Re the "sake of argument" aristocrat, in one of my games, a character living an aristocratic lifestyle would have drawn certain kinds of attention and been approached with opportunities. In fact, akin to your note, a nearby prince would almost certainly have had agents inform him of new aristocrat in town and opportunities for contact occur.As we figured out above, the fact that the DM has to create a forumula(mechanic) for how much gold it takes, as well as a formula(mechanic) for the effect it has, spending gold does in fact have mechanical effects. That they are not listed in the book like classes doesn't change that. In both cases it's player choice, and in both cases there is mechanical effect.
I played with a lot of people during those years, both at home and at conventions where I both played and watched D&D games. Not once did I ever hear a complaint. It wasn't the lack of internet. More likely the complaining started after the advent of the over regulated 3e and 4e games.
Everything the DM does is work on the DM's part, even if there are rules for it in the books.
It supports magic item sales. If it didn't, it wouldn't go out of the way to mention to DMs that they can do it, and then give them ideas on how to go about it.
And if I were in a game and the game didn't go where I moved it, that game would be railroading me. I won't do that to my players.
It doesn't happen often, but I do see it happen when the adventures don't appeal to the PCs.
The same way I would make a fighter relevant during a wizarding contest at the county fair. The same way that I would make a ring of feather falling relevant in the middle of a desert. The same way I would make a sword relevant during a purely social encounter. The same way I would make the ability to see in the dark relevant when outside during the day.
I wouldn't. Mechanics don't have to be relevant at all times and in all situations. Just for the sake of argument, though, if the PCs get caught, the evil prince might be more predisposed to capture rather than kill aristocrats. He might also be more willing to talk before the big fight, spilling his plans. And so on. So there you go, my forumulae(mechanical effects) for maintaining an aristocratic lifestyle.
I think the focus of what does it do for me once we start a fight is part of some of the disconnects as some GMs/players dont wait til the action for the benefits to begin.
The way I see it - "I spend on aristocrat finery" is as relevant as "I research magical lore" or "I case the area for places to rob" in that these are all the players driving the direction of play and the nature of the hooks and flavor of the opportunities - even if it's not sandbox.
To me, if you look at most non-sandbox adventure paths, modules, campaigns etc, you see sections on "how to hook your party" and a variriety of not totally generic and devoid of flavor hooks.
But choices like the above are the players telling you hooks they would like you to use - so why choose to not use them?
One can think of gold spends from a non-sandbox perspective as the characters spending gold to buy hooks of a flavor they prefer.