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View Full Version : Re-D20 Modern; Making Wealth work.



Kholai
2012-09-13, 08:02 PM
So, whilst idling away my time rewriting the D20 Modern system into something a bit more... palatable, I've started working on the Wealth system.

Wealth
Wealth represents what funds are available to a character. Rather than a strict numerical quantity, wealth is a general measure of not only a character’s overall available funds, but their credit, stability of income and other assets that allow them to handle purchases.

Since Wealth is an abstract concept, it's sometimes difficult to determine how financially well off a character is. To get a general sense of how financially solvent a character is at any given time, check the table below.


1:3 Approximate Wealth Bonus Equivalent.
Wealth Bonus|Financial Condition
+0 or lower.|Impoverished or in debt
+1 to +4|Struggling
+5 to +10|Working class
+11 to +15|Middle Class
+16 to +20|Upper Middle Class
+21 to +30|Wealthy
+31 or higher|Millionaire



Starting Wealth

A character's starting Wealth bonus is normally 5 plus the wealth bonus for the character's starting occupation, plus any modifiers from feats, plus 1 if the character has ranks in Profession.

Over the course of play, the hero's Wealth bonus will decrease as the hero purchases expensive items and increase as the hero gains levels.

A character's Wealth bonus can never fall below -10, there is no limit to how high the Wealth bonus can climb.

Using Wealth

Wealth checks are used to determine what characters can afford and what gear they might reasonably have access to. Every object and service has a purchase DC. To purchase an object, make a Wealth check against the purchase DC. Generally speaking,

A Wealth check is a 1D20 roll plus a character’s wealth bonus.

Losing Wealth

Whenever a character purchases an item, they may lose wealth as a result. If their check succeeds by less than twenty, then they lose 1 point of wealth for 1 day for every 2 points of the purchase DC, rounding down. If their result succeeds by less than ten, then they lose one or more additional points of wealth permanently as per the table below. All losses are cumulative.

Table 1:4 Wealth Check loss
{table=header]Succeed by...|Wealth Loss
20 or more.|None
Less than 20.|-1 wealth for a number of days equal to half the purchase DC.
Less than 10.|-1 wealth permanently.
Less than 5.|-1 wealth, permanently.
By 0.|-1 additional wealth for a number of days equal to half the purchase DC.[/table]


Should a character’s wealth fall below 0, this indicates that they are heavily in debt, and may sink even further if they aren’t careful. Should a character’s wealth fall to -10, they are financially destitute, and may no longer purchase any item unless their wealth increases above -10.

Wealth may also be given away, either as a bribe (see the Diplomacy skill), or to aid another in making a purchase. For each point of wealth bonus granted to another for any reason, they must make a special wealth check the DC is equal to 10 plus 5 per point of wealth being given.

If they make the check they immediately lose all the wealth bonus invested this way for one week. Should they fail the check then this loss is permanent.

Maintenance

A character may have items in regular use equal to ten times their wealth bonus, to a minimum of 0. Should they exceed this amount for over a month, then for each additional ten points (rounding up) they own, they must either allow a random item to be broken and require repair, or suffer a permanent -1 penalty to their wealth bonus each month. This accounts for tax, maintenance costs, repair fees, replacement parts and all other, similar financial burdens.

Individuals may choose to combine their respective wealth bonuses for the purposes of determining maintenance. Unused items, such as those left in long term storage (though the storage itself would potentially require maintenance) do not count for the purpose of determining maintenance.

Accumulating Wealth

Wealth is typically accumulated in three different ways.

Rewards: Finding a suitcase of unmarked bills, getting a bonus or raise from the department head, receiving a grant from a museum for the recovery of a priceless Irian ruby and other such benefits are rewards for the hero’s actions in the world. Rewards are handled by the GM, and are frequently the cause behind a character’s motivation to adventure.

Working: The profession skill, and the profession modifiers associated with each class, represent a character’s overall success in their professional field - when they aren’t jetting across the world fighting crime at least. A character may attempt a profession check with a DC equal to 10 + their current wealth bonus, and if they succeed, may increase their wealth bonus by 1, plus an additional 1 for every 5 points they beat the target DC by. A profession check takes one month to make. Whenever a character gains a level, they may immediately make a Profession check for free to increase their wealth.

Working and the profession check is gone into in more detail in the Profession Skill entry.

Selling: Selling an item they have already purchased can supply a character with a quick boost to their Wealth score. To sell an item takes 1 hour per point of DC, and the character must make a Selling check with a DC equal to 10 plus their current wealth score.

A selling check is a 1D20 roll plus the Purchase DC of the item being sold.

Should they succeed at this check, then they may gain a +1 bonus to their wealth score that lasts for a number of days equal to half the Purchase DC. They also gain an additional point of Wealth permanently for every ten points.by which they beat the Selling check DC.

Mcbain is in dire straights after accidentally blowing up half the city, and the chief has taken his badge again and made him pay for the damage, but he needs to get a plane ticket to catch Sharktooth Mendoza before he enacts his evil plan in North West Shropshire, England! The DC of the trip is DC 10, something that Mcbain, already struggling at -1 Wealth, can’t easily afford. If he had time, Mcbain could knuckle down and earn some money working as security or bodyguard, or shop around for a week trying for a cheaper ticket, but he needs the money now. Mcbain reluctantly sells the gold watch the force gave him the first time he retired, with a Purchase DC of 16. Taking 10 with the check, it takes him 16 hours to find a buyer, and with a result of 26 he easily passes the DC 9 required, getting a temporary +1 to his wealth score for eight days, and a permanent +1 to his wealth score from the sale.

