starting gold, and how it's messed up.

[cool hand luke]

ok, I have a couple of issues regarding starting gold.

1. I'm having a new character join my game the other players started at 1st, and are now 5th level, the new guy is coming in at 5th, when I got his character sheet, I was struck by the extreme disparity his equipment has with the other characters. Do you guys take away some of the starting gold in a situation like this?

2. What is starting gold for 12th level characters.

 

[Nail]

THe DMG also has rules for how you can distribute that wealth. That is, no more than 10% per item, etc. ...Something like that, anyway. Look it up!

 

[Xarls Taunzund]

12th level characters start with 88,000 gold. I just finished making a character at 12th level, so that is fresh in mind.

 

[Nail]

Do you guys take away some of the starting gold in a situation like this?

BTW, in a group I play with, and in some other groups I've read about, the rule is usually that you can't have an item or a special material (like mithral) that the rest of the party does not already have access to.

Simple enough to enforce, actually.

"What do you mean the new guy showed up with mithral full plate!?!"

 

[Shallown]

If you have a difference from a new character versus an established character I would allow it then adjust in game over time. I have a habit (bad as it is) that my player's characters are under equiped according to the DMG. I am not a fanatic about being excatly on chart but I do use it as a guide.

what I do (as if you cared) is every 2-3 sessions where they have been magic item active (usually fighting not so much in town) I figure what they have as far as wealth goes and adjust what the get to help make things more equal. I have increaseed treasure of encounters, had people show generosity for their work and gifted them with items or cut them a break on buying or commissioning new items (which they have to do for anything over about 3,000 gold). There are a number of ways to get things balanced again.

I know it might be Meta-gamey but I'm the Gm and I don't mind. My 10th characters right now are about 5th level in equipment until they turn the treasure they have into more useful items/equipment. Which makes balancing encounters more difficult when they are lacking in the item department (sounds like a mean thing to say)

When a replacement character enters I usually have them come in under budget becuase the old (Usually dead) character had some stuff that can be liquidated (not everything since the players aren't scavengers).

Also since the players know I will be fair they feel more free to not be so greedy/thrifty but play a little more loosely and in character knowing I won't let them be too poor to long.

Later

 

[Tabarnak Smokeblower]

(See sig for starting gold)

Did you check you old player's characters? Do they have, at level 5, the appropriate equipment value? Probably not.

Also, It's a lot diffrent accumulating 9000gp (whatever) by actually playing, than by picking out the DMG. When you choose your equipment, you're going to optimize your choices. When you actually play, you're pretty much stuck with what the DM gives you (not that it's a bad thing)

TS

 

[Kae'Yoss]

In such a case you should evaluate the other player's equipment (roughly, it doesn't depend on a single copper piece) and have him as much as the character with the least wealth

 

[Mal-2]

1. I'm having a new character join my game the other players started at 1st, and are now 5th level, the new guy is coming in at 5th, when I got his character sheet, I was struck by the extreme disparity his equipment has with the other characters. Do you guys take away some of the starting gold in a situation like this?

Well, what is the extreme disparity? Does he have one or two very powerful items, or does he just have a much higher gp value than the rest of your characters?

If the problem is one or two expensive items, limit the amount of starting wealth that can be spent on a single item. If the problem is that his total wealth is substantially above that of your other characters, reduce his starting wealth to the average for the party. Alternately, come up with a way to catch the rest of the party up to the wealth chart in the DMG.

Mal-2

 

[Pax]

ok, I have a couple of issues regarding starting gold.

1. I'm having a new character join my game the other players started at 1st, and are now 5th level, the new guy is coming in at 5th, when I got his character sheet, I was struck by the extreme disparity his equipment has with the other characters. Do you guys take away some of the starting gold in a situation like this?

If this is true, and it's notjust a matter of him having put all his money into a single item ... then you are running an impoverished game. The starting wealth exactly mirrors what the D&D system expects players to have,if they gain an average mountof treasure as they level.

Arrange for the other players to get a windfall that makes them come up to an even wealth level, or, figure out YOUR campaign's average wealth at 5th level, and let the new character have only that much.

 

[HeavyG]

Re: Re: starting gold, and how it's messed up.

The starting wealth exactly mirrors what the D&D system expects players to have,if they gain an average mountof treasure as they level.

Here's one problem with this :

According to the sidebar on page 54 of the DMG, the encounters necessary to gain a level should yield slightly more gold than neceaary to follow the expected "wealth by level" value.

That is, a 6th level character is expected to gain 6000 gp by the time he reaches 7th level and the average yield for the encounters needed to gain that much XPs is 6665 gp.

The difference is explained by the fact that characters use expendable items, food, spell components, ammunition and so on.

However, a couple of things throw a wrench in that theory :
1) A significant percentage of treasure is hidden, and PCs will not often find all of it.
2) At least in WotC published adventure, there is way over 10% of "expendable" items, so people will come away from an adventure with less treasure than they seem to think.
3) The rules encourage a style of play where PCs sell most of their "loot" at half price and then buy what they want with the cash.

Number 3 is the most important point here because, assuming you do get enough gear to get your 6000gp of treasure, chances are you won't want or even be able to use more than 50% of it, unless your DM tailors all treasure to the PCs. So, assuming you sell half of your treasure and keep the other half, you actually gain only 4500 gp and are now behind the sacred "expected wealth per level" table.

Starting from the theory that a magical item you choose will be more useful than one you find randomly, and the fact that the rules say that you can basically sell items you don't want for half price, then it makes sense that while a character built at 1st level and raised to, let's say level 12, should have around 88000gp of randomly generated stuff, or 44000 gp of chosen stuff, or more likely a mix of the two.

If you let a newly generated character choose 88000gp of equipment, they will clearly be way overpowered compared to one that actually adventured for 12 levels. The most realistic approach would then be to roll up magical items randomly until the player character has 88000gp worth of them, then the player could sell those he doesn't want for half price and get what he wants instead. Or just give newly generated characters half treasure and let them choose.