D&D 5E Treasure Tables (or, how much gold DOES that goblin have?)

[Remathilis]

My DMG is not yet here, nor are the guidelines in the Basic rules (yet). I'm wondering, what is the treasure distribution guidelines in the DMG looks like.

A couple of Specific questions, either inferred or outright stated.

1.) How much gold does a typical encounter give? Are we talking tens of gold, hundreds, or thousands, especially at low level.

2.) Is there a guide to how many magic items to give during an encounter or per level? (1 per level, etc)?

3.) What does epic level (17+) look like? Dragon hordes?

4.) How does the treasure stack up to 1e, 2e, or 3e treasure? Close enough that a module could be used with no change to treasure or would it require tailoring (less gold, fewer items, etc)?

I realize that a.) the DM sets it what he wants and b.) there is no expected "wealth per level", but every edition has had guides to keep the game from descending into Monty Haul or becoming too stingy.

 

[CapnZapp]

The big change compared to previous editions is that you need to find something for the players to spend the gold on.

If your group enjoys world-building, fine. Then they can sink their money into building projects or whatnot.

But if you just want to run a few modules, you might need to bring back the magic item economy from previous editions, or you could find your players with heaps of gold, but nothing to spend it all on.

So you should think about it. You can't just expect to run modules from previous editions such as 3E or 4E, since in those editions, "too much gold" was never an issue - there were always something more expensive to buy...

To answer your specific questions, though: the DMG does give advice, but don't expect anything nearly as detailed as in the two previous editions.

 

[Remathilis]

The big change compared to previous editions is that you need to find something for the players to spend the gold on.

If your group enjoys world-building, fine. Then they can sink their money into building projects or whatnot.

But if you just want to run a few modules, you might need to bring back the magic item economy from previous editions, or you could find your players with heaps of gold, but nothing to spend it all on.

So you should think about it. You can't just expect to run modules from previous editions such as 3E or 4E, since in those editions, "too much gold" was never an issue - there were always something more expensive to buy...

To answer your specific questions, though: the DMG does give advice, but don't expect anything nearly as detailed as in the two previous editions.

My group has never had a problem spending gold in 2e, so that's not an issue.

My question boils down to how much treasure SHOULD they be getting normally, and does that align to, say, Keep on the Borderlands treasure distribution?

 

[fanboy2000]

1.) How much gold does a typical encounter give? Are we talking tens of gold, hundreds, or thousands, especially at low level.

Excellent question. Let's see if I can answer it.

2.) Is there a guide to how many magic items to give during an encounter or per level? (1 per level, etc)?

Not as such. What they have are random treasure table and, from that, I think we can extrapolate a range.

The individual treasure tables (i.e., the treasure that just a single monster might have) are just cash, no magic items. For example, the CR 0-4 individual treasure table can give you a result between 5cp to 6pp.

There are separate treasure tables for hoards. Those tables have the possibility of generating cash, gems, art objects, and magic items. A result on that table is basically a pointer to other tables for generating gems (theres a whole one and a half page spread of random gem and art object tables).

And yes, those tables include electrum pieces.

There's a table on page 135 that gives appropriate rarity for character levels. So, common and uncommon items are appropriate for PCs of any level, rare, 5th or higher, very rare 11th or higher, and legendary is 17+.

The magic item tables are lettered A-I. Table I is the only table with +3 Armor and a Sphere of Annihilation.

There's an 8% chance of getting to roll on table I if you roll on the CR 11-16 treasure hoard table.

There's a 20% chance of getting to roll on table I if you roll on the CR 17+ treasure hoard table.

Take from that what you will.

3.) What does epic level (17+) look like? Dragon hordes?

You roll, unsurprisingly, on the treasure hoard table corresponding to the CR of the monster. When you roll on any of those tables, there is always a chance of no magic items. But even a CR 2 White Wyrmling Dragon is going to be on a huge pile of coins. And there's a 3% chance of rolling on magic item table G, which has wand of fireball on it. (And an Ebony Fly, FWIW).

