Mathew_Freeman
First Post
hong said:
Kill the paradigm, subvert it's thing! Take the stuff!
How will PC's make money in your world
Kill the paradigm, subvert it's thing! Take the stuff!
drjones said:
No time for love, Dr. Jones!
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The acquisition of wealth is probably the primary quest of any of my players; we all have the old mindset of adventure=money=power=keep=country=king.
That being said, the very *last* way they'd think of doing that is through some old boring Profession skill, unless that's Profession (Coin-minting) and they've managed to steal the coin-stamps from a far away land.
Diplomacy, Bluff, and Thievery, along with BAB, are the money-making skills in DND.
That being said, everyone's always had a background skill; I had a wizard with Prof(Sailor) once. If 4E doesn't have anything along those lines, we'll just write it in - I've attempted to model the output of a small mining operation and having the Profession rules to help work things like that out is always a bonus.
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nothing to see here
First Post
invokethehojo said:
This I don't get. Profession-type skills have not been BANNED from the game. They simply don't count when it comes to allocating resources when building and advancing a PC.
In 3.X a PC was forced to choose between flavorful skill options (like profession) versus skills that actually made a difference in combat. Optimizers gleefully ignored such choices, leaving 'flavor-characters' at a disadvantage for trying to do something distinct.
4.E recognizes this conundrum and fixes ut -- now all hard 'core' character building options arerelevant to combat. But there is no reason that if you want to make your character a high-quality chef -- you simply tell your DM that -- they jot 'chef' down as a BONUS skill on your character sheet and you subsequently make all 'chef' related checks as if you were trained in that skill.
That's how I will handle it. As long as the player can justify a non-combat related skill in the backstory of their character and as long as they do not consistently try to abuse by twisting it in combat-focussed directions-- we will just add an extra 'flavour' skill or two to each character's sheets. Everyone gets the character they want to play and overall 'balance' (i.e. combat) is not impacted one bit.
skeptic said:
I'd take it even farther - why force the character to make a check at all? If I have a player who has a background that says he learned to cook because his parents owned an inn, I'm not going to make him make a "Profession (Chef)" roll when he tries to cook something. I might, since the system seems flexible enough, give him a +2 bonus or so if he works up a way to use that background element in a particular adventure - like if he decides to tackle a particular skill challenge by bribing the guards with a selection of homemade baked goods - but I doubt that I'd go as far as to make it a "skill" for the character unless it was going to be impacting play all of the time.
Now, if my PCs were all apprentices in Kitchen Stadium and every week they had to prove their mettle in a galidatorial cooking contest TO THE DEATH, I might come up with a "Cooking" skill. Or I might find another set of rules to use for that particular game. Or I might completely rework the game so that the classes were oriented around cooking techniques instead of combat roles. But most of all I'd definitely wonder if some Skrulls or something had replaced my players, because that sure doesn't sound like something they'd do...
Oh - back to the original question. Since there doesn't seem to be a built in "roll this skill every week to make money" skill the way Profession was supposed to work in 3e, I'd say you go back to the old way of figuring out how PCs get money - they have to find a job, negotiate for the pay, do the job and get their employer to pay them for it. Same as it ever was (and a familiar cycle to anyone who's ever done work as a "contractor"...)
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I've never been fond of the kill the monster, get it's loot mantra either. In my world, the PCs are mainly supported by the townsfolk themselves. First, it really doesn't cost THAT much to get a room for the night and some food as my game world economy assumes a lot less money is floating around. Second, in my world the PCs are "saving the world," not being professional monster hunters and looters. Because of this, they gain allies and friends amongst both the commoners and the nobility. The PCs are the heroes. They become well known if not famous. And just like if Brad Pitt came to town he'd have a bunch of offers of free food and lodging, so to do the PCs. Also consider how much a local inn or tavern would PAY to have someone famous stay there -- especially if the person was famous for protecting the land (and this inn) from the horrors of the world.
nothing to see here
First Post
skeptic said:
I disagree. Not every character sheet is completely optimized for winning combats and earning experience. Some players like a character sheet to reflect a PC's non-combat aspects as well. What they shouldn't have to do is nerf their own character's combat effectiveness in order to pursue such an option.
