PC Wealth by Level

[Zen]

All right, someone please unpack this one for me...

I'm trying to determine where the PC's in the game I'm running are in relation to the average wealth by level chart on page 135 of the DMG. Now, to do this, do I consider the value everything they own, including spellbooks in the case of wizards, or just magic items and actual money?

 

[Vorith]

well i would have to say that you would not include the wizards spellbooks, but possibly the spells the wizard adds to the book on his own such as researched and possibly the ones she copies from a borrowed book

 

[Trainz]

I wouldn't worry too much about it if I were you. These numbers are guidelines. The power gained by a PC's items is very dependent on the DM and campaign he plays in.

Just factor in the magical items and cash they have. Don't sweat the small stuff. I wouldn't even consider to factor in the wizzy's spellbook.

 

[Staffan]

You should probably include spells beyond the two free the wizard gets each level (plus the 3+Int bonus ones he starts with), at 150 gp per spell level (50 for getting access to the spell, 100 for scribing it). So a 3rd level Int 16 wizard with 10 first-level spells and 4 second-level ones would be charged 915 gp for the spellbook (including the cost of the book itself).

 

[Zen]

Thanks, all.

I'm concerned about this because I'm going to begin allowing magic shops in my game--something we've never done before under any edition. I was probably overdoing it by including each and every item the PC's owned, including mundane armor and mounts.

You've made some PC's very happy -- I guess I'll have to do something about that, now.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

You *should* include things like mundane armor and mounts.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

The two free spells per level for the wizard would not count, but, yes, for the rest of the spell book. Every single other item would, including mundane items and mounts (other than those provided as class abilities like Animal Companions).

Remember that a masterwork set of full plate costs 2100 gp. A mount could easily cost 500 or 1000 gp. Barding could be substantial as well. These things are more valuable than most minor magic items.

As a practical matter you do not need a precise count. But guestimating within ~10% would be helpful.

 

[BSF]

If you want to be extremely detail oriented, then you need to include everything. But that assumes that all the treasure in the campaign is just going back toward increasing the combat capability of the PCs.

If you have treasures that don't do much for the PCs in terms of offensive/defensive/problem solving type things, just estimate closely. It is possible to run campaigns that do not come close to adhering to the wealth guidelines. You can go for low wealth, or high wealth, and have plenty of fun. You just need to be cognizant of the adversaries you throw against the party.

If you have 20th level PCs that treasure that +2 sword and everyone has nothing better than masterwork armor, a Pit Fiend is probably not an appropriate challenge.

If you have 3rd level PCs that have +1 full plate, gauntlets of ogre power, quickdraw vials of silversheen and +2 greatswords on the front line tanks, then a werewolf might not be much of a challenge.

Deviating from the wealth tables is fine, so long as you are having fun in the game. However, it might require that you pay a little more attention to the challenges you give the party.

 

[kigmatzomat]

If you use a chargen program that will often list the total wealth of a PC on the character sheet. My group uses PCGen and during the game I grab copies of the sheets and jot down the totals. There's usually some wobble in the group's gear that lets me know where I need to focus the "too-good-to-sell" items. Over the last 2-3 story arcs I handed out a few +6 stat buff items to my now-17th level party which have mostly migrated to the monk making him a bit overloaded for his level and power while the archer is light on gear.