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XP for gold 5th Edition campaign
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<blockquote data-quote="CapnZapp" data-source="post: 6976505" data-attributes="member: 12731"><p>This leads to a few practical questions:</p><p></p><p><strong>How much gold should you hand out?</strong> Well, the simplest answer is "look at the xp tables". </p><p></p><p>You could probably be slightly generous, assuming players will not want to plow all their loot into xp, at least once they're past the dangerous first few levels. I mean, if we use the standard 5e rarity costs, a mid-level character will want to have a magic item worth, say, 50000 gp. So you could hand out 50000 gp more than the xp needed to level to level 11. </p><p></p><p>(On the other hand, if you plan on handing out magic items as loot, you don't need to be generous. But I think part of the fun is to require players to make this judgement call, so my primary advice is to hand out as loot mostly items the players would not have purchased on their own)</p><p></p><p>In the end, I would probably set a baseline that makes for speedy levelling at first, but then not increase that too quickly, so that the players spend considerable time on the "sweet spot" levels of 4-9. Do note that sandbox adventures kind of break once players are high level enough to teleport freely, since a core gameplay feature is the exploration part.</p><p></p><p>I would probably add more money sinks than just xp and magical items. I would probably place a couple of portals on the map, anticipating that once a part of the map is thoroughly explored, players will want to pay for "fast travel". I specifically mean things like finding an ancient druidic stone that, if you make offerings worth 1000 gold (say) you instantly teleport to the druidic circle just outside town. Making return trips fast and convenient once 1000 gold for a party has become pocket change. (and so on).</p><p></p><p><strong>What kind of adventure does this work for?</strong>Right now I can only come up with Vault of Larin-Karr but I'm sure there are dozens wonderful sandboxy (if not outright hexcrawley) D&D adventures out there. Please add your recommendations! <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p><strong>What should magic items cost?</strong>Sadly, this is the achilles heel of 5th edition. There simply does not exist any good framework for helping you set prices that match cost to utility.</p><p></p><p>5th edition is even further from providing you with a pricing system that actually allows players to build their own items. (By this I mean what does each +1 cost? What does the flaming component cost? What does each +1 AC of a shield cost)</p><p></p><p>One wild proposal is for items to have essentially random prices (such as the rarity based price bands of the DMG).</p><p></p><p>One thing is absolutely clear, though: consumables must cost WAY less than the DMG suggests. </p><p></p><p>(The 5E DMG suggests a consumable costs half of a permanent version. Contrast that with 3E, where a consumable could cost as little as 1/50th of the permanent version, and you'll see what I'm talking about)</p><p></p><p>One proposal is to start high, and then lower the prices on stuff the party doesn't buy. That way, a potion might start out outrageously expensive, but ten sessions later, it costs 10% of its original asking price. </p><p></p><p>This way, you don't have to do any real math. You just rely on the player's decisions.</p><p></p><p>Do add a rival band of NPC heroes though, if only to put a bit of time pressure on the players to buy the good stuff before it becomes dirt cheap (which is when the product is sold out, and the next batch starts at the high price again).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="CapnZapp, post: 6976505, member: 12731"] This leads to a few practical questions: [B]How much gold should you hand out?[/B] Well, the simplest answer is "look at the xp tables". You could probably be slightly generous, assuming players will not want to plow all their loot into xp, at least once they're past the dangerous first few levels. I mean, if we use the standard 5e rarity costs, a mid-level character will want to have a magic item worth, say, 50000 gp. So you could hand out 50000 gp more than the xp needed to level to level 11. (On the other hand, if you plan on handing out magic items as loot, you don't need to be generous. But I think part of the fun is to require players to make this judgement call, so my primary advice is to hand out as loot mostly items the players would not have purchased on their own) In the end, I would probably set a baseline that makes for speedy levelling at first, but then not increase that too quickly, so that the players spend considerable time on the "sweet spot" levels of 4-9. Do note that sandbox adventures kind of break once players are high level enough to teleport freely, since a core gameplay feature is the exploration part. I would probably add more money sinks than just xp and magical items. I would probably place a couple of portals on the map, anticipating that once a part of the map is thoroughly explored, players will want to pay for "fast travel". I specifically mean things like finding an ancient druidic stone that, if you make offerings worth 1000 gold (say) you instantly teleport to the druidic circle just outside town. Making return trips fast and convenient once 1000 gold for a party has become pocket change. (and so on). [B]What kind of adventure does this work for?[/B]Right now I can only come up with Vault of Larin-Karr but I'm sure there are dozens wonderful sandboxy (if not outright hexcrawley) D&D adventures out there. Please add your recommendations! :) [B]What should magic items cost?[/B]Sadly, this is the achilles heel of 5th edition. There simply does not exist any good framework for helping you set prices that match cost to utility. 5th edition is even further from providing you with a pricing system that actually allows players to build their own items. (By this I mean what does each +1 cost? What does the flaming component cost? What does each +1 AC of a shield cost) One wild proposal is for items to have essentially random prices (such as the rarity based price bands of the DMG). One thing is absolutely clear, though: consumables must cost WAY less than the DMG suggests. (The 5E DMG suggests a consumable costs half of a permanent version. Contrast that with 3E, where a consumable could cost as little as 1/50th of the permanent version, and you'll see what I'm talking about) One proposal is to start high, and then lower the prices on stuff the party doesn't buy. That way, a potion might start out outrageously expensive, but ten sessions later, it costs 10% of its original asking price. This way, you don't have to do any real math. You just rely on the player's decisions. Do add a rival band of NPC heroes though, if only to put a bit of time pressure on the players to buy the good stuff before it becomes dirt cheap (which is when the product is sold out, and the next batch starts at the high price again). [/QUOTE]
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