Rewards

[gideonpepys]

My players are part of the RHC, which means they receive a large payment, plus a smaller amount of gold as treasure.

If have two issues:

1) I rather like the genius loci, but I'm not sure my players will recognise their value initially, or have saved enough cash to purchase them. It would almost be better if they got the lower cash payment, plus the treasure parcels.

2) I'm toying with the idea of employing the inherent bonus system. What is the simplest way to implement that within the Zeitgeist reward system?

 

[RangerWickett]

The party gets a second salary payment at the start of adventure 2. And the conceit is that any treasure they recover gets handed over to the RHC, so the icons are still in a vault somewhere, ready to be requisitioned.


Inherent bonuses
Don't they have those guidelines in the DMG2? I'm at work and can't look it up, but I would hope the inherent bonuses section tells you "reduce the amount of treasure by X."

Just calculate how much money the PCs would be spending on that gear, and subtract it from their salary.

 

[gideonpepys]

That explanation of what happens to the magic items solves alot of issues. Thanks!

The formula for working out what to pay each PC in a six person party, using the inherent bonuses system (which calls for the removal of the 1st & 4th parcel) is a little bit more complicated than my lazy brain is happy with, but I only have to perform the sum once per level, so it shouldn't be too hard.

(The most annoying part is adding up what all the parcels would have been worth in cash terms.)

 

[Colmarr]

I'm planning on using inherent bonuses for Zeitgeist, so I've done calculations for levels 1-10.

Spreadsheet attached, but I calculate that each PC should earn the following amounts at each level.

Level 1: 448
Level 2: 576
Level 3: 832
Level 4: 1216
Level 5: 1600
Level 6: 2240
Level 7: 2880
Level 8: 4160
Level 9: 6080
Level 10: 8000

Calculated as {(Value of L+2 Item) + (Value of L+3 Item) + 2*(Value of L+0 Item)} divided by 5

For parties using normal treasure distribution, I calculate the earnings per PC per level to be:

Level 1: 752
Level 2: 1072
Level 3: 1520
Level 4: 2096
Level 5: 2800
Level 6: 3760
Level 7: 5360
Level 8: 7600
Level 9: 10480

Calculated as {(Value of L+1 Item) + (Value of L+2 Item) + (Value of L+3 Item) + (Value of L+4 Item) + 2*(Value of L+0 Item)} divided by 5.

 

[benfromidaho]

I was thinking the same thing about the loci, until reading this post. I love the idea that these items are safely stashed in the R.H.C., and can be requisitioned as permanent gear when needed.

 

[Colmarr]

Gideon, my figures are for a 5 person party, and I'm not sure that you can simply adopt them for 6 PCs.

Your best bet would be to check the inherent bonuses rules to see what extra treasure gets awarded for the 6th PC and adjust the formulas in my spreadsheet accordingly.

If you're not excel savvy, I can take a look at it for you.

 

[gideonpepys]

Very kind of you. (I am not excel savvy.)

But I'm quite happy just to grant the same amount of cash to each player based on the 5-person calculations.

 

[Colmarr]

Very kind of you. (I am not excel savvy.)

Salary per PC in a 6-person party (for an inherent bonuses campaign) is:

Level 1: 487
Level 2: 620
Level 3: 860
Level 4: 1313
Level 5: 1767
Level 6: 2433
Level 7: 3100
Level 8: 4300
Level 9: 6567
Level 10: 8833

Calculated as {2*(Value of L+2 Item) + (Value of L+3 Item) + 2*(Value of L+0 Item)} divided by 6.

Strangely, that's more per PC than in a 5-person party, because of the odd way additional party members intersect with inherent bonuses, so you may want to just go with 5-person values anyway.

For normal treasure distribution:

Level 1: 740
Level 2: 1033
Level 3: 1433
Level 4: 2047
Level 5: 2767
Level 6: 3700
Level 7: 5167
Level 8: 7167
Level 9: 10233

 

[gideonpepys]

Right. I'm almost sure they wouldn't have fully tested the inherent bonus system, or investigated every iteration.

It's clear from the regular treasure parcel system that a 6-person party would receive less treasure per person on average than a 5-person party, so in this instance I think I will stick to the original numbers.

Thanks for your help with the maths, though. That's saved me a lot of time (and I'm doubtful if my results would have been particularly accurate in any event).

Tbh, I've always found treasure distribution to the be the biggest headache in 4e. The inherent bonus system combined with RHC salaries will put the onus squarely on my players, while at the same time ensuring that the lazy or inept ones aren't affected too adversely by falling behind the mathematical curve.

Job's a good 'un!

 

[Colmarr]

A rethink

One of my players pointed out to me towards the end of Island at the Axis of the World that the player-wealth economy is going to get really out of whack if we're allowing players to trade in items for full value (rather than the usual 20% or 50%) via the RHC vault but are giving out normal 4e treasure values by way of stipend.

Over 1 or 2 levels the difference won't really be noticeable, but it could really add up by paragon and epic.

There is obvious sense in what he says, so I'm thinking of reducing my figures upthread by 10% across the board. It's not mathematically sound, but it is a quick way of addressing the issue.

What does everyone think?