyone's PCs recorded (the better to roll secret Will saves, my dear) and I occassionally do an audit to see if the PCs are horribly behind or getting too MUCH treasure. I usually find that it's an err on the side of too little loot and I'll make sure to give a little more goody in the next outing, etc.

This is also important because of how I handle PC deaths. Alot of people would rather retire a PC than come back a level behind, and alot of people start to get bored with a PC or concept after a while and like a change of pace. So I allow players to bring in new PCs at the average party level and I give them full wealth for the PC, with some rules on aquiring goods and whatnot. This is with the understanding that all of the dead PCs go out "with their boots on" and all of their worldly goods are transfered to the next of kin, or used to raise that PC as an NPC or whatever ... not divvied up amongst the remaining group.

--fje

 

[The Grackle]

I don't really pay attention to the wealth guidelines for how much treasure, mundane equipment, real estate, livestock, artwork, or whatever else the PCs accumulate. I prefer to control things by limiting the availability of magic items to buy and sell. As long as their equipment is around what it should be for their level, I don't sweat it.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

I don't like the extent to which wealth and items can come to define characters, so I tend to run very sparsely equiped adventures, but compensate with a high point buy for stats and other bonuses to personal power. I let players know this preference at the onset of character planning, so no one gets in the mindset of "well, I'll undercut my archer on strength since I can pick up the Belt or Gauntlets and still use a mighty composite longbow...."

 

[shilsen]

I find utilizing the wealth guidelines quite useful. In general, I keep my parties about as rich as one level higher on the wealth guideline table. Not only does this make them happy, but it lets me have eventualities in the game where wealth/equipment is lost in various ways (theft, sunder, rust monsters, etc.) without fearing that equipment-dependent PCs will become useless for a sustained period of time.

 

[Buttercup]

I don't pay any attention to them. I've given low level PCs a bunch of money, and conversely I've given higher level PCs very little at all.

My players are currently 4th level, and among the 5 of them they have a bag of holding & a Handy Haversack, two returning daggers, a defective wand of magic missiles with unknown charges remaining, a magic shield, some healing potions, some gems and some small amount of gold. Oh, and they've got a wagon full of strange things like satin pillows, poofy silk blankets and a bunch of trashy romance novels with titles like The Buxom Barmaid and Wild, Wicked Washerwomen.

 

[Steel_Wind]

I ignore them. I am very comfortable with that.

That's a big Ten-Four rubber duck.

I ignore them too. If my party is under powered in terms of magic items and healing resources, they are overpowered in terms of DC of the PC wizard's spells, action points and the fact that my players know how to use AoO, flanking and tumble very, very well.

Gold is like magic. It needs to be in a reduced supply to mean anything.

I let the party find 550 gp to the party last night. First serious monetary reward in 7 or 8 advantures at least. Their eyes lit up.

Most "Gems and Specie" rewards for my players are modest, 15 gp here, 19 silver there. Keep the gold down and put it where it makes sense for it to be found. Not every encounter. Every 3 to 4 sessions should do it.

Rich merchants, lords of substantil lands with a large tax base. These guys have money.

Critters in a dungeon? Not from the run of the mill types. They have pocket chance. BBEG's? - perhaps.

 

[HeavyG]

The main effect of the wealth guideline on our games is to induce complaining on the players' part when they don't have as much wealth as the guidelines say.

This happens whether I'm DMing or playing, strangely.

 

[Romnipotent]

"You find an invaluable sword"
"We hawk it for 250gil..."