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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 7788088" data-attributes="member: 4937">I would put forward that if players only care about acquiring magic items, then it's because you the DM have taught them that.   A player's ambitions are going to be shaped by what you as the DM have provided for.   If pretty much every problem needs to be solved through violence, then your players are only going to care for things that make them better at violence.   If the characters are seeing the game as a pretty simplistic game of kill or be killed, and valuing everything in the world accordingly, then it's probably because the world is a simplistic game of kill or be killed.   If you created a world were everyone is a munchkin that only cares about how much +'s a thing gives, you probably created that world.It's not (necessarily) the player's fault that they don't care how NPC's perceive them, so that honor, fame, friendship, and the like aren't valuable things to collect. If NPC's never gave any respect to PC's on account of honor, fame, or friendship and never made that worthwhile and never were liked enough by the players to make them care what those imaginary figures thought of them, then either you did that or your players really are sociopaths. If the players never care about how "cool" their PC is and don't perceive any of that coolness in terms of the trappings of wealth and luxury, and don't care to imagine the PC as having those sorts of possessions, is it because you've made it clear how little you care for anything that doesn't give +'s. In the real world, people pursue all sorts of things from philanthropy to greed, based in part on intangible values. My perception of the original post is still that the OP is themselves unintentionally communicating to the player that only +'s matter, in that we're looking for some sort of theoretical balance that all comes down to mechanical modifiers.Why would you buy a castle instead of a +5 sword? Because you want to be the sort of character that owns a castle?I guess I would say if your players really do only care about getting more +'s, because tactical combat and winning big is the part of the game they find emotionally fulfilling, then don't fight that too much.  Not everyone wants to play a game with landed lords, politics, low and high melodrama, and scenes that could be part of Pride and Prejudice (and Zombies?).   Some people really do want to just kick down the doors, kill things, and take the stuff.      Don't force them to play a way they aren't really into.   But on the other hand, don't default to that just because no one has considered any other options.  And there are plenty of example mini-games out there that do give the +'s for things other than swords, if you are looking for inspiration.</blockquote>

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