Ok, two things. I'm playing D&D 3.5, I'm new at it and so are the people I'm playing with. We've got a DMG and PM but can't really figure out how players are supposed to be presented with the opportunity to buy magic weapons and or armor. It just doesn't seem like it should be readily available on a menu at every smithy in any town..
But also, we've only been on 4 adventures, out of the little included adventure book and we already have like 2 grand in gold a piece. Which EASILY buys any weapon listed in the players handbook so it seems obvious that were given so much treasure because its essential to spend a lot somewhere for some reason.
So, other than buying a mansion or a boat or hoarding, what's a proper or generally popular use of my thousands of make believe pieces of (probably too heavy to carry around) gold pieces?
Do you own a 3.5 Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide AND Monster Manual. You need these three books to get a functional game running.
Quote from: Benoist;664845Do you own a 3.5 Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide AND Monster Manual. You need these three books to get a functional game running.
I have a PH and a DMG and the Monster Manual is in the mail! I don't feel like the purchase of magical or otherwise expensive things is covered the the MM though, probably.
Well, you can use the online SRD (here (http://www.d20srd.org/)) for the monsters.
As for what to spend the money on, it really depends on how you guys want to play it. You can hire people. You can hire people to do things like cast spells, perhaps. A lot of 3e groups do make it so you can commission or even make your own magic weapons or items, but if that seems cheesy to you, you might not do that. (There's a whole big debate about this among D&D veterans but it's not worth getting into for a group that's new to the game.) If you outfit your characters with masterwork items, which is very commonly done, you'll put a big dent in your savings. There is also the prospect of buying equipment made out of special materials like mithril, which is yet more expensive. Or poisons. Or you can buy a mansion or a boat or a title or a letter of marque or any number of things the rules don't strictly provide for.
Well, there are always make believe wenches and booze.
Mercenaries, servants, wagons & animals (and food for them), food for everyone, general "high life of an adventurer" upkeep (after all, you never know if the next dungeon won't be the last one, so why bother keeping the gold if a loose arrow'll do you in?), spare gear, magical potions*, throwing wild parties/donations to communities to show how great you are...all those things take a toll on the pocket, and some will pay dividends. After all, everyone speaks the language of money, and if you have fat enough purse, you may be able to cut through some strata of even feudal society.
*Assuming brewers are much more popular than general magical items makers.
As on the magic items in general - this depends a lot on the setting. While indeed every smith probably doesn't know how to create magical items, some may do some, and some may even be capable of creating marvellous items. But indeed, prices for such things ought to be perhaps left to GM's imagination rather than GM's manual perhaps.
The source of magic weapons/armor/etc would be up to the DM, but if you don't want some ubiquitous "Ye Olde Shoppe of Magick & Special Stuff" around the world, then merchants who might have picked up something unique in their travels, or an heirloom being hocked by a destitute family might be sources to purchase said items.
I believe the DMG is where you can find "pricing" information for magic weapons, but the D20 SRD has this information.
Basically, that 2,000gp you've got? That's going to be completely expended (and then some) if you were to outright buy an entry-level magic weapon.
For example:
Your basic longsword is 15gp.
A masterwork longsword 300gp, which gets it a +1 to attack (not damage).
All magic weapons are masterwork, so that masterwork price is your starting point. If you were to magically enhance that longsword with a basic +1 (to both attack and damage), that's going to cost you 2,000gp (note, the +1 to attack for masterwork and +1 to attack for magic do not stack).
Special abilities count as +'s for the purpose of pricing - you can have a max of +5 enhancement and +5 of special abilities, and to have a special ability, you have to have at least a +1 to the weapon, so, for example, you want a longsword that deals additional cold damage?
That's a "+1 frost longsword" and is going to cost 8,300 GP (300gp base masterwork, 8,000gp for the +2 (+1 for the +1 magical enhancement, +1 for the frost).
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/equipment/weapons.htm#tableWeapons (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/equipment/weapons.htm#tableWeapons)
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicWeapons.htm (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicWeapons.htm)
I believe that's just the base price for creation - there may be other costs associated, such as spell components, XP cost for crafting, etc. I think that creation costs are essentially half of buy costs, so something like 16,300gp to buy that, or 4,300gp to buy a basic +1 longsword.
Save your pennies, because it just gets more expensive from there!
50 gold pieces weighs a pound, so yeah the weight adds up. You can often carry some proportion of cash as gems or other treasure. Mules are cheap, or magical Bags of Holding or the like are very handy, if you can find them.
A lot of GMs don't like 'magic item shops', another option may be for characters to try to track down sellers for specific items (using Gather Information or the like). Potentially you could find an adventurer who's trying to selling something they can't use, retiring, or just needs some spending money. A friendly wizard or priest might be persuaded to construct something in exchange for some combination of cash and/or services.
