cbwjm
Seb-wejem
From memory it was a good system, you didn't even bother rolling for incidental stuff and you maybe dropped a rank if you had to make a big purchase which differed depending on your wealth rank.
D&D 5E What could 5E do to make wealth worthwhile?
- Thread starter Reynard
- Start date
Micah Sweet
Level Up & OSR Enthusiast
Strongholds, training, carousing, public works, donations and tithes, magic items, hirelings. The list goes on.
Micah Sweet
Level Up & OSR Enthusiast
Bribes are another great way to part PCs from their money.
The same could be said for everything in the game outside of their provided character features (that too, possibly)- but there are systems and guidance for other aspects of the game, less so for "what to do with loot." I'll say that 5e24, in providing Bastions, has given additional goldsinks beyond what Xanathar's provided.
DCC carousing tables are glorious for this- if you use XP, players can even get XP for their hard-won and easily-lost gold during carousing table rolls. Or features, other short-term benefits, etc.
R_J_K75
Legend
Yes, it was. ICR exactly but I think both WotC Star Wars used something similar if not the same and maybe even Alternity. I'm surprised that D&D hasn't adopted it or some variation of it by now.
GrimCo
Hero
Depends on type of campaign and type of players.
In casual h&s game, unless they can buy stuff that directly impacts their character performance, most players don't bother with other money sinks, cause it doesn't add anything to their play.
In my personal experience, beyond level 3-4, gold is superfluous, unless players decide to invest it for role play reasons. Once you get best mundane gear and magic one is off the table, might as well drop it from treasure loots. TBH might as well drop anything that isn't magic gear.
And as someone said, going simcity mode can be double edged sword. It can be fun downtime activity for players to spend money. Or they can go all in into it and spend most of ingame time building and tending to their castle/village/whatever, so much, that they forgo adventuring.
In casual h&s game, unless they can buy stuff that directly impacts their character performance, most players don't bother with other money sinks, cause it doesn't add anything to their play.
In my personal experience, beyond level 3-4, gold is superfluous, unless players decide to invest it for role play reasons. Once you get best mundane gear and magic one is off the table, might as well drop it from treasure loots. TBH might as well drop anything that isn't magic gear.
And as someone said, going simcity mode can be double edged sword. It can be fun downtime activity for players to spend money. Or they can go all in into it and spend most of ingame time building and tending to their castle/village/whatever, so much, that they forgo adventuring.
Horwath
Legend
"buying" titles is usually a free bonus for your quests.
if someone gives me a choice to buy a +1 sword or some (useless)title, I'll take the sword. you can always count on a better sword.
Cergorach
The Laughing One
D&D5e shouldn't make wealth more worthwhile.
The conscious design decision was made to limit characters to 3 attuned magic items, that only leaves a few non-attuned items as useful for characters. So beyond that and bags of holding with a few hundred potions in them, money on personal power can't really be spend. And while I like this less then in the flexibility it gave in 3e, it gives a very good lesson! Beyond a certain level, wealth is useless for personal power or personal health. A real world ace mercenary can only spend so much on equipment, a tech baron can't spend his money to become immortal. They do spend it on other stuff...
The same goes for PCs, what's your motivation for adventuring? Paying off debt is possible, but imho a very uninteresting motivation, almost a cop-out. The classic tropes include for fame AND fortune, to retire early and live a very comfortable long life. Others adventure for personal power, be that a powerful artifact or become a Lich, etc. None of those things are just bought with personal wealth... Also keep in mind that there's an economy in place...
From our 5e campaign we found some very expensive stuff, and started buying oodles of potions, even in a big place like Neverwinter. Eventually stock will run dry, making new stuff will take time, there's a limited amount of people that can make it, and if there's more demand then supply, prices will go up. Other adventurers will NOT like that either!
Other things, buy a home and/or base, fill your library, buy transportation options, hire staff, etc. You can use money to get/maintain contacts. Pay taxes, pay your church, and if the dice are with you for a session, you need to gift a LOT to the goddess of luck! Just to sure...
If you're more socially inclined, do some good works, like building a school and running one for free, buying up the slums and lowering rent. Importing food cheaply, provide healthcare, upgrading the sewers and the aqueduct.
Also keep in mind that wealth can be stolen, unless your lugging your 100k gp in four bags of holding... I call that a moving target by the way...
As for comments about 'simcity' mode. General rp stuff can be done in game and absolutely depends on the players/dm. Most of the detail stuff can and should be done between games. We bought a home and paid people to renovate it to our specs, the home schematics were done outside of the game by the players with final DM approvement. This is not new, we did this in 2e, 3e, and now 5e for decades, including in other games...
The conscious design decision was made to limit characters to 3 attuned magic items, that only leaves a few non-attuned items as useful for characters. So beyond that and bags of holding with a few hundred potions in them, money on personal power can't really be spend. And while I like this less then in the flexibility it gave in 3e, it gives a very good lesson! Beyond a certain level, wealth is useless for personal power or personal health. A real world ace mercenary can only spend so much on equipment, a tech baron can't spend his money to become immortal. They do spend it on other stuff...
The same goes for PCs, what's your motivation for adventuring? Paying off debt is possible, but imho a very uninteresting motivation, almost a cop-out. The classic tropes include for fame AND fortune, to retire early and live a very comfortable long life. Others adventure for personal power, be that a powerful artifact or become a Lich, etc. None of those things are just bought with personal wealth... Also keep in mind that there's an economy in place...
From our 5e campaign we found some very expensive stuff, and started buying oodles of potions, even in a big place like Neverwinter. Eventually stock will run dry, making new stuff will take time, there's a limited amount of people that can make it, and if there's more demand then supply, prices will go up. Other adventurers will NOT like that either!
Other things, buy a home and/or base, fill your library, buy transportation options, hire staff, etc. You can use money to get/maintain contacts. Pay taxes, pay your church, and if the dice are with you for a session, you need to gift a LOT to the goddess of luck! Just to sure...
If you're more socially inclined, do some good works, like building a school and running one for free, buying up the slums and lowering rent. Importing food cheaply, provide healthcare, upgrading the sewers and the aqueduct.Also keep in mind that wealth can be stolen, unless your lugging your 100k gp in four bags of holding... I call that a moving target by the way...
As for comments about 'simcity' mode. General rp stuff can be done in game and absolutely depends on the players/dm. Most of the detail stuff can and should be done between games. We bought a home and paid people to renovate it to our specs, the home schematics were done outside of the game by the players with final DM approvement. This is not new, we did this in 2e, 3e, and now 5e for decades, including in other games...
aco175
Legend
Thought it said Wives at first, which is another way.
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