D&D 5E Is there too much gold/reward?

[NotActuallyTim]

http://www.critical-hits.com/blog/2016/03/15/youre-gonna-carry-that-weight/

Goblins 4 gold hauling!

 

[ExploderWizard]

A lot of newer players laugh when I say that in AD&D that gold has a 1:1 value in XP. Gygax wasn't stupid. He knew thats how you make gold important.

Yep. You can also up the ratio of XP per gold and drastically reduce the amount of it laying around. My plan (tentatively) is to award 5 XP per 1 gp value found for treasure. That way treasure is always desired and the amount of it can be kept relatively small without slowing level progression to a crawl.

 

[Jester David]

You know I think that might actually be the big rub between systems, and the general stretching pains from switching.

5e Expects career adventurers who only retire when they are physically not up to the task, or when they just get enough gold to retire.

3.PF/4e Expects "once in a lifetime adventures" your off to save the world and the journeys over when its saved... Well when the worlds saved and you've finished your personal quest. Quest over, Que epilogue cards, Roll credits.

Both work well enough. It's just 5e's style has not really been part of the popular conception for a good while now.

I'd argue that 5e permits both: you can adventure for money or to complete a larger quest. Because there are no assumptions it's more flexible.
But in the case of the world saving latter, you don't even need to care about loot or shopping, and don't have to stop saving the world to spend a week crafting, sell treasure, or buy magic items that are curiously still market price despite the world ending.

 

[Kite474]

I'd argue that 5e permits both: you can adventure for money or to complete a larger quest. Because there are no assumptions it's more flexible.
But in the case of the world saving latter, you don't even need to care about loot or shopping, and don't have to stop saving the world to spend a week crafting, sell treasure, or buy magic items that are curiously still market price despite the world ending.

Eh fair enough. For me it just felt like theirs no real since of advancement unless you insert said shopping, and hey its fun, Its also like...70% of shadowruns enjoyment.

 

[Edwin Suijkerbuijk]

Wel you need to think about your retirement fund.
If adventurers are like pro athletes their productive career ends at about 40, meaning you have to take 40 to 60 years of retirement in mind.

lets look at the cost for 40 years of retirement
Modest 14600
Comfortable 29200
Wealthy 58400
Aristocratic 146000

And those are the costs of maintaining a lifestyle, not the initial cost of setting you up at that life style.

 

[Al2O3]

Wel you need to think about your retirement fund.
If adventurers are like pro athletes their productive career ends at about 40, meaning you have to take 40 to 60 years of retirement in mind.

lets look at the cost for 40 years of retirement
Modest 14600
Comfortable 29200
Wealthy 58400
Aristocratic 146000

And those are the costs of maintaining a lifestyle, not the initial cost of setting you up at that life style.

And that's for humans. Now imagine the needed retirement fund of an elf (e.g. Wood elf druid with slower ageing).

 

[Ancalagon]

I wrote a little guide on what is "reasonable" for a city/village/etc to offer as a reward, it is a bit relevant for this thread: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...ewards-for-PC-calculated-on-village-city-size

 

[devincutler]

The fact is that compared with 3e, there is just not enough to spend things on for the PCs. It's not that there is too much gold per se, it is that the PCs accumulate it without spending it. I think, in some sense this is a misnomer. Yes, when a fighter gets plate armour he is basically done, unless you re-magic shoppe 5th edition (not something I would ever recommend...you know...I have been running 5e for 5 months now and I still have to tell my players EVERY SESSION that aside from common potions and 1st level spell scrolls, there is NO MAGIC FOR SALE...they just can't get their heads wrapped around the concept!), he's got nothing crunchy to spend on.

Spellcasters are in a different situations, as there are a fair number of higher level spells that cost a lot to cast (stoneskin comes immediately to mind, but I know I saw a spell last night that costs 1,000 gp each time you cast it).

But even so, yes, the PCs will have a hard time spending their gp on crunchiness if you use the treasure guidelines in the books or as presented in the official modules.

But that problem also goes away if you are running a full campaign as opposed to one of these "adventure path" type modules. Let's face it, the APs don't really allow the PCs to spend gold on things like castles and trade ventures, et al. In fact, they take place over such a short period of time that even daily living costs don't add up to much.

In a full fledged campaign, however, I think a DM who has caused his players to become invested in the game world can find plenty of things for them to spend their money on.

Also, I wonder if the variant rules for spending time and money to level up will hep significantly in reducing gold flourish?

 

[Psikerlord#]

The fact is that compared with 3e, there is just not enough to spend things on for the PCs. It's not that there is too much gold per se, it is that the PCs accumulate it without spending it. I think, in some sense this is a misnomer. Yes, when a fighter gets plate armour he is basically done, unless you re-magic shoppe 5th edition (not something I would ever recommend...you know...I have been running 5e for 5 months now and I still have to tell my players EVERY SESSION that aside from common potions and 1st level spell scrolls, there is NO MAGIC FOR SALE...they just can't get their heads wrapped around the concept!), he's got nothing crunchy to spend on.

Spellcasters are in a different situations, as there are a fair number of higher level spells that cost a lot to cast (stoneskin comes immediately to mind, but I know I saw a spell last night that costs 1,000 gp each time you cast it).

But even so, yes, the PCs will have a hard time spending their gp on crunchiness if you use the treasure guidelines in the books or as presented in the official modules.

But that problem also goes away if you are running a full campaign as opposed to one of these "adventure path" type modules. Let's face it, the APs don't really allow the PCs to spend gold on things like castles and trade ventures, et al. In fact, they take place over such a short period of time that even daily living costs don't add up to much.

In a full fledged campaign, however, I think a DM who has caused his players to become invested in the game world can find plenty of things for them to spend their money on.

Also, I wonder if the variant rules for spending time and money to level up will hep significantly in reducing gold flourish?

Yeah there's probably some truth to the idea that AP's make gold less important. Another reason not to use AP's! Sandboxes for everyone! ;D

 

[Sunseeker]

Yeah there's probably some truth to the idea that AP's make gold less important. Another reason not to use AP's! Sandboxes for everyone! ;D

My players are thoroughly interested in building towns and castles. I can't wait till I show them how much that costs!