D&D 5E If you aren't buying magic items, where will you spend your gold?
Blackwarder
Adventurer
Traditionally, the king wouldn't be in debt, the money taken is in exchange of royal favors, noble titles, land grants, monopolies etc etc.
The monarchy borrowed money mainly from the great nobles and families, one who already have everything... Just saying.
Might be a fun way to introduce the players to domain play or court intrigues.
Warder
Teataine
Explorer
-Horses and ships and other modes of transport
-Taxes, bribes, payment for servants and hirelings
-Real estate
-Donations and sacrifices for temples and gods
-Better/more equipment
-Royal lifestyle expenses
-Trade goods to be traded for more money
That's the reason people get money. Power, utility and prestige. But if you're getting money as a byproduct of killing monsters and your goal is to kill more monsters then I can see how you could have nothing to spend it on.
-Taxes, bribes, payment for servants and hirelings
-Real estate
-Donations and sacrifices for temples and gods
-Better/more equipment
-Royal lifestyle expenses
-Trade goods to be traded for more money
That's the reason people get money. Power, utility and prestige. But if you're getting money as a byproduct of killing monsters and your goal is to kill more monsters then I can see how you could have nothing to spend it on.
Bayonet
First Post
My character's background is that of an impoverished noble with the goal of returning his family to prominence, so the money's going towards
-Land.
- A manor, castle, mansion, etc.
- Properties for the serfs to work and pay rent.
- Retainers and servants.
- Dowries for sisters, bribes to get his younger brother a position somewhere influential (clergy, government)
- All the lifestyle expenses that come with that life.
Also thinking on buying ships and letters of marque, henchmen, etc.
Depending on your character, there's a lot of interesting things to do, with plot hooks that could come from them. I really like the idea of a Druid buying forest land to protect. Rogues could set up Ponzi schemes. Clerics build temples, warlocks build creepy shrines, etc.
-Land.
- A manor, castle, mansion, etc.
- Properties for the serfs to work and pay rent.
- Retainers and servants.
- Dowries for sisters, bribes to get his younger brother a position somewhere influential (clergy, government)
- All the lifestyle expenses that come with that life.
Also thinking on buying ships and letters of marque, henchmen, etc.
Depending on your character, there's a lot of interesting things to do, with plot hooks that could come from them. I really like the idea of a Druid buying forest land to protect. Rogues could set up Ponzi schemes. Clerics build temples, warlocks build creepy shrines, etc.
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Wednesday Boy
The Nerd WhoFell to Earth
That's true for me in real life!
the Jester
Legend
The realm's debt was one of the causes of the French Revolution. Kings go bankrupt, too.
Grainger
Explorer
If this is an early feudal economy (I realise most games don't have this setting, but it's worth thinking about), then there simply isn't that much money sloshing around. Nobles are generally paid in food (the peasants' harvests) and services. Most peasants hardly have any money at all (they provide their own food and clothing, if there isn't a bad harvest, and housing is granted by their Lord of the Manor). Even the King/Queen doesn't have that much money either, as his/her income comes from a % of the nobles' income (the aforementioned food and services), and from the royal estates, where again, the income comes from goods and services. There'll be a bit more money in the towns, but not that much, as even most townspeople grow their own food, until later centuries when towns increase in size and it becomes more of a cash economy.
You can use this as a reason not to give out much money (and the PCs won't have many problems due to lack of money, because money isn't the be-all of this society). However, if you do allow the PCs to bring back hoards of treasure from the ancient ruins, this could easily make them super-rich, and would possibly wreck the economy or even the entire society, depending on how they spend the money. That's not necessarily a bad thing; it actually makes for a much more interesting game than "spending it on a magic shield" or flipping goggles*.
There wouldn't be that much to buy in such a society, but hiring servants/soldiers/craftsmen/tradesmen would be something they could do. They may quickly become wealthier than most nobles, or even the ruler**, allowing themselves to set up as serious rivals. But they may attract negative attention very quickly - why are they hiring most of the area's skilled builders? Not only is it worrying that they are planning to build a fortress, but they are diverting labour that is needed for the King's castle/ or the Bishop's cathedral. Anger, chaos, trauma, angst and inconvenience ensues.
It all depends on how the campaign is set up, really.
*hilarious call-back to the other thread about magic items.
**in cash terms; the ruler has the fealty of all those armed nobles, knights, and by extension their men-at-arms. "Wealth" in such a society is a bit more nuanced than just cash value. Of course, PCs who an hire large number of mercenaries might find the less loyal nobles defecting to their "noble" cause, and we might have a major civil war in the offing.
You can use this as a reason not to give out much money (and the PCs won't have many problems due to lack of money, because money isn't the be-all of this society). However, if you do allow the PCs to bring back hoards of treasure from the ancient ruins, this could easily make them super-rich, and would possibly wreck the economy or even the entire society, depending on how they spend the money. That's not necessarily a bad thing; it actually makes for a much more interesting game than "spending it on a magic shield" or flipping goggles*.
