D&D 5E XP for gold 5th Edition campaign

[Krachek]

It can be a nice idea to play an Evil themed story arc.

Gold rule the world! Sell your soul for power take more sense.

But it is a specialized style of play.

 

[Jeffrey Malcolmson]

I'm not a fan of this idea. There's a few holes.

1. It encourages players to steal anything and everything, sell anything that isn't money, steal their goods back, and resell the stolen goods.

2. It encourages players to do everything for money and nothing for good.

3. It encourages players to set up extortion rackets.

4. It encourages players to bribe the BBEG into paying them tribute in return for not having to get into a fight.

5. It encourages players to seek positions of authority and jack up taxes.

6. It encourages players to take part in every form of unethical business practice in existence.

7. It encourages players to save valuable things before they save people.

In essence, it turns your players into a bunch of Ferengi.

 

[Edwin Suijkerbuijk]

I'm not a fan of this idea. There's a few holes.

1. It encourages players to steal anything and everything, sell anything that isn't money, steal their goods back, and resell the stolen goods.

2. It encourages players to do everything for money and nothing for good.

3. It encourages players to set up extortion rackets.

4. It encourages players to bribe the BBEG into paying them tribute in return for not having to get into a fight.

5. It encourages players to seek positions of authority and jack up taxes.

6. It encourages players to take part in every form of unethical business practice in existence.

7. It encourages players to save valuable things before they save people.

In essence, it turns your players into a bunch of Ferengi.

most of that sound pretty good if your playing a pirate campaign.
though burying your gold and making a eleborate map woeld give more xp then spening the gold

 

[Greenstone.Walker]

2. It encourages players to do everything for money and nothing for good.

That is pretty much the reason why the Primeval Thule game suggests the rule. It encourages a mercenary style of play that is closer to the pulp books about Conan and Thongor and so on.

In reference to my post above, I found the exact rules (Primeval Thule Campaign Guide, page 154).

• Incidental treasure or hoards significantly below the party’s level don’t provide any bonus XP.
• Normal treasure hoards (one treasure roll on a table matching the party’s average level) count as milestones. Award bonus XP to the PCs equal to the XP they would receive for defeating an easy encounter of their level.
• Exceptional treasure hoards (multiple rolls on a table matching the party’s average level, or one roll on a table significantly above the party’s average level) count as major milestones. Award bonus XP equal to the XP the PCs would receive for defeating a hard encounter of their level.

 

[Mishihari Lord]

I know there are a few threads on this subject, but none that actually discusses the practical do's and dont's of an actual such campaign. So let me describe one way to do it, and you can comment on what you think will work well and less well.

This assumes a sandbox type of campaign, where you explore the map and involve yourself wherever you like. And walk away from anything you don't like to do.

The party gains no XP from me, the DM. Instead the rule is:

Every gp spent on carousing gives you 1 xp.

"Carousing" should be taken in its widest sense. I just dislike the term "downtime". So you can spend gold on building a church, or attend fighting school, or build a wizard's tower, or set up a thief's guild. Whatever. Or you can simply buy beers and wenches for thousands of gold, I'm no judge.

Spend 1 gp, gain 1 xp.


...

Awesome idea. I've nothing to add, but please come back to the boards and let us know how it turns out after you've tried it.

 

[CapnZapp]

If you choose to save the princess instead of grabbing the gold you dont level! Hard time will come for paladin.

I'm not a fan of this idea.

Then perhaps this mode isn't for you?

In other words, this is not the appropriate place for having the "don't use the xp for gold playstyle, I think it stinks" discussion.

Instead, this thread is where we're having the "assuming you want to try out xp for gold, how do I go about it?" discussion

 

[CapnZapp]

I think this is a very interesting idea and I'd like to see how it plays out in practice.

The only downside I can see is that gives incentive for the PC's to be very mercenary - you don't save the village unless you know up front you are being paid or the monsters/bad guys have wealth/magic items.

On the other hand, something like this really works well for when a player want to try out the "rogue with a heart of gold" archetype. That is, helping those villagers even with little or no xp is a real sacrifice. All those movie characters that do go along and help out but are pissed about it - now we know why they're so upset

 

[CapnZapp]

though burying your gold and making a eleborate map woeld give more xp then spening the gold

You could even make the argument that creating a treasure hunt IS equal to squandering it on other things...

After all, you no longer have the gold, you no longer can buy anything with the gold. For all practical purposes you have spent the gold

 

[CapnZapp]

That is pretty much the reason why the Primeval Thule game suggests the rule. It encourages a mercenary style of play that is closer to the pulp books about Conan and Thongor and so on.

Yes.

Do note this is not my idea. It is not a new idea - this has been around for ages!

The basic idea is to harken back to nostalgic times. Here's a fairly notable old school discussion about the concept of xp for gold and how to (not?) implement it:
http://grognardia.blogspot.se/2009/10/arduins-xp-system.html

Here's another discussion about it:
https://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?734318-(5E)-XP-for-Gold-possible

Remember, the idea is for xp to gold to be a fun way to play. Don't use it if you don't like it.

Here's a blog post examining the way D&D stopped using xp for gold but still continue to heap lots and LOTS of gold on the player characters:
http://dmdavid.com/tag/dungeons-dragons-stopped-giving-xp-for-gold-but-the-insane-economy-remains/

 

[CapnZapp]

More from DM David's blog:



Lamentations of the Flame Princess, a recent game with an old-school XP-for-gold system, lists many sources of gold that do not count for XP.

The following may gain the characters wealth, but they do not count for XP purposes:

Coins looted from bodies outside of adventure locations
Rewards
Selling equipment stripped from foes
Selling magical items that have been used by a PC or retainer
Tax income
Theft of wealth from mundane merchants, rulers, and citizens
Trade, commerce, and other business activity (including selling of mundane items stripped from foes)


Just throwing this out here, since someone has clearly given this a lot of thought.