Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 lollerkeet_the_2nd Nov 19, 2008 7:05:56	The Treasure Parcel system is great. Putting a flat number on how much stuff should be awarded per level is very helpful. But... What if the PCs are merchants? A. The DM just manipulates everything so they end up with RAW gold? Eg, the 4th level adventure gives them 1,680 gp profit? B. The DM lets them make a profit for their risk and initiative, throwing RAW out? A is fine if the game is linear, but if the PCs are making their own decisions about what to buy and where to go, it cheapens it, because their decisions don't matter in reward terms. I guess the acceptability of B depends on just how powerful the GP is in terms of balance. Can players get triple suggested gold without oversight, or would the DM have to keep a tally of GP spent on rituals and gear, making sure it didn't exceed Parcel guides? The amount of GP awarded in RAW is the same regardless of party size - is this a balancing trick or is it just not that important?
#2 farmer42_dup Nov 19, 2008 7:32:17	The Treasure Parcel system is great. Putting a flat number on how much stuff should be awarded per level is very helpful. But... What if the PCs are merchants? A. The DM just manipulates everything so they end up with RAW gold? Eg, the 4th level adventure gives them 1,680 gp profit? B. The DM lets them make a profit for their risk and initiative, throwing RAW out? A is fine if the game is linear, but if the PCs are making their own decisions about what to buy and where to go, it cheapens it, because their decisions don't matter in reward terms. I guess the acceptability of B depends on just how powerful the GP is in terms of balance. Can players get triple suggested gold without oversight, or would the DM have to keep a tally of GP spent on rituals and gear, making sure it didn't exceed Parcel guides? The amount of GP awarded in RAW is the same regardless of party size - is this a balancing trick or is it just not that important? What I'd do would be to make sure that at any given point the PCs don't have gear above what their level could afford. Sure, they might be able to jetset across the known world in their airship but they just can't seem to find that longsword two levels above them, no matter how much money they put into the search. Don't worry so much about the gold itself, it's one commodity among many, and all the gold in the world won't be as effective at getting rid of the white dragon infestation as the PCs going and doing it themselves. Sure, they could hire out a bunch of mercenaries to take 'em out, but do they really think they're going to be seeing the really nice things out of that horde?
#3 parkington Nov 19, 2008 14:11:28	The Treasure Parcel system is great. Putting a flat number on how much stuff should be awarded per level is very helpful. But... What if the PCs are merchants? A. The DM just manipulates everything so they end up with RAW gold? Eg, the 4th level adventure gives them 1,680 gp profit? B. The DM lets them make a profit for their risk and initiative, throwing RAW out? A is fine if the game is linear, but if the PCs are making their own decisions about what to buy and where to go, it cheapens it, because their decisions don't matter in reward terms. I guess the acceptability of B depends on just how powerful the GP is in terms of balance. Can players get triple suggested gold without oversight, or would the DM have to keep a tally of GP spent on rituals and gear, making sure it didn't exceed Parcel guides? The amount of GP awarded in RAW is the same regardless of party size - is this a balancing trick or is it just not that important? Consider tying GP to XP. After all, if the point of the campaign is mercantile, then how much money they make is a measure of how well they are doing in the campaign. Ergo, if they made enough money to have wealth equivalent to 4th level but are only 3rd level, award them enough xp to get to 4th.
#4 Shiftkitty Nov 19, 2008 14:30:52	My players are very into the markets. They adventure to right wrongs and do all of the other stuff adventurers do, but they consider their treasure "inventory". They put about 75% of their take from the dungeons back into their businesses and split the remaining 25% among themselves, counting any special treasures taken for personal use. I then run a bunch of random (but logical) paths to see how much profit their businesses have made and let them split a percentage of that to add to their XPs. If your players are strictly merchants, then Parkington's idea is the way to go.
#5 warcolonel Nov 19, 2008 15:59:36	The currency power sorce, with the Merchant leader class, the Publican striker class, the Lawyer defender class, and the Politician controller class.
#6 Shiftkitty Nov 19, 2008 20:29:45	Paragon Paths: CEO Bruce Wayne The Donald Scrooge Epic Tier: Bill Gates War Colonel- Where would you put the Venture Capitalist?
#7 parkington Nov 19, 2008 20:58:35	War Colonel- Where would you put the Venture Capitalist? I'm not War Colonel, but that would have to be a leader class (using your abilities to help your partners).
#8 warcolonel Nov 20, 2008 23:02:06	Wait until you see my Wage Slave and Philanthropist paragon paths. And a thought that just occured. Imagine Monopoly's Uncle Pennybags (obviously a controller) in battle. Weilding his mighty Top Hat and his Thimble impliment. ::BLAST:: 'Do NOT pass Go!' ::BLAST:: 'Do NOT collect 200 gold' ::BLAST:: 'Go directly to JAIL!' ::glares at the solo dragon:: 'You! Pay 200 gold or 10% of your hoard!' I'd party with Uncle Pennybags. EDIT: My mind wanders when I'm tired. +5 Bloodclaw Londsword: 325,000 gold +5 Serpentskin Hide Armor: 425,000 gold A map to a dragon's lair: 5 silver Taking down your DM's favorite BBEG, Thranagutz the Black: Priceless There are some things golds pieces can't buy. For everything else there's DungeonMasterCard