"item exp" (stolen from another thread here) help

[saethone]

Hey all...I'm making a D&D campaign set in a very economically poor world, but I don't want the PCs to be underpowered so I'm going to skim a certain amount of gold/drops off encounters after i roll them normally, and distribute their GP value as "item exp" that can be used to enhance their items as they level (throw a +1 on here, fiery enchantment there...i have a valid explanation in roleplay terms as to how it works..but thats not important here)


what I want to know, is how much is too much? i'd like for it to be tough for them to afford necessities, but possible...they'd have very limited spending money for things like fancy robes or the best meals available at a tavern until they were mid-level (campaign starts at lvl 2, I figure they'll have enough cash to dress extravigantly by level 10ish)

 

[Jack Simth]

Figure out about what your player's opponents would have in this world; that of orc warrior would (out of the box) have studded leather armor and a falchion, maybe some rations, a winter blanket, and three javalins. So that one orc had a specific treasure value of about 25 (armor)+ 3 gp (3 javalins) + 75 gp (falchion) + 0.5 gp (winter blanket) + 2 gp (four days trail rations) for a total physical treasure value of 105.5 gp.

Mind you, for a poor world, you can downgrade - so that's leather armor (10 gp) and a battleaxe (10 gp) rather than studded leather and a falchion; 25.5 gp total value. Selling for half nets them 12.75 gp per orc warrior (11.75, if they keep the rations for eating....).

Course, that much difference probably reduces his CR.....

Depends on flavor, really; you could give them no treasure at all, and make certain everyone takes ranks in Survival.....

 

[Sledge]

is there going to be a reduction is the difficulty of enemies?
if not then give them enough item xp to keep them at 80-90% of standard wealth.

 

[saethone]

thanks, thats basically what i was going to do

the way i'm planning it is, sure the orc warriors all have studded leather and battle axes..but whos going to buy all those? they'd have to go through troublesome work to sell it rather than just unload at the local armorsmiths like usual

also i'd cut alot of gems/art/magic drops/coins out of 'treasure hoards' or whatever

 

[Angel Tarragon]

The cheap (free) answer: Item Familiars

The other answer: Complete Book of Eldritch Might - written by Monte Cook, this has an interesting system for creating and invest personal energies into intelligent magic items.