D&D 5E Why I think gold should have less uses in 5e, not more.

[Undrave]

There are so many D&D-style games that do a better job handling the usage of gold, including previous editions and other versions of 5e, than WotC 5e. We are not forced into their design paradigm.

Any do it in a way that it's not a second EXP track? Or do they just keep your survival expense as a high enough % of your earnings that you can't do anything else with you money?

I don't want to just sound cynical or anything, I just believe that embracing the 'character improvement ressource' nature of Gold would make the game more interesting than continue to fight against the notion and resulting in a bland useless currency.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Any do it in a way that it's not a second EXP track? Or do they just keep your survival expense as a high enough % of your earnings that you can't do anything else with you money?

I don't want to just sound cynical or anything, I just believe that embracing the 'character improvement ressource' nature of Gold would make the game more interesting than continue to fight against the notion and resulting in a bland useless currency.

I'm saying gold does more than one thing. If your players are just wanting to use it to make themselves better at combat, then it's because that's what they care about, not because there's nothing else to be done.

 

[Undrave]

Well, it also means you can keep rewards lower. In 3e, with buying items being a fairly common occurrence, wealth rewards need to keep increasing to ridiculous levels because that's how you can afford to spend 9,000 gp on increasing your cloak of resistance from +4 to +5. If a typical reward is instead more along the lines of a few hundred gp, that makes for more grounded spending.

This also make it feel like you're not actually being rewarded for how much work you actually do. If fighting a dragon doesn't reward more than fighting Goblins, it'll be way easier to just be a glorified exterminator.

 

[Undrave]

I'm saying gold does more than one thing. If your players are just wanting to use it to make themselves better at combat, then it's because that's what they care about, not because there's nothing else to be done.

You could improve your social position, or make your traveling easier, as well, which are also a ways to improve your character. If you can use money to go forth further away from your home base you'll have more opportunity than if you only have a couple mules. And if you can rub elbow with the elite you might have more lucrative contracts.

If you just want your PC to spend on experiences for their PC in-universe, then just reward them in favours and don't bother tracking the GPs.

 

[Micah Sweet]

You could improve your social position, or make your traveling easier, as well, which are also a ways to improve your character. If you can use money to go forth further away from your home base you'll have more opportunity than if you only have a couple mules. And if you can rub elbow with the elite you might have more lucrative contracts.

If you just want your PC to spend on experiences for their PC in-universe, then just reward them in favours and don't bother tracking the GPs.

That's not what I want. I want folks to spend on things that you want that cost money to buy.

Just like real life. My agenda is based on verisimilitude, not gamism.

 

[Reynard]

Just like real life. My agenda is based on verisimilitude, not gamism.

The problem with that is that the numbers have never made any kind of sense from a verisimilitude perspective in any edition. Gold you get from the dungeon is and has always been a gamist element of play. No version of D&D has, does or could make it make sense in the context of the world the game presents.

 

[Micah Sweet]

The problem with that is that the numbers have never made any kind of sense from a verisimilitude perspective in any edition. Gold you get from the dungeon is and has always been a gamist element of play. No version of D&D has, does or could make it make sense in the context of the world the game presents.

The work needs to be, and has been, done to make that happen. Just not in official D&D.

 

[Lanefan]

The problem with that is that the numbers have never made any kind of sense from a verisimilitude perspective in any edition. Gold you get from the dungeon is and has always been a gamist element of play. No version of D&D has, does or could make it make sense in the context of the world the game presents.

A party of five hauling back a big load of loot from a dungeon in Greyhawk.

A group of five people co-buying the winning Powerball ticket in the USA.

Is there really all that much difference in how these things affect the economy?

 

[GrimCo]

Doing some quick math. Worker gets 1 gold coin per day. We assume that coins are 22k or 24k gold. But it would probably be 4-5k gold. 1 coin is 9.2 grams. 1 gram of 5 karat gold (21% pure gold) is 14.4 euros. Worker earns gross 131 e per day, or 2880 e per month ( and he works 45 h per week for ease of calculatons). If you do math with 4k (17% gold), that is 11.54 per gram, or 103 euro for 9h work day. German minimum wage is 12.4e gross per hour. So your fantasy worker is making same as low skilled laborer in modern Germany.

Buying that +3 full plate for 10650 gp is similar to buying a modern day armored up version of BMW 7.

Simulating micro and macro economics in fantasy setting is not d&d's point. And to be honest, adjusting prices to reflect real world economics is PITA, so is modeling pc behaviour around real world. Realisticly, by the level 5-6 pcs would have enough cash to outsource low level stuff and would soon stop being adventurers and star being business owners. Why risk your life if you can live comfortably while others risk their life and health for your profit?

 

[LordBP]

A party of five hauling back a big load of loot from a dungeon in Greyhawk.

A group of five people co-buying the winning Powerball ticket in the USA.

Is there really all that much difference in how these things affect the economy?

Huge difference between the two.

The first has money that isn't in the economy and the second has money that is in the economy.

If you want something that was real world, then look at Mansa Musa pilgrimage to Mecca or the Spanish conquest of the Americas (and sending huge amounts of silver and gold back to Europe).