What do you buy if you can't buy magic?

[Bulak]

Buy items made of special materials (if the DM allows those, and you haven't done that already). Adamantine, mithral, etc. That'll probably cost you less than 40,000 gp, but especially PCs of the warrior classes can spend a lot.

My $0.02.

 

[diaglo]

bury your treasure and make sure you make a map with an X on it.

 

[Zappo]

Uhm... hire some workers, dig an underground complex full of traps, pay some monsters to settle in, and put leftovers in the innermost chamber. Sit there all day.

 

[Psion]

Well, this may not be an exact answer to your question as it seems the PCs already have money in hand.

But in the Second World Sourcebook, there is a system that replaces some portion of the character's rewards with influence. Influence points are worth 1000 gp each, and can be used to purchase favors, training, or items. Further, for those who have a problem with the "magic item shop" thing, in the influence system, you purchase access to persons who are capable of making or otherwise have access to such things... it's not like wandering into a gun shop.

 

[Henry]

Do what one player I know did - find a relatively stable country with a developed city, and set up an investment banking firm. Hire some dependable employees (a sage or 3 for whom you did a favor would do nicely, as well as some well-paid mercenary muscle) and just check in on it every month or so. Using modestly cheap rates of 10%, you can stand to make some healthy profit and create a source of income for your character's eventual retirement - what, you think someone is going to risk their lives forever?

 

[Stormborn]

Alright, my DM has created a world where magic pretty much cannot be bought. He hands out magic potions and items in treasure hoards, but buying magical items is pretty much completely out the window.

So, now approaching 10th level and coming up on 40,000 Gp, what is the party to do with all the wealth? The game is fairly railroaded and we don't have much downtime. We currently have a small ship to go around in, and no real base of operations. Problem is, the country we're travelling through is right in the middle of an orc invasion so picking a spot to settle down and rest doesn't seem like the best idea either.

Any suggestions?

This is exactly the position that I hope my PCs will be in in a few levels (they are currently 4th, so they haven't saved up that much yet) but I have built in some plot hooks that will help them spend it. However, beign an unpredicatbale lot I read this post hoping to get some ideas. Raising an army sound great, of course, but I would save the fortress building until after the war is over, you should have lots more gold and influence then anyway.
Other than extremely creative means to end the war, like the wonderful cheap bread idea, and mundane upgrades to your ship I'm not sure what you could do.
Do the PCs intend to intervene in the invasion? If so, is technological research a viable option? Alchemist fire projectors (flame throwers), improved repeating cross bows (machine guns), trebuche, gunpowder, gliders, or other low -tech but doable in DnD inventiosn could change the world. Other options include ransoming the kingdom from the orcs, just paying them to go away (not a real good idea, they'll be back, but it might buy time), or encouraging a neighboring kingdom to intervene.
Not the humanitarian types? Buy swords. Lots of them. And armor, and bows, and arrows. In fact, hire the craftsmen to make them and the raw materials (bows willbe cheaper inthe long run) and become arms merchancts.
I'd love to hear what happens

 

[Eccles]

Hire a damn great army of mercenaries.

A basic (level 1 warrior) mercenary will charge 3sp per day.

Your 40,000 gold would go to hire 200 mercenaries for almost two years.

And if there are 4 in your party each with 40,000 gold...

Or else you could hire 200 mercenaries for 67 days, and buy each of them touch attack weapons. (400 tanglefoot bags, and 600 flasks of acid should wipe the floor with virtually anything in a non-magical campaign).

Make the DM wish he'd given you a magical Wal-Mart...

 

[Steverooo]

Gear.

Tools and equipment that give those +2 bonuses. When you have everything in the PHB that you need, hire an Engineer (Knowledge (Architecture & Engineering)) to design better stuff, and build it for you.

A foldable grapnet which only weighs one pound, for example, Masterworked for the +2 Climb bonus. Lighter Climber's Kits. Etc.

 

[Remathilis]

1.) Make sure everyone has masterwork gear, including arrows, artisan's tools, armor, etc.

2.) Golf bag your weapons, at least your primary fighters (silver, adamantine, cold iron) and arrows/bolts.

3.) Upgrade your ship. Hire sailors.

4.) Mercs baby, mercs.

5.) Buy an expensive, trained pet, like a dire wolf, tiger, or gray render.

6.) Lots of rare spell components, like identify pearls and stoneskin diamond dust.

7.) Diaglo and Zappo had some good ideas.

 

[reiella]

Step 1) Buy a vault
Step 2) Buy a lock, preferably an ORC-BRAND lock
Step 3) Invest in peg-legs and parrots.

Does your DM let you 'buy spell services'? If so, I'd probably suggest safeguarding at least half of your party's income for Resurrections.