D&D 5E Thoughts on spending gold ...

[machineelf]

The group I DM has been playing since the playtest, and they are about to reach 10th level.

I, like others, was worried about whether they would have something to spend their gold on now that they have acquired a good amount. But I'm no longer worried. I think the issue of what to spend gold on is solved after considering a few things. You can tell me your thoughts and whether you think I'm right or not.

My players were shipwrecked on the Isle of Dread. This made up the last three months or so of adventuring. They finally found a pirate base on a nearby small island. They also came across some pegasi while adventuring on the main island, and they want to keep the pegasi as mounts. I'm going to allow them to do so. Once they defeat the pirates and acquire the pirate ship, I realized they would have a lot of costs coming their way.

First, they'll have the docking fee (which can add up over time) for their new ship. They'll also have to pay for a crew if they want to use the ship to sail to other places. They'll also need to pay for the care and upkeep of the pegasi.

Ideally, they'll need to pay to build some kind of manor home or fort to keep someone from stealing or harming the pegasi. They'll also have to pay for saddling and barding (if they wish) for each of them. Of course, you also having living expenses, and the expense of owning shops if they choose to do so.

In addition, I decided that going forward I will be using the optional carrying capacity rule. This means that for characters, particularly low level characters, they will need to consider buying horses and possibly horse-drawn carts to carry a lot of their gear, and a lot of the treasure they find. Again, more costs that low level characters will need to consider.

I think that when considering all of these issues, my characters will not face the problem of having too much gold and not enough to spend on. Once they get to level 15 and above, sure at that time they may start to have more gold than they can spend, but such is the life of a high level adventurer.

 

[Sunseeker]

My players took 2 weeks of 'game time' transporting the whole of a dragon's horde. I gave them the WHOLE hoard (something like 10k gold) at level 5. But the trick is: there's really very little to buy in my setting. Land? Sure. Buildings? Sure. Slaves? Sure. etc... And the issue always comes about of actually carrying that much gold (every 10gp I think weighs a pound). And securing what you're not spending.

So I basically agree with what you've got there. The only time "tons of gold" becomes an issue is when there's Ye Olde Timey Magicke Shoppe.

 

[machineelf]

I treat coins and gems as weightless, so that does help me and the players from being too bogged down in keeping track of them. We do keep track of weights of everything else. If they found a treasure hoard that was mostly art pieces, though, they would need to account for that.

 

[Sunseeker]

I treat coins and gems as weightless, so that does help me and the players from being too bogged down in keeping track of them. We do keep track of weights of everything else. If they found a treasure hoard that was mostly art pieces, though, they would need to account for that.

I usually do that but I felt I had to account for weight when I gave them a treasure trove of gold that was literally larger than a house.

 

[Paraxis]

It is nice to see people talking about how pointless wealth is in the game. It is given and taken away with a whim, plot hooks used or developed or not, who cares about land, taxes, stable fees, the cost of pint of ale?

The game lost something when they took purchasing magical items and individual prices away.

 

[machineelf]

The game lost something when they took purchasing magical items and individual prices away.

Perhaps to some, or many. But in my world, I like that powerful magical items a rarity and can't be purchased in a store. I like that in each campaign, with random rolls, you never know what you might come upon in a deep dungeon. So for me, it adds to the game. To each their own.

But if I wanted to allow the purchase of magical items, I think I could pretty easily backward engineer the 5e rules for selling magic items. And I'd probably just allow +1 weapons and armor to be bought, but anything else had to be found while adventuring.

 

[Lancelot]

I've had no problems with gold so far, even without magic item shops.

Firstly, there are the expenses. The party is required by imperial law to hand over 10% of their monetary earnings in tax. Any treasure recovered that has an identifiable former owner also requires that 50% of the haul is returned to the aforementioned-owner. Given it's a nautical campaign, this means that 50% of shipwrecks and even pirate loot is going back to the merchant company that owned the original goods. So, the earnings for a 3,000gp haul is going to be down to 1,350gp revenue, even before the party looks at bribes, hiring NPCs, replenishing non-magical equipment, etc.

Secondly, the campaign is running over a period of months or years. I've always been bothered by the fact that characters can theoretically go from 1st to 20th level in the course of less than a year. The problem is most evident in computer RPGs. I've sometimes stared at my Skyrim stats, and thought about the fact that I've gained 60 levels, ended a civil war, killed 20 dragons, become guildmaster of all thieves/wizards/fighters/assassins and built 3 customized manor houses in less than 100 game days. Given 5e's excellent downtime rules, I've changed my whole approach to campaigns. These days, the party will do a 3-4 session adventure, gain a couple of levels... and then have 40-120 days of downtime. It may take them (game) years to reach 10th level. And, given that they want a respectable standard of living (and maybe some training, and carousing, and suchlike), all that downtime is surprisingly expensive. Even a month of downtime could be 100-200gp of expense per PC.

Finally, there are the personal goals. One party member wants to captain his own ship. Another wants to build a small temple to his god. Another is trying to establish his own ship-building business. Given these aims are roughly in the area of 10,000gp each, the five person party needs to recover more than 100,000gp of loot (given the expenses above) to achieve them. That's a huge tally, and should keep them occupied for many levels.

Even the possession-less / property-less monk has a gold sink, thanks to crafting an appropriate back-story. His monastery is falling into disrepair, with no new graduates coming to learn from his beloved masters. He needs to send regular tithes back to the monastery to help repair it to its former glory. He also needs to spend gold to attract new recruits and pay for their long and arduous trip to the mountains where the monastery can be found. In return, he gains Renown (DMG option) with his monastic order. As he gains Renown, he rises through the ranks of the order. If he manages to hit 50 Renown, he'll be invited back to become the new Grand Master of the order - which is his long-term goal.

 

[Sunseeker]

It is nice to see people talking about how pointless wealth is in the game. It is given and taken away with a whim, plot hooks used or developed or not, who cares about land, taxes, stable fees, the cost of pint of ale?

The game lost something when they took purchasing magical items and individual prices away.

I disagree completely. I hate magical item shops. I have had numerous players (myself included) who enjoy buying castles, ships, land, etc... far more than buying +x swords of murdering.

 

[Paraxis]

Without tangible results on the characters stat block that improve his/her effectivness, the money is just an illusion a whim of the DM.

I don't tax my players 50%, I hand out 50% less wealth if I don't want to them to have that much.
I don't charge a 10% money changer fee to convert silver into platinum or gems, for easy transport. I just ignore encumbrance and let them buy and sell gems at full face value.

If you are going through barter sessions over the price of a sword, or worrying about the tax man, then you are not off going on adventure. I have never read a novel or seen a film about action heroes concerned with local taxes went up 2%.

I understand other people want to play Accountants & Landlords, but I want to play games about going into Dungeons and killing Dragons.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

The game lost something when they took purchasing magical items and individual prices away.

What the game lost when it got rid of the Magic-Toys-R'Us rules is dead weight. Not only magic feels magical again in D&D for the first time in a long, long time, but people who can't stomach the change can easily come up with the necessary rules themselves.