D&D 5E (2014) Quirky stuff to buy

[Shiroiken]

Bling. My characters often buy and keep jewelry and art objects we find, as well as gems.

Also, you can buy an inn to get local gossip (as originally happened with Lord Robilar), even if you run it at a loss.

 

[aco175]

I tend to give out some 'camping' items. Things like a blanket that lets you sleep in your armor or it floats off the ground giving you a more comfortable rest. It can even be a simple blanket that keeps you warm to 0 degrees. Lanterns with continual light on them or an everburning candle. Instant tents or things that keep bugs away are easy to give out.

Many little things can be sold to make life comfortable but offer little game breakage.

 

[uzirath]

Bling. My characters often buy and keep jewelry and art objects we find, as well as gems.

Also, you can buy an inn to get local gossip (as originally happened with Lord Robilar), even if you run it at a loss.

Things like this can be fantastic. It not only appeals to fantasy vanity, but invests the players in the setting.

In my AD&D days, my dwarf cleric managed the party finances and spent a TON of money on creature comforts. We owned a ship, outfitted to the gills. We designed custom figureheads, fancy crap for the cabin (including glassteel windows, secret doors, traps, etc), and hired a top-notch crew. Our party gear, whether mundane or magical, was top-of-the-line (and gilded). In each town and city that we frequented, we bought property so that we would have secure places to stay: a town house, the top floor of an old inn, a former guard tower, etc. These were fully outfitted with staff on retainer. In one place we opened a small museum where we displayed the coolest trophies that we came across on our adventures (which then made us hungry to go on quests for bizarre magical crap that we would never actually use). Each character had their own particular foibles and preferences. It helped that some of the other players were artists who loved sketching out the characters, architecture, and artwork. It was a blast. (Though the spreadsheet I used to track all of our income and expenses was a doozie!)

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Madeline Hale's two Table Fables books have a bunch of whimsical magic items in them, plenty of which are what would be classified as common items that are more oddities and flavor text items than anything else.

 

[Vyas]

One of the things I have noticed not used in the D&D settings is that once townsmen, city-guards, tavern-keeps, women of ill-reputation and tax-collectors find out the players have money, they will want their piece of it, if not all of it.

A lot of PCs end up like Conan the Barbarian who are able to get a big-score, then they lose it all in the cities.

 

[Fenris-77]

Bankrolling an Apparatus of Kwalish Rally Extravaganza sounds like fun. You only need 4 or 5 Apparati and maybe 100,000 gp to invest in a custom stadium track. I have the documents right here if you'd like to take a look....