Wealth & Pooling of Resources

[DragonShadow]

Firstly, sorry if this is answered elsewhere, as I can't seem to find the information.

Recently I was going over how the wealth system works (as I'm thinking of starting up a d20 Modern campaign) and something started to bug me. While it's clear how the system works, and how it's expected to reflect the buying power of any given character at the time of his/her purchase, it doesn't reflect a group of people pooling their resources to make a single purchase.

Or does it? Looking solely in the d20 Modern Core Rulebook (my only source) I can't seem to find any rule to handle two or more characters combining their wealth to purchase a single item. A Learjet, for example.

Buying a Lear (DC 40) is an incredibly daunting undertaking for any single player (at least at lower levels). Combine the wealth bonuses of, say, a party of four players whom all want communal access to the jet whenever they need it, and it becomes much more buyable.

I don't think I really have to make a case for this (since it's really not in question if two people have more money than one alone); my question is this: Is there any rule in any book that deals with this sort of thing, and if so where can I find it?

 

[Walt C]

Aid Another

Firstly, sorry if this is answered elsewhere, as I can't seem to find the information.

Recently I was going over how the wealth system works (as I'm thinking of starting up a d20 Modern campaign) and something started to bug me. While it's clear how the system works, and how it's expected to reflect the buying power of any given character at the time of his/her purchase, it doesn't reflect a group of people pooling their resources to make a single purchase.

Or does it? Looking solely in the d20 Modern Core Rulebook (my only source) I can't seem to find any rule to handle two or more characters combining their wealth to purchase a single item. A Learjet, for example.

Buying a Lear (DC 40) is an incredibly daunting undertaking for any single player (at least at lower levels). Combine the wealth bonuses of, say, a party of four players whom all want communal access to the jet whenever they need it, and it becomes much more buyable.

I don't think I really have to make a case for this (since it's really not in question if two people have more money than one alone); my question is this: Is there any rule in any book that deals with this sort of thing, and if so where can I find it?

The core d20 Modern book has a rule for aiding another (it's also in the SRD). Basically, one character can aid another, providing a +2 bonus on the Wealth check at a cost of one Wealth level to the giver.

Using this, you could easily houserule multiple "aiders."

Walt C

 

[DragonShadow]

The core d20 Modern book has a rule for aiding another (it's also in the SRD). Basically, one character can aid another, providing a +2 bonus on the Wealth check at a cost of one Wealth level to the giver.

Using this, you could easily houserule multiple "aiders."

Walt C

Granted, but it seems incredibly stupid to assume that you can only add +2 if your wealth bonus is, say +12.

I considered it, and it didn't seem right. :/

Wealth of two people (each with Wealth +10)= d20 +10 +2? Looks ridiculous, it didn't really add to your buying power.

Thanks for the reply, though.

 

[iwatt]

Granted, but it seems incredibly stupid to assume that you can only add +2 if your wealth bonus is, say +12.

I considered it, and it didn't seem right. :/

Wealth of two people (each with Wealth +10)= d20 +10 +2? Looks ridiculous, it didn't really add to your buying power.

Thanks for the reply, though.

Well, I did some work on this, based mostly on a Star wars conversion to A Wealth system by Moridin.

There's 2 things two consider here:

Someone with +8 wealth helping out someone with a +17 wealth, isn't actually very useful.

You have to remeber that a +8 difference in Wealth is a 10x increment in cost.

My True20 version of the sytem:

http://iwattgaming.pbwiki.com/Equipment

 

[Committed Hero]

Granted, but it seems incredibly stupid to assume that you can only add +2 if your wealth bonus is, say +12.

I considered it, and it didn't seem right. :/

It depends on the person he's helping - what if his bonus is in the 20s?

A solution probably involves a look here.

 

[madelf]

I'm not a D20 guy, and I only very vaguely recall how their wealth system works, but...

The first thought that occurred to me is, why not just break the total DC for the purchase up into managable chunks based on the number of people making the purchase? So your DC 40 Lear jet becomes four DC 10 purchases (assuming four buyers investing equally - the ratio could be changed if some characters are more wealthy than others, the lower investor just owns a smaller share).

Edit:
Or maybe use the "Aid" rule with the assumption that the aiding person can add a +2 per Wealth level, not just a flat +2.

 

[iwatt]

I'm not a D20 guy, and I only very vaguely recall how their wealth system works, but...

The first thought that occurred to me is, why not just break the total DC for the purchase up into managable chunks based on the number of people making the purchase? So your DC 40 Lear jet becomes four DC 10 purchases (assuming four buyers investing equally - the ratio could be changed if some characters are more wealthy than others, the lower investor just owns a smaller share).

The thing is, Wealth isn't linear, it's exponential.

Splitting 1 DC 40 purchase into 4 is aproximately 4 purchases at DC 36


see, a +2 increase in Wealth is about double the price

 

[madelf]

The thing is, Wealth isn't linear, it's exponential.

Splitting 1 DC 40 purchase into 4 is aproximately 4 purchases at DC 36


see, a +2 increase in Wealth is about double the price

How the heck does that work? :\
If that's the way it really is, then something sounds broken (or it's a really screwy system). I'll take your word for it though.

Edit:
Actually I just skimmed through the Wealth & Equipment sections of the SRD. I see nothing there that suggests purchasing a quarter share in a DC 40 item would not be the equivalent of purchasing a DC 10 item. What are you basing that idea on?

 

[iwatt]

What are you basing that idea on?

I'm basing it on the fact that Wealth is not linear. As I emntioned previously, the wealth system is based on a geomtric progression, based on the fact that a +8 increase in purchase DC implies a x10 cost in $

It's not in the SRD, but it is in the book.

IIRC, something with a purchase DC of 10 has a cost of $120

Something with a Purchase DC of 40 has a cost of 700,000 $
A purchase of DC 16 has a cost of 700. That means it's 100 times more expensive, or a +24 increase in DC (16 + 3x8=40).

So you casn see why it doesn't work by equally dividing. If you wanted to simulate buying 4 shares, each one would be worth 175,000 $

A purchase of 178 dollars is DC 12. Following the same procedure, the DC for 175000 becomes aproximately 36 (12+3x8 =36).

DISCLAIMER: I tuned out a spreadsheet for these numbers, which I have in my computer, so as not to be lugging the book around. I'm not sure if a DC 12 is $178, but it is very close IIRC.

 

[Arkhandus]

D20 Future also has an expanded 'Purchase DC to dollar equivalent' table, at the end of the Starships chapter. The D20 Modern core book has a small, short table that covers only part of this, though I don't imagine that's in the Modern SRD because it's not open rules content but just an example for GMs to see how it works.

DC 12 is $200. DC 20 is $2,000. DC 21 is $2,750. DC 40 is $650,000. DC 81, the highest on the table in D20F, is $90,000,000,000.

So yeah. D20 Wealth bonuses = not linear.

Still, I should think the bonus granted by aid another would depend on the Wealth bonus of the main buyer and the Wealth bonus of the aid-giver. Like, two guys with Wealth bonuses of +20 might try to buy something of DC 30 together, with one 'aiding another' and providing something like +4 or +6 to the other guy's Wealth check. Too bad the rules-as-written don't support this.