D&D 5E What to spend your loot on?

[FormerlyHemlock]

Greetings one and all

We are almost at the end of Hoard of the Dragon Queen, the players have amassed a large amount of loot.

The PHB has some good equipment tables, but does anyone have a good price guide for other stuff?

Depends on your goals.

If you want to become richer:
Merchant ships
Factories
Land (charge rent) or landed titles (same)
Spell research
Information
Spelljamming helms

If you want to become more dangerous:
Exotic Poisons
Spell components for Planar Binding/Gate/Planar Ally
Mercenaries/hirelings (hobgoblins are great)
Warhorses/hippogriffs/griffins
Funerals and death benefits for hirelings
Spell research
Information/spies
Spelljamming helms

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Diviners, fortune-tellers, and the like are another option. PCs could get their fortunes read. Imagine if they visit an important oracle, and she tells the PC of a dark future. For 2 or 3K, you could have the player roll, say, 4d20, and record the results. That PC can draw upon those rolls in much the same way as a diviner character. A lot of players would love that!

I sometimes allow Augury and Divination to function this way, if I don't have any good concrete information to give out about the immediate future. The way it works for Augury is that if I don't have a good answer as DM about "is it weal or woe if we attack these trolls right now?", I will roll 1d100. On 1-25, the answer is "Weal" and you can have advantage on one roll during the next 30 minutes. On 76-100, the answer is "Woe" and I will impose disadvantage on one roll during the next 30 minutes. Otherwise, it is indeterminate. If you cast it more than once (so the result is random) then when you try to apply your Weal/Woe I will randomly check at that point whether it "true" weal or something else--you could wind up with disadvantage where you wanted advantage!

Divination is similar except that instead of mere advantage/disadvantage, you get a Portent-like die roll that lasts for seven days or until you re-cast Divination. You can use it under the same circumstances as Portent.

In the case of Divination I would ask the player as a courtesy to retroactively flavor it as knowledge of the future. "I suddenly realize: the portent promised that when the dark one's shadow falls across my face, the time of endings is at hand! I cast Imprisonment and he rolls a 2." In the case of Augury we can just treat it as good luck. (It's a dissociated mechanic, under the player's control but not the PC's, but at least the PC is aware that good luck is pending so he can respond appropriately.)

In all these cases I wouldn't offer these random benefits unless the outcome is in doubt. If 5th level characters ask an Augury whether it's good to attack the ancient shadow dragon right now, I'll just give them straight-up "Woe." No amount of good luck is going to overcome that force disparity.

 

[Bayonet]

- Buying a business, paying the employees. It can pay dividends if they do everything correctly. Roll on random disaster/profit tables on the DM's whim.

- Buying or building a stronghold, paying the guards/servants.

- Buying a ship, paying the crew.

- Paying for training (you guys hang out in town for yadda yadda amount of time, experts in these fields live nearby, you can pay x amount of gold to train to be proficient in whatever skill)

- Paying for skilled help (blacksmiths for weapons and armor, alchemists for potions, scribes, cartographers, scouts, porters, etc.)

- Taxes

- Bribes, pardons, being sued for damages (the average murderhobo party is going to generate some bad will, harass them with guardsmen and angry mobs until they make it better)

- Carousing!

 

[Pickles III]

I am horrified no-one has mentioned Ale & Whores - it's traditonal.

 

[Sloblock]

I am horrified no-one has mentioned Ale & Whores - it's traditonal.

unsurprisingly this was suggested at the table last night!

Big thanks to everyone who replied, loads of useful stuff

 

[Uller]

Depending on town size I let them make investigation checks or persuasion checks to find magic items for sale in the town. Then I will roll on the appropriate hoard table to see what is available. There is always common and uncommon potions and scrolls available.