D&D 5E What could 5E do to make wealth worthwhile?

[Lanefan]

How to make wealth worthwhile? The answer: downtime.

Character wealth is acquired during adventuring and almost always only spent during downtime, which means if one's campaign has little or no downtime their wealth is just going to accumulate as they're not being given the opportunity and-or time to spend it.

Beyond that:

--- training - and thus having to pay a trainer - to each new level can be a big money sink for the PCs. Note however that 5e as written fights against this idea with its lightning-fast level advancement and the expectation in its published adventures that PCs will bump in the field in mid-adventure and be able to acquire their new abilities on the fly.
--- magic items are a big one. Even if you don't want outright buying and selling of items, allowing and encouraging PCs to commission artificers to build them what they want (which takes lots of in-game time, they have to plan ahead) is another good money sink. That said, IMO they should be allowed to sell any surplus magic for cash.
--- have gear and equipment (whether magic or not) be easier to lose/break/destroy a la 1e such that they keep having to spend money to re-equip themselves each time they're in town.
--- though I hate this as a player (and I'm not alone!), making them pay taxes on what they bring back from the field can act as a low-grade but constant money drain.

All of this requires both the DM and the players to pay much closer attention to PC finances; I see nothing wrong with that.

5e is already very stingy with its treasure compared to older editions. Giving out even less risks turning the game into a chore, where the PCs (and thus the players) are always kept hungry and thus just end up feeling like modern-day low-wage workers caught in a never-ending cycle of living paycheck to paycheck. Bleah! No thanks.

 

[payn]

5e is already very stingy with its treasure compared to older editions. Giving out even less risks turning the game into a chore, where the PCs (and thus the players) are always kept hungry and thus just end up feeling like modern-day low-wage workers caught in a never-ending cycle of living paycheck to paycheck. Bleah! No thanks.

Or, finally the PCs and players felt like they could just pursue interests without feeling like they have to finance every single step. Nobody is broke in 5E. No longer slaves to gold forcing them to be murder hobos. Refreshing.

 

[Distracted DM]

IME the moment you sell a magic item, that's going to be what the players are saving their money for. It's not every player, some of them will want strongholds for (mechanical benefits help) or even an A-Team themed war-wagon, but unless you literally say "magic items aren't for sale," they're always going to be keeping an eye out for them even if it's a 1/100 chance that there'll be something desirable for sale.

I've had players sell magic items for a pittance because it isn't exactly what they wanted, and that pittance will get them a tiny bit closer to the thing they do want.
I find that attunement doesn't help this situation either. I've switched wands back to consumables with limited charges and made them not attunement, that seems to have resulted in them not getting hocked for 50gp like they used to.

 

[aco175]

One of my players seems to have adopted gold to equal more information. Walk into a bar- buy everyone a drink and ask questions on the local bandits. Buy a wagon of food for the local orphanage- ask questions about the local sewers and how to get into the castle.

Another players seems to have gotten into bastion building and has made lists of supplies they need and where to send wagons to gather supplies. I could make a quest of sending the henchmen to buy roof tar and he would play that.

I could see a base price package on some spending. How much to buy a simple house? What about fix one up? How about an Inn or tavern?

 

[Horwath]

magic items.

 

[Osgood]

I have struggled with this very issue many times. On occasion I have found something the players are interested in investing in, like a keep or a ship, but usually they just want to buy magic items. But I find that any time I allow that, it hurts the game—both by slowing things fine with shopping trips and with the detailed exploitation of the system (no one even thinks about buying one rare item when they can get like a half a dozen uncommon ones). I’m toying around with only having consumable items available for purchase. I’d like to hear things others have had luck with.

 

[Shiroiken]

I oppose the notion of magic item shops, but I seldom have any issues with PCs not having anything to spend coin on. At tier 1, the characters need to save up for at least one suit of plate armor, and often two. Material components are expensive, especially if they're consumed, and everyone wants a 300 gp diamond for a personal Revivify. Wizards want to scribe new spells into their spellbook. Potions of Healing are always useful to have. Bribes are a great way to get advantage on social checks. Art objects are a great way to bling out your PC in style. At higher levels, most characters like having a stronghold to call their own, plus hirelings and henchmen. Hell, I've had a PC build a network of spies after looting a dragon's hoard.

 

[TiQuinn]

Would you mind sharing these?

I would if I had them. This is just me spitballing.

 

[Kurotowa]

Charge them for adventuring hooks!

"There's a free adventure, but it's just someone who needs their basement cleared of rats. On the other hand, for 200 gp you can unlock a quest called called Slay the Dragon..."

You joke, but that's a valid path. Just, you know, dress it up right.

Hanging out at the local tavern waiting for someone to wander in looking for help? Only the really penny ante jobs show up there. For the big ticket ones, you gotta go through the middlemen. The ones who vet both the quest giver and adventuring party to make sure they're on the up and up, and hold the rewards in escrow to make sure they get paid out, and try to match the right party to the right quest so that you don't get a bunch of meatheads doing delicate retrieval work. And those middlemen, well, they charge a fee. Either a cut of the job or a standing subscription.

Then to move into the big leagues, you have to present as an established group. A group with a home base, and support staff, and maybe some junior teams to handle the smaller job that the headliners are too important to handle themselves. It also helps if you show up at some of the major social events, and maybe host a couple yourselves, with all the costs associated with that. Prove that you're part of the community and build social ties with the sort of people who hand out the really elite level quests.

In other words, treat the adventuring business as a business. You have to spend money to make money.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Hear me out: Expensive magical hair plugs.