Money is power, literally.

[Rvdvelden]

I'd say this would quickly to turn into "D&D: the investment game! Don't be a hero, be an investor and make as much profit as quickly as possible, you'll be a god in no time."

 

[Ilium]

Hmm...

If you really wanted this to work, you'd need a game-mechanic definition of "own". No saying "All I see is mine." Your wealth has to be recognized by society in some way. Maybe rather than keeping your money out of the bank, you have to put it IN. The banks are run by The Church (which re-invests the money for its own purposes, just like a modern bank). Your bank account determines your "blessings" and thus your power level. So if you take money out to make a magic item, you become personally less powerful.

This is a big boost to characters with crafting feats, since they spend less gold for items, and presumably wouldn't have to spend XP to craft?

 

[RangerWickett]

I dunno. I kinda want to use this to explain where the first gods came from. They were just the first people to make grandiose claims about what was theirs, and then get society to accept the value of their possessions.

Maybe the rules have changed over time, because society has changed, but if this premise existed from primordial days, the world would look very, very different.

Hm. Then there's the question of why it takes some people, like, 3 times as much money to get to the same power level? Are the gods biased against PCs?

 

[Ilium]

I dunno. I kinda want to use this to explain where the first gods came from. They were just the first people to make grandiose claims about what was theirs, and then get society to accept the value of their possessions.

Maybe the rules have changed over time, because society has changed, but if this premise existed from primordial days, the world would look very, very different.

Well if I became a god by this method, the first thing I'd do is make sure I didn't have too much competition, by changing the rules. So the gods set up The Church to control what is recognized as wealth. Anybody whose account gets too big might get a visit from some extraordinarily tough accountants (i.e. powerful outsiders like Astral Devas or something) to either get rid of them or make sure they're the "right sort" to join the pantheon.

 

[Piratecat]

Loans wouldn't work; if you have borrowed money, you don't own it.

In this system, the rich gain vast power, and they can use that power to become richer. It would be exceptionally difficult to dethrone an incredibly rich, vastly powerful merchant. But there's a tremendously fun scam involved with cheating one out of enough cash that he drops levels, putting him in your range to beat on!

 

[Simplicity]

I think I see where you're going, but I think your terminology is a bit off. It's not your wealth that determines your power then... Its the value of what you have. Value not necessarily being monetary value (but of course money has a very easily quanitfiable value).

So, really kidnapping would be an interesting method of gaining power.

"Dear Sir, I kidnapped your son. Bet he's worth a lot to you, huh? Sorry, I'll be keeping him. -- Villain"


A pregnant woman might be quite a force to be reckoned with.

Vassalage might be more than just a trading of wealth, but an understanding of what a liege owns (and thus how powerful he is).

 

[Slife]

Slavery. No chance to escape it. The overlord is powerful beyond reckoning, and all of his slaves are powerless.

No chance of revolt.

 

[Croesus]

I dunno. I kinda want to use this to explain where the first gods came from. They were just the first people to make grandiose claims about what was theirs, and then get society to accept the value of their possessions.

Maybe the rules have changed over time, because society has changed, but if this premise existed from primordial days, the world would look very, very different.

Hm. Then there's the question of why it takes some people, like, 3 times as much money to get to the same power level? Are the gods biased against PCs?

This thread so reminds me of the WOTC thread about dungeons as living creatures. Lot's of fun, in a silly way (no offense intended).

Ok, let's assume that all things have innate power that intelligent beings can bind to themselves and draw upon. Binding is not easy, so a relatively weak individual trying to bind the equivalent of 10M gp would rip his body apart. This forces creatures to acquire power over time. Once bound, so long as the "owner" is alive, it's very difficult, but not impossible, to unbind it. Such bound wealth does not have to be in the owner's possession, not even on the same plane. Such wealth can be stolen, but it's not easy and likely to get the thief killed. (no pain, no gain...)

The power inherent in things varies somewhat due to perception - the more beings who value something, the more power it holds and its owner can draw upon. This would explain why one year beany babies are the source of great power, the next they're nearly worthless. In more mundane fashion, it explains how a jeweler can increase the power of a gem by cutting it and placing it in a beautiful silver circlet.

You could rule that the gods simply got here first and bound just about everything to themselves. The Nature goddess bound mostly flora and fauna, the Sea god bound most bodies of water, etc. A slightly different take is that the gods figured out how to draw upon the power of their followers. The more power their followers bind, the more the gods can draw upon. So the gods don't fight directly - they fight for followers.

(In fact, you could rule that the "power" inherent within the things that can be bound is in fact the power of the gods themselves. The followers are just a mechanism for distributing that power amongst the gods.)

That's all I can think of so far. Interesting thread...

Another thought - the reason some creatures have more trouble gaining power is simply that they have more difficulty binding things.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

For people, it's silly. But what about for dragons? That would explain dragons' hoards quite nicely I think.

 

[Slife]

For people, it's silly. But what about for dragons? That would explain dragons' hoards quite nicely I think.

There's some dragon sourcebook where a dragon who amasses enough of a hoard can eat it all and ascend to demigodhood. Dragon Magic, maybe?