How Have You Spent Excess Gold in Downtime?

[Ilbranteloth]

So given 5E characters have lots of gold but (typically) can't spend it on magic items...

What have your characters been spending their gold on in their downtime? Or want to spend it on?

Beyond lavish parties that is

This thread again...

To start with, all the sorts of things that normal people spend coin on. Their first adventure is like winning the lottery, so they can buy property, homes for their family, horses, wagons or carts. They can be Oprah, “you get a cart! And you get a cart!”

Of course, parties and frivolous spending. Also much (most?) of the treasure is in something other than coins. And big and bulky, and the value varies depending on who you can find to buy it. In a recent tomb they found, it had tapestries, rugs, pottery, weapons, art objects, jewelry, all sorts of things, but very little in the way of coins. Much of it they couldn’t get on the first trip. They had to purchase some carts, mules, and hirelings to get the rest out.

Coming back with lots of wealth also brings all sorts of new “friends” out of the woodwork, new taxes they didn’t know about, and they have been targeted by thieves.

Also, the coins were ancient and no longer in circulation, so they couldn’t be spent. They either had to be sold to a collector ( who only wanted a handful of mint examples) or the money changer. However, they only have value of their weight in gold, and they’ll have to melt them down or sell them to somebody who can, so are probably worth 25-50% of face value.

But most people who gain sudden wealth spend it on consumables and frivolous things along with things they think will be of value and often aren’t (or they overextend, such as too big a house, with servants, etc.). For example, building and maintaining a keep is extremely expensive, and requires multiple adventures. Some will start businesses, often a merchant operation. That requires lots of travel, or partnering with merchants who will. It requires a lot of people, guards, supplies, carts, wagons and animals.

Wizards need a home, laboratory, library, rare ingredients, books and book making materials, etc. a fighter will want better armor, and most will buy far more expensive clothes, armor, weapons, etc. all highly decorated, with gold, silver and gems inlaid in the hilt. Personal jewelry, and all that sort of stuff too.

The real question in my mind is how they have any coin left if they happen to find magic items to buy.

 

[ChaosGenerators]

Lots of cool answers! I'm going to use many as ideas for a Downtime Activity generator

 

[Rhenny]

Unfortunately, I've only run a few campaigns so far, Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle that I ran for 5e and Princes of the Apocalypse (which I'm about 1/2 through). In both cases, the events kind of don't led themselves to downtime...lots of time constraints and chase the bad guys or get stuff done before another bad thing happens. I'm playing in a campaign that went from Lost Mines of Phandelver into the Curse of Strahd, and the same holds true. We don't ever feel like we have downtime to spare. Events in the world happen so quickly our PCs don't want to take time off to let evil thrive.

If I ran a sandbox campaign like I did when I ran my homebrew back in the 3.5e era, I'd definitely take more advantage of downtime.

I just haven't had time or the energy lately to tackle that.

Oh...in one campaign I played in, one of the other PCs could not speak common, so during downtime, my PC taught him some basics. Didn't have to spend money, just time.

 

[Sunseeker]

Land and homes/castles/forts seems to be the big one with my players. It's typically where I go as well.

 

[Zero Cochrane]

Spend excess gold on faster skill training

I expanded the training rules from the Player's Handbook to give the PCs something to spend gold on when they can't buy magic items. Note the limitations I added so it can't get out of hand, as well as the rules for accelerated training that will use up more gp if you want to learn something fast. I did some price comparisions with magic items that work similarly, and I think it balances out well.

Training —
• Training to learn a new language or toolset (including vehicles) costs 250 gp and takes 250 days (1 gp per day). You can do this once for every odd-numbered character level you possess (1st, 3rd, 5th, etc.)
You can teach each other languages for free, but each language takes 250 days to learn.
• Training to learn a new skill or weapon costs 500 gp and takes 250 days (2 gp per day). You can do this once for every even-numbered character level you possess (2nd, 4th, 6th, etc.)
• Training to learn a feat costs 2000 gp and takes 250 days (8 gp per day). You can do this once for every four character levels you possess (4th, 8th, 12th, 16th, 20th).
• You can reduce the number of days training by spending more money. The time is reduced proportionally by the extra money you spend (e.g. double the cost, half the time). The a minimum training time is 5 days of downtime, at 50 times the normal cost.
If training time is split up, keep track of the number of "effective days" of training you have acquired.
Note that this causes the cost per day to be the square of the proportion you are spending (eg: 10 times price for one-tenth training time makes the daily cost 100 times normal).
This increased price reflects the costs of more and better instructors, superior training techniques, tomes of lore, or even some kind of magical help such as special rituals or spiritual aid.

 

[toucanbuzz]

It's not that they can't buy magic items, just that no one is walking around with price tags on their enchanted gear, advertising For Sale. But there are people who sell maps, rumors, and links to magic items. I've done two things concerning gold and magic items: (1) if players "missed" something during an adventure or seem a bit low on useful magic items, I'll let them use their social skills to drum up some leads (for a cost...), and (2) if they've accumulated stuff they can't use (e.g. druid's staff in a non-druid party), I'll do the same to find a middle man who will take a cut of gold to work up an exchange.

Otherwise, I've seen players give to the local orphanage, buy a tavern, donate to their temple, and go on a wild binge with a home-brew expanded carousing table. I also make sure those lead to further encounters.

 

[ChaosGenerators]

I've included many ideas from this thread in an updated Character Downtime Suggestions generator

 

[Satyrn]

I've included many ideas from this thread in an updated Character Downtime Suggestions generator

View attachment 98268

"Build a dungeon in the sewers . . ."

Brilliant!