D&D General Using a Variant XP System and Had An Interesting Observation About Treasure

[the Jester]

I'm running a group using a variant xp system called "ale & whores" where you only get xp by burning your money on stuff that doesn't give you any benefits (i.e., ale & whores, gambling, Stygian lotus, or in the case of a do-gooder, anonymous donations to the charity of their choice). The point of this is to encourage a specific playstyle (Conan style "get rich and blow it all," with a chance of "had to hawk my full plate to get those last 200 xp to level up" and a dash of "early Gygaxian D&D play".

Anyhoo, I am using this as an opportunity to run (or re-run) some canned adventures I've either not had the chance to run in a million years or never run at all. In doing so, I definitely noticed a change in adventure design. In short, 5e adventures are mostly very treasure-light.

The first adventure I'm running (they're allllmost done with it) is A Gathering of Winds (the first Age of Worms adventure). It's been really fun and provided about the amount of xp-as-treasure I'd expect them to gain from xp awarded for fighting monsters. I've already picked out their next adventure, and I was looking at what to use when they're about 4th level, and I was looking at some of the Candlekeep Mysteries adventures, and- wow, they are VERY low treasure. Like, assuming the pcs don't steal a bunch of books, all they get is a bag of holding low.

Netherdeep, also, seems pretty low treasure to me.

Just an observation.

 

[dave2008]

You're not the first to notice. I've seen that remark many times on this forum about 5e adventures. Probably has something to do with 5e being the "magic items are not required" edition.

 

[MatthewJHanson]

Yeah, definitely a shift away from treasure being the reason for adventuring to going on adventures for more story based reasons. I like it, but it doesn't match every play style.

 

[Quickleaf]

Chris Perkins actually spoke about this exact point in 2018, mentioning about wealth as an adventure motive: "...unfortunately, in many cases, that is not going to inspire good adventure design or, even worse, there will be groups out there who don't want to play it because the simple motivation of greed does not appeal to their characters and possibly not even to the players."

This is coming from the guy who wrote Lich Queen's Beloved which is positively rife with treasure and has one alchemy lab room listing the contents of each of its eight tables.

 

[Jer]

In 5e gold does almost nothing for you beyond roleplaying needs once you've hit 3rd or 4th level and have bought the mundane equipment you need (once the fighter has plate armor, for example, he never needs gold again). As written you can't buy magic items more potent than a potion of healing with your gold.

The game claims not to assume magic items as part of its "balance" and PCs gain abilities as they level up so there isn't a strong incentive to make sure you are handing out magic items in adventures either. PCs get new toys to play with mechanically whether they find a magic item in a dungeon or not.

Adventure writers just don't have to worry about those things any more - the game functions without them. So they mostly don't unless they're writing an actual dungeon crawl (where those things are plot trappings and it would be weird to not have them).

 

[see]

(once the fighter has plate armor, for example, he never needs gold again).

Three words: Rust monster horde.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

My idea is "storytelling points", using the system of White Wolf/Onyx Path. These are earned by actions no-linked to the fights, as to find a diplomatic solution, right storytelling, etc, and spent for no munchkins rewards as allies, crafting special item, information, a stronghold or secret lair...

 

[Li Shenron]

5e purposefully has a low treasure level because adding is both easier and more fun than removing.

 

[overgeeked]

I'm running a group using a variant xp system called "ale & whores" where you only get xp by burning your money on stuff that doesn't give you any benefits (i.e., ale & whores, gambling, Stygian lotus, or in the case of a do-gooder, anonymous donations to the charity of their choice). The point of this is to encourage a specific playstyle (Conan style "get rich and blow it all," with a chance of "had to hawk my full plate to get those last 200 xp to level up" and a dash of "early Gygaxian D&D play".

Anyhoo, I am using this as an opportunity to run (or re-run) some canned adventures I've either not had the chance to run in a million years or never run at all. In doing so, I definitely noticed a change in adventure design. In short, 5e adventures are mostly very treasure-light.

The first adventure I'm running (they're allllmost done with it) is A Gathering of Winds (the first Age of Worms adventure). It's been really fun and provided about the amount of xp-as-treasure I'd expect them to gain from xp awarded for fighting monsters. I've already picked out their next adventure, and I was looking at what to use when they're about 4th level, and I was looking at some of the Candlekeep Mysteries adventures, and- wow, they are VERY low treasure. Like, assuming the pcs don't steal a bunch of books, all they get is a bag of holding low.

Netherdeep, also, seems pretty low treasure to me.

Just an observation.

I run basically the same XP system. It’s so much fun.

 

[Blue]

In 5e gold does almost nothing for you beyond roleplaying needs once you've hit 3rd or 4th level and have bought the mundane equipment you need (once the fighter has plate armor, for example, he never needs gold again).

Look, I started my current campaign started with the players as destiny-chosen agents of the Imperium. I told them that they could requisition any mundane equipment. The paladin had plate at 1st level. They all started with healing potions. When they needed things like horses, they would ask and be given.

They are now 8th level and no longer can requisition (the political situation has changed) , but they still had all of those levels as savings plus what they are making now.

They are still finding themselves strapped at time for things like expensive material components, costs associated with adventuring (replacement mounts, ship travel, etc.) and the like. And other adventuring costs like bribing folks and such - maybe you can handwave them off as "roleplaying needs", but since it's money directly spent to influence the adventure just like if you were buying a consumable item, I would treat it in the same category.

They have spent very little in frivolous manners, mostly one clothes horse of a character, but gold is still a limitation on what they do.