What did you do with your loot?

[Bullgrit]

This made me think of asking this question:

I think it's important to note that gold in 4e isn't really representative of spending cash - it's more of an alternative, point based system of character advancement.

First off, I'd say that gold has always been a point-based system of character advancement -- XP for GP = more levels.

In OD&D, BD&D, AD&D1, and AD&D2, what did you do with the loot you hauled out of advnetures?

During the first couple of levels, I think most people would be upgrading their mundane equipment. But after you have your platemail and warhorse (say, by 3rd level), what did you do with all that treasure you hauled out of the dungeon on pack mules?

In my experience, few Players bothered with mercenaries; few built home bases; and few bought anything. I saw several character sheets from other campaigns that had thousands and thousands of gp worth of treasure written down. (They also often had many magic items written down -- six +1 swords, two +1 shields, an extra ring of fire protection, etc.)

It seemed that after the first few levels, hauling treasure out of adventures was just for the gp-to-xp awards. Although some DMs allowed the purchase of magic items, (either for book price or for a large multiple of book price), most PCs had plenty of magic items just captured from enemies. Total Bullgeek

Even looking at some of my old character sheets, I saw lots of coin and jewelry (not worn, just kept) just listed. And on some of character sheets for characters in my campaigns, after I stopped giving xp for gp, there were loads of valuable stuff just kept in bags and pouches.

So, did you spend your treasure on something, or did it just get stashed somewhere and left?

Bullgrit

 

[The Ghost]

My experience differs from yours. All the people I played with built strongholds, towers, monasteries, churches; hired mercenaries and other hirelings; equipped said armies; and then adventured for more!

Edit. My character, at the end of our 1e campaign, had two strongholds, a coal mine, an army of a couple hundred soldiers of various types, a small fleet of ships, and all the hirelings to run them.

 

[billd91]

We spent a substantial proportion of it on level training. Then at higher levels we built castles, cathedrals, bought ships, conducted spell research, etc.

We spent very little of it on equipment before 3e aside from some mundane upgrades of armor.

 

[Celebrim]

Tried to build an empire.

We built strongholds - churches, castles, safehouses, etc. We hired mercenaries and equipped armies. We cleared land for villages and towns and encouraged people to settle in our land. We started businesses to generate more money. We bought sailing ships and commissioned the construction of new ones. We fought wars. These investments would eventually start paying out in the form of taxes and other revenue streams, and that money could be reinvested.

Extra 'weak' magic items like sword +1s were hoarded to give to henchmen or hirelings for the loyalty bonus it would grant, and henchmen were zealously protected once they started to rise in levels until the point that the henchmen could turn into a secondary PC (which you would then play on adventures your primary PC couldn't participate in). Eventually well equipped henchmen would effectively become the new party or even parties, and we'd grant them noble titles and they'd start building strongholds and hiring mercenaries. We worried as much or more about acquiring new 6th+ level characters loyal to us as we did about magical gizmos (or even at times, XP). After all, at high levels, small amounts of XP and treasure didn't mean much to you, but payed off huge benifits if you could channel them to some loyal retainer. There is nothing quite like be able to command armies of mid to high level characters. Two-hundred 6th level fighters with basic magical equipment is nothing to snear at. To have warships decked out with seige weapons and crewed by 4th level fighters was as much what we thought was cool as having one extra gizmo.

Using this procedure, over time, you could carve out pretty large portions of the world map as your own and build empires that matched the official nations of the setting in scope and authority. That was alot better reward than having a sword +5 rather than a sword +4.

 

[ExploderWizard]

It really depended on the campaign and what we were doing at the time. Some "campaigns" were just running module after module and most loot just sat there to be hoarded (perhaps waiting for some monster badass enough to kill us and take our stuff ). Magic items were used then passed on to henchmen or hirelings as we got better stuff.

Other campaigns were more involved with the PC's investing in property,and ships, building strongholds and maintaining armies. It was fun going on treasure hunt adventures and needing the loot for a specific purpose. The keep needs an expanded courtyard, a bigger moat, etc. The sage is overworked and wants a raise, yadda yadda yadda.

Runnin things. It ain't all gravy kid.

 

[Piratecat]

Treasure baths.

 

[Celebrim]

Runnin things. It ain't all gravy kid.

Yeah, when you are running your first Barony and you've got 2000 serfs that call you Lord, you can micromanage. You can account for every last gold piece, and you supervise every revenue stream personally and chase down every last bandit or orc yourself.

Eventually though, when you work yourself up to King or something, that micromanagement gets to be too much of a burden and your telling the DM, "I assign my loyal servant Bob to handle this.", and your like, "Wait a minute, do I already own this castle?", and, "Ok, fill me in Bob, who is this guy?" Meanwhile, the DM is thinking to himself, "This is insane. Forget trying to simulate all this crap, I'm going to make more random charts."

 

[ExploderWizard]

Treasure baths.

Good idea but first you have to spend some of it on a beautiful alabaster bathing vessel.

which is nice..................not thrilling but nice.

 

[Crothian]

We had PCs that bought land, donated it to support their church or country, use it to fund rebellions, buy taverns and whore houses.

 

[Piratecat]

...use it to fund rebellions, buy taverns and whore houses.

I've tried whoring houses before. It's really annoying; sure, everyone wants to come visit, but no one wants to move in.

...what?