Would you give your 2nd level party 30 thousand gold?

[Khairn]

Aside from ruining most encounters and making the players very happy .... I can't think of a good thing it would accomplish.

 

[devilbat]

Nope, no way, never. But I'm also accused of being a very thrifty DM.

 

[Kanegrundar]

Nope. Even if I did, they'd be lucky if they had a chance to spend it. They would be targets of every group of bandits and thieves in the area...among other calamities.

Kane

 

[Evilhalfling]

Well my knee jerk reation was no way -
but the others have convinced me that it not campaign breaking. Division of spoils and expenses would give them a leg up for a while, but reduced treasure down the road would balance it out. Even if they tried to pool, and buy something game breaking - the quest finding someone who would sell such items, could be filled with dangers, delays and betrayals.

looking for game breaking items under 30k and its either a bag full of scrolls, carefull selection of wands and/or a marble elephant.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

I would do it if it made really good sense in the story. Just like encounter are not always perfectly balanced to the party, and they need to have the sense to run away, sometimes the treasure is not perfectly balanced. Sometimes they will hit the motherlode, and sometimes they will discover their opponent blew all his gold on beer and women and in fact has nothing.

I might take some time outside the game to make sure the players understand that this is a exceptional circumstance and that they should not expect they will regularly find large amounts of treasure.

 

[Diremede]

30k gold sounds like a lot, but depending on how many players are in your gaming group, it really doesn't go all that far. In a group of 5 or 6 your looking at 5k-6k. Now at 2nd level you can't even take any of the item creation feats other than scribe scroll, so its not like they are going to be making a ton of items, and even if they are in town, depending on the size of the town, chances are they might find a spellcaster able to create items. The spellcaster though is probably only going to want to make a few items since it does cost them time and xp, even though they are getting paid, they probably have other things they would like to do.

So I say worst case the group gets a few +1 weapons or armor maybe a few minor trinkets and if they are smart stock up on some potions, none of which should break your game or make it super easy on the PC's.

 

[Enkhidu]

In cash (or other portable items), I'd say probably not. But I'd have no trouble whatsoever with 30K worth of property deeds (complete with squatters: cleaning out a keep for a base of ops is a tried and true adventure theme), large goods (maybe fine art pieces: the collection could fit in a wagon and need to be transported cross country, and of course less savory individuals would like to get there hands on such a thing), or something similar.

 

[Crothian]

Aside from ruining most encounters and making the players very happy .... I can't think of a good thing it would accomplish.

To see what the players do. These guys are freaking funny. They have over 30k in gems they won, and they goto the loacl underground fighting arena to earn a few silver pieces. They bety there as well, but no one bets more then ten gold, mopst of them bet a single gold piece.

In my games the plots and letting the characters do what they want is very important. So, I give them freedoms and ability to do what they want. It has always worked great and it allows them to have a sense of accomplishment, maybe a little too much for what they did, but nothing wrong with that. Show a little trust in the players and they return it.

 

[Sammael]

Show a little trust in the players and they return it.

This varies GREATLY depending on the player in question. Out of my six players, four would probably handle it just fine (the cleric and the divine champion would donate it to their churches, the fighter would spend it in a non-powergamey manner, and the bard would spend it all on booze and gambling). However, the remaining two (rogue and wizard) would abuse it HORRIBLY in some way.

 

[Crothian]

This varies GREATLY depending on the player in question. Out of my six players, four would probably handle it just fine (the cleric and the divine champion would donate it to their churches, the fighter would spend it in a non-powergamey manner, and the bard would spend it all on booze and gambling). However, the remaining two (rogue and wizard) would abuse it HORRIBLY in some way.

I've found that avoiuding playing with people like that is the key, but that's just me.