D&D 5E If you aren't buying magic items, where will you spend your gold?

GameOgre

Adventurer
Another thing...........

I think even in D&D 5E you can buy magic items.

If my player REALLY wants to buy a magic item I am perfectly willing to sell it to him.

Just don't expect to walk into a store and buy one off a rack. Expect to have to hunt around for it and once you find it probably travel a great ways(unless your lucky at in a major city AND it just so happens to be here).

Expect to pay what the seller thinks its worth not some list somewhere.

You will be buying, Thunderheart a sword wielded in a noble family for nine generations until now that the noble house has fallen into destitution and all of its adult age heirs have died is being sold at auction. The mistreated Bastard son of its late leader, a rich and powerful merchant is also in the crowd and has let it be known that anyone bidding against his birthright will make a deadly enemy!

Not you are buying a +2 sword.
 

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Has anyone mentioned scaling back on the gold? If you aren't going to allow purchasing of items or even the creation of items - why not just give out less gold? That way, you won't have people complaining about tons of gold but nothing to spend it on.

I personally think people have gotten entirely too hung up on the way 3rd and 4th edition handled items. There is more to gold than spending it on magical items.

That's how I'm handling it, scaling gold back. My group is going into 2nd level, a total of 25 gold was obtained and no magic items. It's been about the story. I've noticed a lot of people worried about having so much gold and nothing to spend it on. I agree... less gold and more about the adventure with whatever items you have at hand.

Before 5th edition was announced, I was telling my friends how I hated the buying any magic item you wanted ways. I wished we would go back to the wonder of magic items and needing gold to survive and getting just enough to get a horse one day. 5E is everything I hoped for but understand there are some that need to fill the hole of gathering lots of cash and buying super items. I turn on my PS4 for that.
 

77IM

Explorer!!!
Supporter
I think it bears repeating: why is your character raiding dungeons -- an extremely dangerous and oft-unpleasant undertaking -- and then spending the loot on gear to get better at raiding dungeons? Seriously, why?

Once you understand that goal, spend money in pursuit of it. E.g. if you're raiding dungeons because you want to wipe out the monsters who live there, raise an army and launch a crusade against the underdark.
 

Sailor Moon

Banned
Banned
I think it's all about the delivery. Let's use my games for instance. My players don't suddenly wake up one morning and decide to go dungeon delving. If they go into a dungeon, they have a reason to. While in the dungeon they may find gold, from previous adventurers who have died, and possibly a magic item or two, which will have a history all it's own. I don't allow my games to become "Super Dungeon Sweep" where they just look for dungeons to loot. Now I have no problem with exploring ruins and such but what I do have a problem with is they metagame aspect of previous editions where you look for wealth so you can go and cherry pick magic items for your "kewl build".
 

chriton227

Explorer
I think it bears repeating: why is your character raiding dungeons -- an extremely dangerous and oft-unpleasant undertaking -- and then spending the loot on gear to get better at raiding dungeons? Seriously, why?

Because that is the style of game the player likes? Some people play to just have fun playing, not to worry about elaborate character motivations or long term plots. As a player, I enjoy exploration, discovery, and combat far more than intrigue and melodrama. My characters go into dungeons because as a player I like to have my characters kick in doors, kill the monsters, and take their stuff, or find a way to activate the magic portal just to see what is on the other side. There is no unpleasantness because the unpleasantness isn't real. I don't experience the cold damp caves any more than I would experience the days of misery and boredom of long distance travel, and just as many players have no problem hand-waving the travel to get to the good parts, likewise I have no problem hand-waving the cold and dampness of a cave to get to the parts of the game I enjoy.
 

77IM

Explorer!!!
Supporter
Because that is the style of game the player likes? Some people play to just have fun playing, not to worry about elaborate character motivations or long term plots. As a player, I enjoy exploration, discovery, and combat far more than intrigue and melodrama. My characters go into dungeons because as a player I like to have my characters kick in doors, kill the monsters, and take their stuff, or find a way to activate the magic portal just to see what is on the other side. There is no unpleasantness because the unpleasantness isn't real. I don't experience the cold damp caves any more than I would experience the days of misery and boredom of long distance travel, and just as many players have no problem hand-waving the travel to get to the good parts, likewise I have no problem hand-waving the cold and dampness of a cave to get to the parts of the game I enjoy.

That's fair. It sounds like the treasure is very much secondary. In that case, spend your money acquiring treasure maps, chartering vessels, bribing border officials, bribing some of the more trustworthy monsters, hiring sages, hiring porters, hiring "sonic trapfinders" ("AAAAAAAIIIIIEEEEE!!!!!!" "...I think he found a trap"), and similar things that increase your opportunity for exploration, discovery, and combat. Heck, it never hurts to donate to the temple in advance for when your allies drag your spike-perforated corpse back from the dungeon. ;}
 





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