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Message: <blockquote data-quote="nnms" data-source="post: 5279805" data-attributes="member: 83293">So what's the biggest implication of treasure as a form of experience?Player choice.When character's advance in level, they get a bunch of things they get to choose as well as a universal bump in effectiveness that they don't get to choose.They get o choose feats to modify or grant new abilities.  They get to choose new at-will, encounter or daily powers.  They get to choose stat upgradesBasically at every level there's some sort of choice to be had.*To some players this is sacrosanct.  And they see the abilities, powers, bonuses, etc., that a magic item gives them to be no different than their choice of what encounter to take when they hit level 3.If you want to see evidence of this, go to Wizards of th Coast's online D&D community and start a thread saying that magic items should be up to the DM and players shouldn't feel entitled to choose magic items with rituals or by buying them in a shop.  You'll get jumped on in that thread and accused of being the worst DM ever.They basically see a DM choosing which magic items you get as being exactly the same as one dictating which encounter power you can choose at third level.The CharOp Optimization approach is based on the notion that players have the right to choose their magic items in the same way they have choices over what they get when they level.To others it's less important.  They're alright with whatever they find and don't see magic items as a source of more character development/advancement choices.So when you modify the underlying economy of D&D, restructure how magic items are made, found and/or purchased, you may want to consider what level of choice over character advancement you and your players want for your group.Having started with Moldvay, then BECMI, AD&D, 2E and largely skipping 3.x, I definitely favor the idea of magic items being completely in control of the DM.  To many players, especially those who started in 3.x or 4E this can seem like an utterly alien and unfair approach.*Essentials classes change this a bit.  Some classes get very little in the way of choice.  Like the Knight.  But once again, different players value the amount of choice they get to different degrees.</blockquote>

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