Now he can afford the ticket, Mcbain immediately buys it with a Wealth check result of 11, and another ten hours later Mcbain is on his way to Merrye Olde Englande.

Because the check was less than 5 over the purchase DC, Mcbain loses 2 points of wealth permanently, and a further -1 penalty for 5 days, leaving him at -2 wealth. Easy come, easy go.


So far I'm hoping I've solved:

1: Closes Infinite Wealth Loops.

Whilst you can indeed purchase infinite amounts of knick knacks, your inability to do anything with them means they're basically going to cost you an infinite amount of wealth. You can't just sell your infinite knick knacks to recover lost credit, and if you can afford to buy a DC 2 Sub Sandwich taking 10 on the check, you're safely Middle Class and really should be making enough that your finances can afford to without a hitch.

2: Remove arbitrary silliness.

According to the system, a DC 15 check is an item worth about $500. As per the rules, selling an item for $500 or buying one for $500 should not significantly impact upon your credit when you're a millionaire. Your wealth check determines how able you are to account for your spending, and taking 20 to find the best deal, sort out a solid payment plan and all that stuff directly leads to a lower impact on their wealth.

This allows working class Joe to purchase an economy car at a heavy penalty to their daily living expenses, whilst Millionaire Gary can buy one pretty easily even if they don't take the same care (and if they took the time to research it, could do it without impacting on their finances at all).

3: Maintain the core simplicity of the system.

Ultimately, if you want to grab something it's still just roll D20 plus Wealth, see what you get and reduce wealth as necessary. Hopefully these planned changes don't change that.

If anyone has any comments on what I have so far I'd appreciate it.

Kholai
2012-09-14, 09:08 AM
Updated to add accumulating wealth. Hopefully someone around here is up to the challenge of breaking my system.

Garryl
2012-09-14, 11:49 AM
I was going to complain about working class folks go broke buying groceries (and other DC 0 items), but then I realized you can (and are expected to) take 10 most of the time. Then I noticed that since you take a temporary penalty to your wealth, you still can't buy much. So depending on how many DC 0 items your wealth +9 individual purchases, he can still go broke. You actually need a wealth bonus 10 greater than the item's DC to purchase unlimited quantities. So cheap objects bought en masse can still break your bank. Bob the minimum wage worker (wealth +5) can only actually buy 4 DC 2 sandwiches per day before running into financial troubles (having to roll and thus risking permanent wealth loss 50% or more of the time). And that's just meals for yourself. There are tons of other small purchases that go into maintaining a home each day.

I still find it odd that finding a decent sandwich takes hours.

Tyndmyr
2012-09-14, 12:02 PM
Be aware that so long as items exist that cost no wealth, and items can be sold for a wealth gain, and items can be combined to make more valuable items, infinite wealth is always possible.

This principle is what led me to abandon using such wealth systems altogether, as ditching any one of those three things results in a remarkably limited system, but infinite wealth is, well, crazy.

Kholai
2012-09-15, 04:55 AM
I was going to complain about working class folks go broke buying groceries (and other DC 0 items), but then I realized you can (and are expected to) take 10 most of the time. Then I noticed that since you take a temporary penalty to your wealth, you still can't buy much. So depending on how many DC 0 items your wealth +9 individual purchases, he can still go broke. You actually need a wealth bonus 10 greater than the item's DC to purchase unlimited quantities. So cheap objects bought en masse can still break your bank. Bob the minimum wage worker (wealth +5) can only actually buy 4 DC 2 sandwiches per day before running into financial troubles (having to roll and thus risking permanent wealth loss 50% or more of the time). And that's just meals for yourself. There are tons of other small purchases that go into maintaining a home each day.

For the most part, this would be abstracted into the "Maintenance" aspect, as that's what it is intended to represent after all, but yes, for a working class guy, buying four meals a day is a bit of a struggle (remember that with a family unit, each individual can contribute to required wealth checks) they probably rent rather than buy, and they spend a lot of their time making Profession checks in order to make ends meet and taking 20 on purchases for the things they need. The poorer you are, the more time you have to spend worrying about your finances.


I still find it odd that finding a decent sandwich takes hours.

Hopefully something I can eliminate. I'm thinking of actually attaching a "rarity" to items and bringing in something like availability from D&D; a more complex, advanced society is more likely to carry goods and you can get them more quickly, whilst a rural backwater might take you several hours to find a sandwich shop that was still open, but generally even taking 20 on "Sandwich purchasing" should be under an hour.

[QUOTE=Tyndmyr;13897437]Be aware that so long as items exist that cost no wealth, and items can be sold for a wealth gain, and items can be combined to make more valuable items, infinite wealth is always possible.

This principle is what led me to abandon using such wealth systems altogether, as ditching any one of those three things results in a remarkably limited system, but infinite wealth is, well, crazy./QUOTE]

In reality, infinite wealth gain is also possible. What you're basically referring to is essentially flipping a house.

In game practice, given the time involved people that do this are basically merchants, not adventurers.

However, I believe I can fix this.

- A character purchasing any item with a Purchase DC greater than twice their Wealth score lose 1 point of wealth permanently. This is in addition to the results of a wealth check.

- A Selling check is a 1D20 roll plus the Purchase DC of the item being sold.

Should they succeed at this check, then they gain a +1 Sale bonus to their wealth score, plus 1 for every 5 points they beat the check by.

Should they fail this check, the item is still sold, but its sale failed to generate enough revenue to improve their financial situation.


In this change, since selling is a typed bonus, this means -

a: One cannot sell multiple items for infinite wealth, since same bonus types don't stack.
b: Even if you have a drastically more wealthy individual feeding you free goods, your maximum wealth remains more or less constant.

This makes transferring funds directly necessary, and I may make this permanent on both ends.