Gnarl wrote:
Living expenses, travel costs, hiring of various sorts of NPCs, replacements for any lost or used-up equipment, better armor (where available), bribes, charitable donations, taxes, and minor expendable magic items such as potions of healing.
So, basically, the same stuff they have always spent money on when "or you could save your money and only use it on magic item upgrades," wasn't an option.
My characters will spend gold on things that offer me an in-game benefit that I'll have to negotiate for with the DM.
Also, aristocratic breakfasts. Foie gras on freakin' everything.
Retainers, research, a duchy/shrine/fiefdom/etc. (for higher level PCs), and all the other goodies that people like me hope to see in the downtime section(s) of the core books.
Ale and... more ale!
I'm hoping the Downtime system will have stuff. And if not, I will make stuff!
Businesses, training, crafting, networking (hehe), that kind of thing. I love to play around with economy and such. Might not be everyone's bag. But it certainly is mine. I like my Baldur's Gate with a good smattering of Harvest Moon (or recettear), as it were.
AaronOfBarbaria wrote:
I think 5e is going to bring it back to basics...My 4e PC's never wanted a house, etc. either. Especially at the begining of a campaign. Spending money on adventuring gear, weapons, armor, food, etc. seems to be the most important now.
Now, when everyone makes it to level 10 or so, making magic items, owning property, etc. comes into play, for sure. Although, in my last campaign, I just gave my PC's a boat, some dock space,and a building as quest rewards throught the campaign. I wouldn't be adverse to give someone something expensive if it directly related to their background. ie: a noble might have a villa. A blacksmith might have a shop.
I do like how (again, same with how I DMed 4e) in 5e no one really starts with the best mundane gear, so there is still stuff to buy in the level 1-5 range. I do allow the sale of magic items, but only in special places; ie: not in hamlets, or farming/mining towns. You need a big city, a special organization, a spooky magical merchant caravan, a planar city, etc.
I also add layers of non-magical, or low magical gear to larger shops, and specialty shops. Stuff like exotic materials/high craftsmanship that give a +1 to weapons, but either to hit or to damage, not both. Silk rope, collapasable 10' poles, healing potions, folding canoes, adamantine pitons, belt pouches of holding (looks like a dice bag, can hold 1-2 cubic feet of little things), climate-specific survival gear, etc.
Orethalion wrote:
AaronOfBarbaria wrote:
This brings me to a tangential question. Do you normally run/play in campaigns that take up game years? I would imagine the length and scope of the campaign will tend to influence what some of the gold gets spent on.
It really depends. In my current game, my cleric of Ilmater gave most of his coin away to the poor. He also spent some as a wedding gift to an NPC who was a poor shepherd, so that he could take up a trade to support his new family. It was nice being able to use the coin in a way that made sense in game, without having to worry about "falling behind." To be fair, several other PCs spent their coin on armor upgrades, gaining +1 AC on me, but the difference was so minor no one even really noticed.
I always enjoy getting some kind of residence so that the DM has something to bust up every so often.
I think that this edition I will have to make sure that it was big enough to keep a group of 100 hirlings that I could use as a 'conga line of death'
Magic shrooms.
I am saving my gp to open up a school to train martial healers...
masterfat78 wrote:
Personally, my noble is going to want a keep or villa. Preferably a large one, with a good sized library, as he has aspirations to become a caster, as well as believing knowledge is probably the most important thing in the world. And of course, it needs catacombs, just in case he bites it so that his spirit can serve as an encounter for other adventurers down the line. lol
Luciender wrote:
Characters will spend their money on better armors, weapons and downtime training
And booze, LOTS of it!! 
caecafortuna wrote:
Does anyone know if the downtime training rules are going to be included in basic D&D? Have they said anything about it?
Luciender wrote:
Shasarak wrote:
Anti-Magic Items and Mythals. I plan to cover the world with them like its a verizon network. Then work on getting house cat on the endangered species list.
I will build an army with Hobgoblins trained as fighters.
