Powerful people vs high-level characters

[drothgery]

I think that the Core D&D rules are not very good at modelling non-high level people with influence....in some ways.

One of my primary beefs is the linkage of character wealth to character level. It makes it impossible to have a 1st lvl expert (mercant) or aristocrat who is also a millionaire. What if he inherited his money from a parent?

Well, if he's a competent adult when he inherited his money, then he's probably not 1st level, though he'll still have far more money than a typical low-level/mid-level character. And then he's got to hold on to his money; did he inherit whatever business his parent ran to get the money, or just the money? If the former, does he intend to run things himself, or hire someone else to do it -- either is a challenge (the latter involves finding someone both skilled and trustworthy). If he's letting others manage his money, and has found good people to do it, then what's he doing instead? He's got money to be trained in anything he finds interesting. So it's a bit like the 14-year-old 1st-level Aristocrat who's just inherited her throne; she may be a Queen at 1st level, but she won't be 1st-level very long.

So that's the first thing that has to be done away with. Perhaps set it so only PCs are bound by those restrictions?

The wealth per level tables just reflect the baseline wealth that typical characters gain from typical adventuring in a world with typical wealth levels. If characters (either PCs or NPCs) spend most of their time and effort trying to gain wealth, and are good at it, then they'll probably exceed the baseline by a fair margin.