Player Problems with Character Wealth

[Trainz]

Sorry... made a mistake..

 

[Saeviomagy]

Baloney. The only obligation a DM has is honesty. Don't cheat, don't lie, and no mid-encounter revisions when things don't go as you expected. It is up to the players to take advantage of any opportunities that occur.

You're not going to have the Right Tools™ every occasion. That's life. You adapt, you adopt. You improvise. The resources are lacking? Get creative instead of kvetching about the unfairness of it all.

And another thing. Not having the Right Tools™ does not mean certain character types etc. can't participate, it only means those characters types have to find another way to participate. The technical term is "Adaptation". If you can't adapt to circumstances, you really shouldn't be out adventuring.

Unfortunately there are character types who really only have a very, very limited area of things that they can actually do. Fighters for instance are pretty much stuck with fighting - they don't get any other abilities (ok, maybe two other movement-oriented abilities). If your 'adaptation' means that you're left with doing things that are NOT fighting, then there's not much point in playing a fighter, is there? May as well be... well, anything else. Especially one of those nifty clerics that gets all the magic that 'free' can buy.

 

[mythusmage]

...Fighters for instance are pretty much stuck with fighting...

Who said that fighting consists exclusively of swinging a sword?

 

[Saeviomagy]

Who said that fighting consists exclusively of swinging a sword?

Well, that or shooting a bow.

And if you're going to say "no, they can do all these other things that don't require class abilities to do", then I come back with "so once again - no point being a fighter".

 

[Timely Drought]

Mythusmage, I'm not sure I understand your point of view. Are you opposed to the notion of game balance?

I'm asking because D&D 3e was designed with game balance as one of its design goals, and wealth was tied to game balance by the authors. If I'm playing D&D, I expect the DM to play the game as written unless he says otherwise. If he wants to run a low-wealth game or not bother with game balance in any way, that's fine as long as he states his intent to the players before play.

 

[DragonLancer]

So, after getting another earful from them at tonight's game, I decided I would see how other DMs and players were handling the wealth. As a player, do your characters have around the same amount of wealth as listed on the chart? As a DM, do you always make sure your players have such? I understand there would be a definite difference for low-powered or high-powered campaigns, but I'm just talking about regular D&D.

Your thoughts?

Your players would hate to play in one of my games then. I don't follow the recommended treasure per level chart, not in the slightest. I keep magical treasure quite low.

So long as you check the threats your players will be facing, you can throw out the whole CR and treasure requirements quite easily.

 

[Pielorinho]

All the arguments about whether trolls do or do not require magic items to fight are interesting--but if the players have expressed a desire for more toys, that takes precedence. Unless the DM is unable to enjoy a game in which the characters have more toys, he or she should give the characters more toys.

Daniel