One of my players wants her mage to open a guild, so here's hoping the downtime rules include that kind of thing.
Depends on the rules, hopefully the downtime rules in the DMG will give players plenty of things to spend money on like running guilds or building forts. I will introduce magic items crafting and shops as soon as those options are available.
Till then I imagine my players will save gold for better armor, and wizards will spend gold adding every spell they can to their books.
Rebuilding and maintaining the city of Towerfall. This is after investigating the suspicious elements in the city itself and tracing it back to the spectral lord who runs the city. Though benevolent, his actions bring the ire of the Church of the Arcana. Will the party choose to exorcise the rightful king in a plea to prevent an invasion? Will they become vassals to the spirit-king and protect it's people? Will they try to negotiate a truce, to uncover why he was slain and end the violence? Or will they take another option? Find out next time in Spelley's Campaign!
FFSAA wrote:
I don't know what I'm going to spend my character's money on. That's assuming I'll have a character to begin with (I'm almost always the DM).
I've done a little bit of internet research on medieval prices and I found out something very interesting. The prices for houses and castles were rediculously overpriced in 2e.
With a quick internet search, you can find these kinds of comparisons:
Armor for Prince of Wales, "gilt and graven": 340 gold coins
House with courtyard: 90 gold coins
So when I look back at my 3e, with my mind unpolluted by the 2e prices, I don't think it would be unreasonable to have big houses costs around the same price as a +2 or +3 armor. 1 million gold pieces is a huge expense for a 3e character so you probably would use this money to buy magic items but when you can buy your castle for a lot less, you're not losing too much power buying a house or a castle.
I always use a monthly upkeep cost tied to level (50gp/level/month works for my campaign) that covers rented lodging, meals, consumable equipment (arrows, rations, etc.) replacement, taxes and tolls, tithes, training, minor bribes for local information (a round of drinks at the tavern), etc. The exact expenditures may be different for each character. Players who can't meet the costs (or choose not to) run the risk of missing a spell component at a critical time, damaged weapons (natural one means -1 to hit until repaired and a crit from an enemy means an AC penalty or broken shield if they haven't met their monthly upkeep), or not realizing that they have no extra oil for the lanterns. Spending more than required earns them goodwill in the village/town/etc. as they are seen as generous and many more people are willing to go out of their way to help them.
Hirelings, new equipment or mounts, major bribes, minor magic items (potions and scrolls for the most part), etc. still are payed for during game time. The treasure I normally give out in the game is much lower than most published adventures. I was raised in stories of Fafhred and the Grey Mouser, Conan, and Elric... certainly all high level characters and possessed of wildly varying fortune... often completely broke. My campaigns are rarely centered on the acquisition of loot, but sometimes raiding a mind flayer's vault is the only way to pay the bills to continue pursuit of more noble goals!
If they establish some sort of stronghold, there is an initial outlay of cash for the place (though it may be part of a reward for services at higher level) and the upkeep costs goes to 100gp/level/month and includes upkeep for the structure, minor servants (not soldiers or specialists - these are paid for directly), etc. Failure to maintain costs at this level may result in disloyal servants who may leave a door unlocked for your enemies! If a group owns the structure, they may share this increased cost, but must continue to meet their personal upkeep.
It's not realistic, but it does remove some of the book keeping tracking mundane expenditures, makes sure that characters don't have piles of gold sitting around, and sometimes gives an incentive to wander into the wild following a rumor of hidden treasure...
The PDF has player expenses similar to mine (though the mechanics are left a little fuzzier), but it doesn't increase with character level which means there will be probably be little reason to track it beyond the first few levels. I will probably try this in my next campaign...
I liked the idea of lifestyle costs (of course, I liked it 25 years ago when Shadowrun did it), it's a lot better than the arbitrarily high 'gold rush' costs or 'training' expenses of AD&D. Your characters /can/ live it up between adventures, but they're not forced to.
I also will pay a hobgoblins to train me their secret fighting style. Then I would a fighter training school and claim full credit.