Money Issues

[Lanefan]

Obviously, if you're getting xp for treasure, the DM needs to drop a lot of treasure.

Er...no she doesn't, if she wants to keep the pace of level advancement reasonable in her game. But it provides an excellent mechanic to control said pacing if so desired.

That can be draining through maintenance and training costs...

Training to level up is a key element here - particularly in a 3e-4e style system (as written) where you bump pretty much every adventure and sometimes more than once.

Personally, I prefer an easy come, easy go type of system; where a party comes back to town laden with wealth and magic but then has to turn around and blow a fair bit of it on training and other expenses. By the same token I also prefer magic items to be breakable, with the benefit being I as DM get to give out a lot of funky toys safe in the knowledge that not all of them will last very long.

Lanefan

 

[Texicles]

I'm seeing merit in both sides of everything on the currency subject, and am left completely unsure what the best answer is.

Option 1: Gold is just for social(ish) things ("beer'n'ores," trade, land, castles, hirelings).

Pros: A good set of guidelines/good DM, can make this into a meaningful set of benefits, especially in terms of social interaction within an area of the campaign. There's also some benefits in that wise investments can help pay for adventuring overhead and hirelings can help out with combat and such.​

Cons: A lack of guidelines/DM interest could mean that these rewards aren't really present or compelling. A lack of player interest in these things leaves them with no tangible benefit to getting/spending gold.​

Option 2: Gold is for "training."

Pros: A powerful "training" system would be easy to implement and provide tangible/desirable rewards for players spending gold. Training also has the potential to differentiate from level-up type benefits.​

Cons: This could easily become just a clone of buying magical items, in that, if the rewards are too powerful, players will feel compelled to get them and DMs will have to either make things harder or limit gold acquisition.​

Option 3: XP for GP.

Pros: This provides a tangible/desirable reward, with nice possible variations like requiring that you spend gold to get the XP. It also incentivizes players to look for non-combat methods of gold acquisition that may be easier or better than killing everything in sight to level up.​

Cons: In conjunction with XP from killing and questing, this becomes a tricky problem to balance, as DMs would have 2 rewards that essentially do the same thing and the speed of advancement depends on the flow of both, which depends on players actions. If this were to be the standalone method of XP acquisition, then some players might be compelled to seek out ways to gain wealth for the benefit, at the expense of doing something less beneficial, but more enjoyable for them (ex. owning a business could net more gold, and consequently XP, than dungeon crawling, but some players just like the crawl above all).​

Option 4: Purchasing magical items.

Pros: (Before you throw things, there ARE pros) This system did provide a tangible/desirable reward for getting and spending gold. It was differentiated from the reward for getting XP, and provided an avenue by which players could expand abilities.​

Cons: Balancing the game around this system left little/no gold for anything else, tied the hands of DMs in how much gold they had to give out so players could stay competitive with standard monsters, and was a detriment to the grittiness/low fantasy that some preferred in their campaigns.​

TL;DR - There're a lot of ins, a lot of outs, a lot of what-have-yous to anything the game does with gold. I don't know which is the right/best one, but maybe DMs should have all of these options available to them to determine how best to run their particular game.

 

[ComradeGnull]

Option 2: Gold is for "training."

Pros: A powerful "training" system would be easy to implement and provide tangible/desirable rewards for players spending gold. Training also has the potential to differentiate from level-up type benefits.​

Cons: This could easily become just a clone of buying magical items, in that, if the rewards are too powerful, players will feel compelled to get them and DMs will have to either make things harder or limit gold acquisition.​

Another thing to consider in the 'gold for training' scenario is that this can mean that PCs are barred from progressing due to lack of funds. XP can be for 'defeating/overcoming' opponents, not just stabbing them and taking their stuff. Players or DM's could end up creating a scenario- say where they drive off a superior force through trickery and clever play that they couldn't beat toe-to-toe- that leaves the enemy 'defeated', but not robbed of their stuff- achieving the goals of the adventure and earning XP, but not getting the cash to go with it. If gold is tied to progress in player abilities through training this means that players get penalized for forgoing stabbing and looting in favor of a clever solution.

TL;DR - There're a lot of ins, a lot of outs, a lot of what-have-yous to anything the game does with gold.

Luckily I'm adhering to a pretty strict drug regimen to keep my mind limber.

 

[Sigdel]

Thank you guys for the great posts! You have some really great ideas here!

I would like to see a system that separates the PC's and their GP with tangible benefits but without being an arbitrary upkeep system. And of course keep it simple.

 

[Agamon]

To make it easier for newer DMs to handle, setting up investment opportunities on the page with definite costs, mechanical advantages and fluff would help. Something like:

Name of investment

• Up front cost of investment (if applicable)
• Maintenance cost of investment (if applicable)
  
• Game mechanics advantage(s) for investment
  
• Plot hooks concerning investment
  
• Fluff text describing investment in more detail, how PC is involved, NPCs involved, tips on how to add it to a campaign, etc.

 

[GX.Sigma]

But with the flat math (which I love) of D&DN and the core assumption that magic items cant be bought (easily) I ask this question: What do we do with all this money?

Buy a country. Build a castle. Raise an army.

If you don't like that playstyle, here's some options:

Diablo
Buy a whole bunch of magical . (It will definitely be an option, even though it's not the default.)

Indiana Jones
Give it back to the people the monsters stole it from. Otherwise, put it in a museum.

Realistic
Everyone in the world wants a piece of the action. The PCs are constantly attacked by assassins, mercenaries, and governments. They are eventually put on trial for numerous crimes (war and/or otherwise) and executed.

 

[jadrax]

Another thing to consider in the 'gold for training' scenario is that this can mean that PCs are barred from progressing due to lack of funds.

An AD&D game my friends were in, the DM made them earn the XP to level from encounters, and then pay an equal amount of gold for training.

They could spend months having enough XP to level but not being able to afford it.

 

[ExploderWizard]

I like the idea of treasure as XP but only what is squandered away without tangible benefit.

So a fighter can have ale & whores, a cleric can donate to the church, a magic user can blow it on research, and a thief can do as the fighter and perhaps give the underworld their monster cut.

That way when the PCs need cash for other things they can get them but it will slow the pace of advancement for a bit.