In 3e/3.5e per the RAW settlements have a Wealth Value 'gp limit' depending on population size, listed in the DMG. This is the maximum value of gear that can normally be bought in a settlement of that size, GM permitting. So you can't buy vorpal swords in a hamlet (limit 100gp), but might be able to get potions of cure light wounds from the local priest.
Edit: page 137 DMG.
Quote from: Randombilly;664843So, other than buying a mansion or a boat or hoarding, what's a proper or generally popular use of my thousands of make believe pieces of (probably too heavy to carry around) gold pieces?
People have already answered the mechanical suggestions offered from the system. (I say 'suggestions' specifically, because ugly things can unintentionally occur if you read it as holy writ of imagination-land. Your campaign is yours, with which it will have its own setting logic. Don't feel compelled to abandon your vision of imagination for what is 'proper play.')
That said, the latter question's answer is: whatever makes sense to the setting and the characters.
GP is an abstraction. Currency is expected to deviate in form (and have taxation and exchange rates, too) depending on the society. Heck, someone could run a pastoral campaign and have livestock as the form of value. That said, it sounds like this game is shooting for the immediately grokable 'gold coin.'
But that's just the issue. These abstractions are open areas for GM setting detail. The nature of power in the setting defaults to character gear (and namely rare and priceless magical gear) if no other power structures are fleshed out. If your setting elaborated on economic, political, religious, popular, or cultural power then it would be a richer decision on where to spend such monetary influence.
The more setting material with which to engage, the greater the choice on where to spend it, and often easier too as character motivation gravitates to interests. So a fighter who lives where heroic tales are valued might hire a bard to make an epic bardic poem of himself. Or a high GP famed art object might lean the character towards being an art broker/tomb raider. Or if trade is popular, start a shipping company. Or if stability is desired but challenging, start a cottage in the frontier, start a family, and try to grow a garden.
There's everything you can imagine and more to spend one's money on. But the key is the setting has to offer enough facets to engage. This is the part where the players talk about what their character is intested in, and negotiate with the GM how to best represent that in setting. Without other methods to invest gained power, eventually the game can funnel down to dungeon running for item drops and gold hoarding. It's up to the table to talk to each other to explore what else they would like to do with said power.
Quote from: Randombilly;664847I have a PH and a DMG and the Monster Manual is in the mail! I don't feel like the purchase of magical or otherwise expensive things is covered the the MM though, probably.
In 3.5 the assumption (more or less) is that you'll get some amount of magic gear in the course of your career. Magic gear is listed in the DMG, probably because such massively expensive items aren't assumed to all be available all the time in every town.
My advice would be to talk to your DM about his policy on such things and more or less go through him. Does he handle this stuff "off screen" and just assume you look long and far and wide enough to get what you want? Or is getting stuff like this supposed to be an adventure hook? Or did he nix magic items and assume normal gold distribution was fine, leaving you filthy rich?
Quote from: Randombilly;664843Ok, two things. I'm playing D&D 3.5, I'm new at it and so are the people I'm playing with. We've got a DMG and PM but can't really figure out how players are supposed to be presented with the opportunity to buy magic weapons and or armor. It just doesn't seem like it should be readily available on a menu at every smithy in any town..
But also, we've only been on 4 adventures, out of the little included adventure book and we already have like 2 grand in gold a piece. Which EASILY buys any weapon listed in the players handbook so it seems obvious that were given so much treasure because its essential to spend a lot somewhere for some reason.
So, other than buying a mansion or a boat or hoarding, what's a proper or generally popular use of my thousands of make believe pieces of (probably too heavy to carry around) gold pieces?
Hi! And welcome to theRPGsite!
3e does have a bit of problem about where to spend all that money; neither strongholds nor training expenses are a standard part of 3e play. Yes, that leaves magic items, which are quite buyable in 3e but at GM's discretion as to how readily available they should be, usually depending on the kind of campaign he wants to run.
Aside from that, you have to start getting creative about it.
RPGPundit
Just imagine someone gave you $2000 what would you spend it on?
Now imagine you are a mercenary with Blackwater or Sandline. You have $2000 in your pocket what do you spend it on?
A magic sword is to a D&D warrior what a bit of super secret US tech is to a mercenary. Desirable but hard to get hold of without the right contacts. Sure you can go to a private gunsmith and get your made to measure side arm but you aren't going to get the really good stuff without a lof of digging.
Also as has been said setting drives about 90% of what you do with treasure.
If you are playing in a world like Middle Earth then chances are treasure gets hoarded, in a Dwarven mountain, an Elven Haven or a Hobbit Hole. If you are in Hyboria it gets spent on women, wine and gambling running through your fingers like water. If you are in Psuedo-rome it gets spent on religious festivals and games for the mob. If you are in Gor it gets spent on Paga, bed slaves and food for your tarn. If you are in Westeros it gets spent on your family's stronghold, or lands or on paying off your debt to the Lanisters.
Quote from: jibbajibba;665346Also as has been said setting drives about 90% of what you do with treasure.
A very good point. But most D&D editions also have an "implied setting" written into the rules. 3e is no exception.