What to do with all that treasure?!?

[Labon]

I was wondering how many DMs have characters "deposit" their treasure somewhere due to the sheer amount of loot. For instance, the group keeps their treasure(s) at a specific city/town's bank or castle, or maybe they keep it buried.

Or do you simply let them keep everything "on them".

(Some interesting hooks, include, they bury it and come back and some creature(s) overran the place they buried it, or maybe a group of merchants just happened to make camp above their plot and they have to make skill checks to convince them that when they dig up their gold they needn't share it.)

 

[Aulirophile]

By the time most groups get to the point where carrying it is a hassle, 1,000g is a trivial amount of money. A single Bag of Holding, cost 1,000g, can hold so much it is never really an issue. Make more as needed.

 

[chitzk0i]

Plus there's the Platinum Pouch, which changes out your silly plebian-type money for heavenly, shiny platinum.

 

[MrMyth]

Our group had a Leomund's Secret Chest which they poured most loot into. I think I only once had them presented with enough raw cash (a hoard of copper pieces) that they could only fit so much in the chest, plus whatever they could carry on them, and left the rest of it behind.

 

[Prestidigitalis]

You guys get treasure? Huh.

 

[malraux]

I've found that excess non-monetary treasure gets disenchanted by the wizard for either ritual use or snorting off the bum of a trollop.

 

[BobTheNob]

You see, this is why our group doesn't use loot any more. Its all inherent bonus's and the occasional boon with (the incredibly rare) magical gear being plot linked

At first the players raised eyebrows when I first suggested it. Since implementing, our game experience has improved dramatically. I have even had players come to me, outside of game time, and tell me how much they approve of the change.

May be worth a go. Makes life SO much easier for everyone involved.

(p.s. IMHO handing out loot is a convention that has carried forward from the early days of D&D. I never questioned it, it was just one of those RPG sacred cows. But if you stop and think about, loot isnt needed and other game rewards work just as well for keeping players engaged. Loot is simply one of those things we never said "does our game really need this?", and when we finally woke up and did, our game improved overnight)

 

[Dungeoneer]

I siphon off my players' excess wealth by encouraging them to bribe NPCs.

What? It's Dark Sun.

 

[Prestidigitalis]

But if you stop and think about, loot isnt needed and other game rewards work just as well for keeping players engaged. Loot is simply one of those things we never said "does our game really need this?", and when we finally woke up and did, our game improved overnight)

That may be true for most players, but there will be a subset who want something more, and not just for the sake of "more": the Tacticians. For them, a simple level 2 item like Boots of Adept Charging open up all sorts of cool possibilities. You can get the same effect by turning the items into feats, and then allowing more feat selections, but unless you do that those Tacticians will always feel slightly sad.

 

[BobTheNob]

That may be true for most players, but there will be a subset who want something more, and not just for the sake of "more": the Tacticians. For them, a simple level 2 item like Boots of Adept Charging open up all sorts of cool possibilities. You can get the same effect by turning the items into feats, and then allowing more feat selections, but unless you do that those Tacticians will always feel slightly sad.

Very true. But I did say earlier in the post that I still hand out boons, most of which are home brew.

I treat boons "like" loot finds (e.g. you save some guys from jail, he concedes to teach a single party member how to do something). After all, you still have to have that thrill you get when you find that really cool thing. Things like what you described I handle through boon acquisition rather than loot.

I havent stopped handing out rewards, I just do it in a simpler, more abstract way.

Same end result, less book keeping.