Post/Author/DateTime	Post
catsclaw 04-01-07, 07:43 PM	Is there a guideline to when it's appropriate to dock PC's gold on their AR? I just played a series of mods at APL 2, and if you make a decision at the very beginning of the mod to avoid a combat, it costs you 900 gold on the AR. Basically, 2/3 of the possible wealth in the mods is tied up in that single encounter. It seemed a little rough to me to lose out on that much gold as a level 1 character.
bhale187 04-01-07, 07:50 PM	Is there a guideline to when it's appropriate to dock PC's gold on their AR? I just played a series of mods at APL 2, and if you make a decision at the very beginning of the mod to avoid a combat, it costs you 900 gold on the AR. Basically, 2/3 of the possible wealth in the mods is tied up in that single encounter. It seemed a little rough to me to lose out on that much gold as a level 1 character. There is nothing covered in the LG writer's guidelines as to distributing loot evenly to encounters. It is essentially up to the writer, and to a lesser extent the mod's reveiwer to decide how the loot is spread out in the encounters.
Lupo 04-01-07, 08:25 PM	Is there a guideline to when it's appropriate to dock PC's gold on their AR? I just played a series of mods at APL 2, and if you make a decision at the very beginning of the mod to avoid a combat, it costs you 900 gold on the AR. Basically, 2/3 of the possible wealth in the mods is tied up in that single encounter. It seemed a little rough to me to lose out on that much gold as a level 1 character. no guidelines at all, some modules have every single gp wrapped in one NPC, if you don't manage to get him out you are screwed. same goes for creative ways around specific encounters - diplomacy will mostly result in zero loot, or PC groups that don't GET to a specific encounters at all - sometimes bad role-playing is penalized, sometimes out-of-character knowledge or thinking is the only way to get a solution. sometimes it makes sense, sometimes it is just bad luck, sometimes an author is known for wicked modules (some are famous for wicked modules, very few are infamous for wicked unfair modules). ciao martin m.
Haro 04-01-07, 08:26 PM	There is nothing covered in the LG writer's guidelines as to distributing loot evenly to encounters. It is essentially up to the writer, and to a lesser extent the mod's reveiwer to decide how the loot is spread out in the encounters. As it should be. People already complain about how some scenarios are too generic. Having to somehow ensure that every combat or meaningful encounter has some kind of wealth distribution just in case the PCs stuff up, would further dilute how different a writer could structure any given idea into the LG guidelines. The players didn't earn the gold therefore they don't get the gold. Seems fair to me... Joe
Madfox11 04-02-07, 04:31 AM	The problem is though that in D&D game balance is built on a specific gp:xp ratio. So if it happens once there is no problem, but if it happens too often it causes one. What is more, if it happens too often you are favoring a particular type of gaming whether you want to or not. With that in mind, I do try to keep an eye on wealth division in adventures and I definitely want to make sure that if people follow the diplomatic approach it doesn't cost them gold. Still, this is one of the more difficult things to keep in mind when designing an adventure (especially if players do the unexpacted) and once in a while such a surprise does prevent monotomy from rising up. I do agree that there should be no hard guidelines. Note that I find it much harder that DMs grant max gp and max xp AND full access to items found without too much thinking. If you create an overcap because you know some groups will avoid a particular encounter, it is unavoidable that the PCs are going to loose item access in the items found section. That generates grumbling as well, but more irritating is the fact that many DMs do not bother checking whether the PCs found everything in the first place...
JamesMaissen 04-02-07, 03:10 PM	Note that I find it much harder that DMs grant max gp and max xp AND full access to items found without too much thinking. If you create an overcap because you know some groups will avoid a particular encounter, it is unavoidable that the PCs are going to loose item access in the items found section. That generates grumbling as well, but more irritating is the fact that many DMs do not bother checking whether the PCs found everything in the first place... It's not unavoidable. Either the mod could allow for you to trade with your newly found friends (after all you're paying full gold for items) or the access items could also be found on other encounters. It's generally not the case, but both ways would achieve giving full access. -James
Southernskies 04-03-07, 03:52 AM	same goes for creative ways around specific encounters - diplomacy will mostly result in zero loot, or PC groups that don't GET to a specific encounters at all - sometimes bad role-playing is penalized, sometimes out-of-character knowledge or thinking is the only way to get a solution. There are players out there that build diplo-monkeys to end combat and then expect to get the xp/gp from the encounter at the end. Diplomacy should nearly always result in 0 gp from the encounter (unless there is a valid ingame reason) and is likely to result in 0 xp as well (depending on the wording of the xp summary and why diplomacy was used).
catsclaw 04-03-07, 10:32 AM	Diplomacy should nearly always result in 0 gp from the encounter (unless there is a valid ingame reason) and is likely to result in 0 xp as well (depending on the wording of the xp summary and why diplomacy was used).Why? If the party was instructed to go an get item X from some ogre, and the party was able to talk the ogre out of it, why shouldn't they get full XP for defeating the encounter? And if you start docking the amount of gold that you get for defeating encounters, you're penalizing parties that take the time and effort to negotiate peaceful resolutions -- and penalizing them over the entire course of their career. It wouldn't be a problem if LG allowed you to "make up" gold that you lost -- either by choosing jobs that paid better than average, or by allying yourself with someone who can supply below-cost items and magic. But you can't.
MatteBlack 04-03-07, 10:44 AM	For the most part, I think it works pretty well but, I'd like to see more mods written where the payout is tied to completing a task than beating up an NPC.
Timlagor 04-03-07, 11:29 AM	Me too. More cash from the employers! Who wants to start organising a Trade Union?