Starting wealth by level?

[frankthedm]

That rule doesn't seem to much the results given by following the guidelines for treasure parcels.

Correct. This makes sure the new character is lean and hungry. Rather than having everything he needs already, the new character is already making dents into the treasure distribution. Also this helps take care of the problem where players utterly ignore buying consumable items with their starting loot.

then again, if you level up the old fashioned way, you spend some of your money on potions and other expendable items which are used to help take down monsters.

bingo

The official rule has a couple of reasons behind it.

- Traditionally it is far easier to optimize a new higher-lvl character than one that has evolved organically.

- It's designed for fast gearing up. Pick three items, add your cash, and you're ready to go (unless you want to spend that cash.)

- If new characters already start with the perfect magic items up to +5 levels of them, what treasure do they have to look forward to when adventuring? The rule assures that the new PC will be able to function in a party, but will be intensely interested in new loot.

Yep

 

[Juris]

Transfer Enchantment Ritual

Don't forget the Transfer Enchantment ritual (p.199 Adv. Vault). For 25 gp and 1 hour you could can transfer a useless +1 longsword into a +1 Fullblade - so long as the receiving item occupies the same magic item slot. This essentially makes all found weapons and armor interchangeable.

 

[Lauberfen]

I don't like this at all. We also only play Core and immediate successors, so not an option.

As for looting the dead- as soon as raise dead is available, there can be no question of looting the dead, unless their items are worth less than the cost of the ritual.

 

[CubeKnight]

One thing I haven't seen addressed and I've had problems with as a DM is replacement characters coming in, but the corpse of previous character, with magic items, sitting there.

Sometimes the corpse's items aren't a huge help to the party, sometimes they are. Sometimes I convince the party that they have to send the items back to the character's temple etc. but sometimes not. I don't want to flat out say "hey, keep it and the monsters you fight will be dropping that much less" but that's pretty much what it has come down to. That's not a solution I'm satisfied with.

Actually, in 3.X, my party often times wondered about this, until (sadly, after we stopped playing), I noticed a quote in the DMG that said something along the lines of "If you're burying your old character with his items, you get your full gp for your level. If the party is keeping some of his items/gold, substract that much from what you would otherwise get." Will try to look into it.

Found it!

If the new character is replacing and old PC, reduce the treasure amount by whatever the old PC leaves behind. For example, if a player creates a new 3rd level druid because her 4th level druid died, she can just pick up the old PC's gear and use it, rather than getting a gear allowance from you. But if the player makes a 3rd level rogue instead, the gear of a 4th level druid won't be as useful. If the party sells the druid's gear for 1,000 gp, give the new 3rd level rogue a gear allowance of 1,700 gp so the character will have a total of 2,700 gp in equipment. If the party instead buries the druid with her equipment, give the rogue 2,700 gp worth of equipment.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

You get a lot less... the most striking limitation is that your best item is Level +1. In any event, some kind of discussion of this issue would have been warranted in the DMG.

Remember that you have to share the treasure parcels with 5 other PCs. You might get an item of your level +4 once, but it might take you 5 levels before it is your turn to get another one of that power.

A 6th level party will have gotten all the treasure from level 1-5. This would be (IIRC the parcels correctly):
Level 1: Level 5, Level 4, Level 3, Level 2
Level 2: Level 6, Level 5, Level 4, Level 3
Level 3: Level 7, Level 6, Level 5, Level 4
Level 4: Level 8, Level 7, Level 6, Level 5
Level 5: Level 9, Level 8, Level 7, Level 6
Totals: 1 x Level 2, 2 x Level 3, 3 x Level 4, 4 x Level 5, 4 x Level 6, 3 x Level 7, 2 x Level 8, 1 x Level 9.
In addition, they get a hefty amount of gold and potions, but they can't actually buy anything from it that is higher than level 6, and an unknown amount of it will be invested in consumables and rituals.
There are 4 items of your level -1, 4 of your level, and 6 of your level +1 or higher. That's a total of 14 items of your level -1 or higher, so one PC would be stuck with an item of level -2, and 3 could have items with a level above your level +1.

Now someone less lazy than me can calculate how much gp this would be worth and figure out his alternate "start at high level" equipment table. I keep using the standard assumption, it's close enough for me.

 

[CubeKnight]

Remember that you have to share the treasure parcels with 5 other PCs. You might get an item of your level +4 once, but it might take you 5 levels before it is your turn to get another one of that power.

A 6th level party will have gotten all the treasure from level 1-5. This would be (IIRC the parcels correctly):
Level 1: Level 5, Level 4, Level 3, Level 2
Level 2: Level 6, Level 5, Level 4, Level 3
Level 3: Level 7, Level 6, Level 5, Level 4
Level 4: Level 8, Level 7, Level 6, Level 5
Level 5: Level 9, Level 8, Level 7, Level 6
Totals: 1 x Level 2, 2 x Level 3, 3 x Level 4, 4 x Level 5, 4 x Level 6, 3 x Level 7, 2 x Level 8, 1 x Level 9.
In addition, they get a hefty amount of gold and potions, but they can't actually buy anything from it that is higher than level 6, and an unknown amount of it will be invested in consumables and rituals.
There are 4 items of your level -1, 4 of your level, and 6 of your level +1 or higher. That's a total of 14 items of your level -1 or higher, so one PC would be stuck with an item of level -2, and 3 could have items with a level above your level +1.

Now someone less lazy than me can calculate how much gp this would be worth and figure out his alternate "start at high level" equipment table. I keep using the standard assumption, it's close enough for me.

I could swear someone already did all of that. IIRC, the short version of it, was to add an item of level +2 starting at Paragon Tier. That'd make PCs that start at higher level equal in wealth to PCs leveled up in actual play (as long as the parcel system was followed).