That rat had 400 GP!

[Xarlen]

Okay. I'm having trouble figuring how I should distribute 'treasure' and loot to the PCs, who aren't going to be encountering a lot of 'Monsterlair, with treasure' type stuff.

Yes, they're on a journey. Information on Campaign Here.

What I'd like is information on how to get them their alointed loot (900gp at 2nd level, and so on), without just dumping it on them unneededly. Ideas on how to get treasure and stuff, without being blatant about it. Interesting ways.

I havn't devised that many side quests on their quest, so ideas are always welcome.

 

[EricNoah]

Some ideas:

The dungeon is riddled with hidden compartments and caches of wealth.

Bodies of former adventurers still have their gear and loot.

Turn half of the gold generated into goods (thieves tools, blank spellbook, stuff like that).

 

[Nifft]

1) Rewards for doing quests / casting spells / etc. -- use the table in the DMG to price how much a spell is worth.

2) Find dead people (killed by Dangerous Thing Nearby) with loot near the remains. If the PCs find monsters without treasure, don't be afriad to throw them treasure without monsters.

3) A halfling Bard sells them maps to caves & ruins -- "Go in meself? D'ye think me mad? Nay, 'tis the job of strong folk like yerself, doin' the delvin'. I'll be content sellin' the means, I will." Most maps lead to "diversions" -- monster lairs, etc., -- but a few lead to unknown treasure drops, with monsters too of course

-- Nifft

 

[BiggusGeekus@Work]

A Wilderness Lore or Animal Handling check (DC 10) reveals that the rat is a very rare breed and the pelt may be worth something to a tanner.

 

[alsih2o]

have something they kill be worth a lot for it's fur

have them find art, it can lead to mini adventures trying to sell it

have them find dumb monsters using valuable items for mundane purposes "hey guys, he was picking his teeth with a wand!"

 

[Fenes 2]

One possibility is to have the party be in the employ of a patron, granting them money or gear, boons and other rewards for their work. Such a patron can take many forms, from a merchant or a noble to a cleric of a temple, or a wizard, or the mayor of a town etc. Perhaps they are hired by a traveler as bodyguards.

Another is to give them their rewards one at a piece. Maybe one day they help out a hamlet and the fighter gets the masterwork armor the smith was working on in gratitude, another day they rescue a traveling sage and the wizards recieves a musty scroll, in a small town the rogue meets and cons an arrogant noble out of a tidy sum... you don't have to give every PC something every adventure, just make sure it evens out every few adventure.

Apart from this standard methods there are other methods. Maybe the PCs stumble upon the aftermath of a big battle between two groups and can loot the bodies.

Or the group is at the wrong time at the wrong place, gets mistaken for the contact of a thief, and gets a valuable "gift" - which leads to later adventures when the thieves come after them.

Or an important cleric/noble/cult leader had a vision, and now believes that the party has a great destiny in front of them, but fears that monetary concerns (greed) may deter them from the destined path - so his henchmen make sure that the heroes are always ready to take on the heroic quests, funneling them money in subtle ways (generous reward from a "wandering noble" for a simple task), convenient old adventurers looking for a fitting heir for their magic sword, a mage apprentice that only wants to write poetry and needs someone to dump that dusty spellbook on, and overconfident gambler... just plant the right amount of hints to make sure the players - if not the PCs - understand that this is not normal for your campaign. Soon the PCs will feel paranoid, when they always have a room at the inns they arrive at becaus someone is just leaving, or if they meet too many too friendly and helpful people, waiting for the other shoe to drop...

 

[Dreaddisease]

Have a coin respawn spot for no reason. Here your players can go and just sit next to it and every minute the coins respawn and you can take them again. But it goes so slowly that it is no way to get a lot of money before the players get bored.

*Sorry too much online RPGs recently.

What I have done in the past:

Assasin Vine (easy encounter) When they stopped to recoup they found the ground littered with armor, weapons and some sacks of minor wealth.

In town thieving opportunities (Great for getting your Rogues into trouble)

I had a whole cave system set out and there is this point where the adventurers got dumped into an extra planar dimension. They had a puzzle with lots of small combats, no treasure. Then when they solved the puzzle they found themselves in the chamber of an old wizard who used the extra planar dimension as a barrier. Because of the characters luck in finding it they obtained a whole treasure chest of loot.

Drop something unimportant on the group (A holy symbol of Thegreatestgodinthemultiuniverse, or something like that). They can discover where it came from (someone in a town knows) and they get a very generous reward. Of course the item was probably some major artifact whose aura is undectable and whose power is un identifiable by low level players.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Loot is what you make it! Silverware, paintings, bottles of wine, stamp collections, a chair, the body parts, healing potions, so on and so on.

Gold sitting in bags is boring.

 

[CCamfield]

Interesting campaign setup...

If the party is travelling, a merchant seems like a good potential patron. Perhaps they come across a wagon/caravan that's just been robbed of valuable goods - but survived - and if the party can track down the bandits and retrieve the goods, the merchant will reward them with part of the goods. Or it could be a monetary reward in the next town.

For spin, there could be a kidnapped daughter involved... or the merchant is dead and the daughter survived, and hires the players to get the goods and take revenge. Or the "merchant" is actually a con man, and the "bandits" were actually just taking back the goods he had stolen.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I had a similar problem in my last campaign -- I couldn't find out a logical way to give them treasure, since they didn't come accross a lot of monster lairs. I eventually wound up giving them one big reward when I could, but it wasn't entirely satisfactory.

If I'm right, the cusp of the question isn't "How can I make treasure interesting?" but "How can I give PC's treasure when they're not just going to find caches...they may not stumble on random dead bodies, or see lairs of monsters, etc.

One thing I might've suggested was to introduce a few random ruins that are either truly uninhabited, or inhabited only by small beasties, with inordinately large amounts of treasure in them. Make the gold something valuable they can find -- the pelt or tooth of a rare breed of animal, the organ of some monster, etc. Have them stumble on natural things that can be baught and sold -- a stream with a lot of gold they can pan for, or a vien of copper in a forest.