There wouldn't be that much to buy in such a society, but hiring servants/soldiers/craftsmen/tradesmen would be something they could do. They may quickly become wealthier than most nobles, or even the ruler**, allowing themselves to set up as serious rivals. But they may attract negative attention very quickly - why are they hiring most of the area's skilled builders? Not only is it worrying that they are planning to build a fortress, but they are diverting labour that is needed for the King's castle/ or the Bishop's cathedral. Anger, chaos, trauma, angst and inconvenience ensues.
It all depends on how the campaign is set up, really.
*hilarious call-back to the other thread about magic items.
**in cash terms; the ruler has the fealty of all those armed nobles, knights, and by extension their men-at-arms. "Wealth" in such a society is a bit more nuanced than just cash value. Of course, PCs who an hire large number of mercenaries might find the less loyal nobles defecting to their "noble" cause, and we might have a major civil war in the offing.
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^That is a flat out lie^
Unless there is rampant poverty in a kingdom, most people are making 1gp a day minimum. More if they can muster any kind of savings. If the King/Queen are providing for housing, and the pesantry are providing for food, that's still 1gp per head in the kingdom of effort and expenditure each day. To quote the PHB "Ordinary people living modest lifestyles include soldiers with families, laborers, students, priests, hedge wizards, and the like." Merchants and skilled craftsman actually have a better lifestyle. Gone are the days of peasants only making a silver piece a day.
Magic Items are like any other commodity, there is a demand, if there is a supply then some price should be able to be worked out. To think no one would ever traffic in magic items is more far fetched than the alternative. What exactly happens to all those +1 swords anyway? They get carried off by adventurers and then dropped at the bottom of dungeons? Are they given away by high level adventurers to newbies? If so why isn't every group running around with at least +1 weapons all the time? Clearly there exists some way to MAKE magic items, so people with this skill would not market it? Of course they would.
Also, can you imagine an Eberron setting where magic isn't readily available for purchase? That's basically the basis for their entire economy. Even farming is done with liberal castings of control weather.
Unless there is rampant poverty in a kingdom, most people are making 1gp a day minimum. More if they can muster any kind of savings. If the King/Queen are providing for housing, and the pesantry are providing for food, that's still 1gp per head in the kingdom of effort and expenditure each day. To quote the PHB "Ordinary people living modest lifestyles include soldiers with families, laborers, students, priests, hedge wizards, and the like." Merchants and skilled craftsman actually have a better lifestyle. Gone are the days of peasants only making a silver piece a day.
Magic Items are like any other commodity, there is a demand, if there is a supply then some price should be able to be worked out. To think no one would ever traffic in magic items is more far fetched than the alternative. What exactly happens to all those +1 swords anyway? They get carried off by adventurers and then dropped at the bottom of dungeons? Are they given away by high level adventurers to newbies? If so why isn't every group running around with at least +1 weapons all the time? Clearly there exists some way to MAKE magic items, so people with this skill would not market it? Of course they would.
Also, can you imagine an Eberron setting where magic isn't readily available for purchase? That's basically the basis for their entire economy. Even farming is done with liberal castings of control weather.
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Henrix
Explorer
I'd say almost the reverse, that traditionally kings were heavily in debt to bankers and whoever could lend them money (like rich nobles or foreign kings).
Wars cost tremendous amounts of money that has to come from somewhere, and often fast.
Henry VIII was famously bankrupt, which probably made it more tempting to reform the Church to get their taxes, for instance. (Which also, incidentally goes for the contemporary Swedish king Gustav Vasa. A surprising amount of the reformations were at least partially induced by monetary concerns, which, come to think of it, isn't surprising at all.)
So lending the king money so he can wage his wars is a good way to spend it - not that many have that sort of ready cash.
And when he's heavily in debt you can always try to manoeuvre into his seat instead.
And then you build the enormous tomb filled with traps and guardians to protect your money and treasures.
You have to leave something for the next generation, after all.
Piratecat
Sesquipedalian
Not that this is the focus of this thread, but I can think of lots of reasons that magic item shops aren't realistic.
- Lack of information/communication. You inherited a longsword +1 from your dad, but how do you get it to someone who wants it? How do you get its worth? There's no ebay, the roads are dangerous, and chances are you live in a small village. Matching buyers with sellers becomes a huge stumbling block, in the same way that before ebay it was almost impossible to find quirky rare old items that you wanted to buy.
- Slow turnover. A shop keeper needs a relatively fast item turnover to make money, or needs to pad her margins by a large amount to compensate for slow turnover. Unless you're in a huge city or a place rife with adventurers and easy money, like a boom town, items are going to sit for a long time until they're sold.
- No immediate payoff. No shop owner wants to pay lots of gold up front, then hope an item will sell. A more likely approach are magic item brokers, people who match up buyers and sellers and take a commission.
- Theft. Open up a magic item shop, and you have every thief and poor adventurer panting at your locked-up door. That means you need to pay for security, and GOOD security. Insurance doesn't exist.
Huh. This litany has convinced me to add magic item brokers to my big cities, sly people in the know who match up their customers. No inventory problems, no theft problems, and it solves the problem of matching buyer and seller. Also, it'll take a day to a month to get any given item once it's ordered. Works for me.
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