4.) How does the treasure stack up to 1e, 2e, or 3e treasure? Close enough that a module could be used with no change to treasure or would it require tailoring (less gold, fewer items, etc)?

Can't say for 1e or 2e, sorry.

For fourth, I feel confident in saying that you could run an entire campaign from 1-20 and never give out a magic item that grants a bonus to anything. You'll probably want healing potions though. We're back to those being an important thing.

From a 3.x persepctive, I personally would fee comfortable dolling out treasure exactly the way a adventure does. But I don't know how useful that answer is to you. The reason is that, while magic items are far from being a necessity, they're a lot of fun. 5e goes a long way to suggesting that you don't need to doll out magic at all, or at a low rate. But the magic items are, I feel, a ton of fun.

I realize that a.) the DM sets it what he wants and b.) there is no expected "wealth per level", but every edition has had guides to keep the game from descending into Monty Haul or becoming too stingy.

5e seems to be doing that on via the random tables. And I think the reason is fairly simple, they don't want DMs to feel beholden to a rate of magic item distribution. But the random tables defiantly suggest a where the magic items are common, at least for the PCS.

 

[Riley37]

Do you prefer a D&D game in which everything works smoothly like an MMO, and if a monster was X hard to kill, there is also more or less X amount of loot conveniently nearby when it dies?

Or would you rather have a game in which that relationship was more like... well, the way it works in the Lord of the Rings books, or the Belgariad, or Curse of Chalion, or (insert favorite fantasy story)? That is to say, what you gain from a difficult monster encounter is XP, and whether you also find useful stuff depends on what the monster actually was.

 

[Derren]

Do you prefer a D&D game in which everything works smoothly like an MMO, and if a monster was X hard to kill, there is also more or less X amount of loot conveniently nearby when it dies?

Or would you rather have a game in which that relationship was more like... well, the way it works in the Lord of the Rings books, or the Belgariad, or Curse of Chalion, or (insert favorite fantasy story)? That is to say, what you gain from a difficult monster encounter is XP, and whether you also find useful stuff depends on what the monster actually was.

That still doesn't explain if that goblin would have two bend copper pieces or a sack of 50 gold pieces with him.
But considering the many complains in other threads that without optional plugins gold is useless as you can't spend it, this seems to be mood anyway.

 

[Remathilis]

Do you prefer a D&D game in which everything works smoothly like an MMO, and if a monster was X hard to kill, there is also more or less X amount of loot conveniently nearby when it dies?

Or would you rather have a game in which that relationship was more like... well, the way it works in the Lord of the Rings books, or the Belgariad, or Curse of Chalion, or (insert favorite fantasy story)? That is to say, what you gain from a difficult monster encounter is XP, and whether you also find useful stuff depends on what the monster actually was.

Neither. I want to know what the DMG said about it so I know how to tailor it to fit MY campaign vision. [MENTION=19998]fanboy2000[/MENTION] gave me some good info as to what using the the tables as is looks like.

 

[Warmaster Horus]

The big change compared to previous editions is that you need to find something for the players to spend the gold on.

If your group enjoys world-building, fine. Then they can sink their money into building projects or whatnot.

But if you just want to run a few modules, you might need to bring back the magic item economy from previous editions, or you could find your players with heaps of gold, but nothing to spend it all on.

So you should think about it. You can't just expect to run modules from previous editions such as 3E or 4E, since in those editions, "too much gold" was never an issue - there were always something more expensive to buy...

To answer your specific questions, though: the DMG does give advice, but don't expect anything nearly as detailed as in the two previous editions.

The main thing I see the DMG discouraging is the presence of Ye Olde Magik Shoppes and the magic item counter at the back of Goblin Jacques' Dry Goods Emporium. Selling magic items would be more akin to hiring agents to find interested buyers or bequeathing them to curry influence with the various powers that be. Buying magic items might involve attending invitation-only auctions or commissioning their creation by artificer mages outright. In the end, if a player wants something and is willing to pay (or play) for it, then it's up to you as DM to give them a path forward to getting it - though how achievable and lengthy that process is must be up you.