How much to "charge" PCs between adventures? (cost of living)

[Mercurius]

I'm thinking of having a chunk of time pass--a few months, maybe--between our current adventure, which is being DMed by another member of the group, and the next one, which I will be DMing. I was wondering if anyone has a system for what to "charge" PCs in terms of cost of living. I imagine a few different categories that I would ask the players to pick one from with honesty in the spirit of role-playing their character, from "living like a king" to "living frugally" to come up with a GP cost per day.

Any ideas?

 

[Wik]

No idea about the cost, but here's a trick - to encourage people to "live like a king", give them a lifestyle bonus to play. Such as getting extra action points, that last until being spent (ie, they do not disappear after an extended rest).

 

[RangerWickett]

Well, whenever you consider implementing a new house rule, I find it's best to ask yourself why you want to do it, and what it adds to the game. So do the players care what happens between adventures, or would they prefer to just assume that they do odd jobs to cover expenses?

 

[Nightson]

Why assume the don't make any money during their downtime? Plenty of odd jobs to be down around towns, especially for heroes with amazing strength or ability to blast things with magic.

 

[vagabundo]

There used to be a scale from the RPGA about cost of living - unless I'm hallucinating.

It could be a fun exercise, have a chance of catching some nasty disease at the bottom of the scale, for those skinflints...

I doubt it is something that your Players have been asking for; so it is likely just to annoy them. If you think they have too much cash there are other, more interesting, ways of relieving them of their earnings or maybe dont give them so much to begin with.

Anyway it should be turned into a story hook - tax collectors, thieves, kidnappers, banditos, con men, beggars following the characters around. Each one should have their own hook, wealth can attract a lot of attention.

 

[Sanzuo]

Ugh, I always have problems with trying to be "realistic" with PC expenses, especially between adventures. I'd say just make money a moot point and assume they're keeping themselves busy earning their keep. Also, long downtime is a great occasion for the PCs to take care of personal matters and work on long-term projects like their personal strongholds and other things since time isn't a factor.

The problem I always have with long downtime is my PCs panhandling for free XP, they'd argue; "Oh come on! My character isn't just going to sit around the whole time. He's going to get on his horse and ride around the countryside slaying anything that looks funny. He's going to do this 8 hours a day, 7 days a week. Oh don't bother calculating the XP, I'll do it for you. Let's see... 8 hours times 60 minutes... averaging 1 encounter every ten minutes...."

 

[Nebten]

In 3.5 RPGA Living Greyhawk there was a simple cost of living. It covered meals, board, refilling ammo, rations and most mundane things.

It started at 12 gp per week. At 50 gp per week you get +2 to all Cha checks, then at 100 gp per week you got +4 to Cha checks. Of course, those are pretty big swings in 4e for such low low amount of gold (espically at Paragon & Epic tiers). But you asked and thus recieved.

 

[Morrus]

Will charging them really make your game more fun? I guess you know your group whereas I don't, but I can't see a really good reason to do it.

I know some people like to model reality as much as they can with their D&D games; I'm not one of those people and feel accounting should be left a long way from the game table.

But if it really is something you think you and they will enjoy - it really doesn't cost much in GP to live a lavish lifestyle.

What level are they and how much money do they have? If they have thousands of GP, then any non-punitive amount is going to be negligible to them.

I guess the question is - what's the motivation? Do you want them to have less resources when you take over as DM? If so, I guess that's as good a way to do it as any. Or tell 'em they were robbed. Or just say "hey, guys, I want you to ahve less resources for the adventure I have planned - let's work something out."

 

[Hjorimir]

I'm with Morrus on this...where's the fun? Why does it matter? How come these characters with all of their talents can't find a way to sustain themselves (heck, why can't they make a profit)?

 

[delericho]

I've eliminated all currency smaller that gold from my game. It's not that the coins don't exist, it's just that they're not considered worth tracking. So, if the players want something costing less than a gold, they can just have it. They don't need to buy food, (mundane) ammunition, or such like. And, at the same time, any treasure hordes they find including silver are, effectively worthless.

Having done that, I don't charge living expenses - that's considered part of the micro-management that I just can't be bothered with.

(Conversely, you could always rule that they lose all their cash reserves between adventures - too much over-indulgence on ale and whores, too much gambling, too much high living, and too many pick-pockets. It really all depends on what you want to do, and what your players will accept.)