Wealth by Level

[Hyde]

There seem to be two prevailing schools of thought concerning the WBL table, so I'll just ask:

Is it "A character's net worth at a particular level" or "the net amount of gold a character should have accumulated at a particular level"?

At character creation, the question is largely moot, it's going forward I have questions about. Should characters earn treasure that it the gold value of the difference, or should the resale value of their gear be taken into consideration, etc?

A better way of putting it might be "Character worth" or "buying power"?

[karkus]

Just so I'm clear as to what you're asking:

Option A: the number indicated is the cost of new adventuring gear possessed by the (individual) characters

Option B: the number indicated is the total amount of gold that the (individual) characters could generally get by selling everything they own

In either case, it is generally just a rough guideline. Obviously if all you fight is Dire Animals, you will have almost no funds, as opposed to solely slaying dragons, which will yield much more treasure each encounter. You don't gain treasure based on your level, keep in mind, it's based on how much of it you actually find.

The only thing you will ever really need the WBL table for is making characters above 1st level.

[Gavinfoxx]

It's a number... and you should ask your GM how or if your abilities can stretch it or not... they didn't go into detail about what, precisely, it represented...

[Keneth]

WBL takes into account the characters' equipment, not just funds. In fact, when building higher-level characters, the WBL table is provided as guideline for the DM to determine what kind of equipment and valuables they should have, not just how much gold and gems they have on hand.

Either way, the WBL table is irrelevant to the players, you're not entitled to anything unless the DM says so. You control your characters' actions and the DM is responsible for making sure those actions yield sufficient rewards. The WBL table is there to help him do just that.

[Dusk Eclipse]

I just want to mention that the CR system (as borked as it is) assumes that you will have your WBL or something near in order to function. Having less or more than you are expected to can make encounters harder or trivial. So even if it is a guideline it is useful to keep in line with it.

[Hyde]

So basically, at any given moment, a character should have a net worth of gold and equipment near the WBL guideline, which would mean seeding slightly less treasure that the difference between any two levels, not including other resources spent, such as ressurections and what have you. Makes sense to me.

[Keneth]

That's pretty much it, yeah. The CR system does indeed assume equipment in the WBL range for an average, non-optimized party, but the campaigns I participate in frequently pit us against overwhelming encounters at less than 1/3 of predicted WBL and we tend to come out alright. Decisions like "how much loot should I give my players?" should always reflect the party's status quo, which is why the WBL is a guideline, not a rule.

[Sith_Happens]

So basically, at any given moment, a character should have a net worth of gold and equipment near the WBL guideline, which would mean seeding slightly less treasure that the difference between any two levels, not including other resources spent, such as ressurections and what have you. Makes sense to me.

Actually, WBL is based on the encounter treasure tables, with the assumption that a fair-sized portion of that treasure is or gets spent on consumables (WBL itself counts only permanent equipment). IIRC, there's a "total treasure earned per character" table with values higher than those in the WBL table.

[Hyde]

Actually, WBL is based on the encounter treasure tables, with the assumption that a fair-sized portion of that treasure is or gets spent on consumables (WBL itself counts only permanent equipment). IIRC, there's a "total treasure earned per character" table with values higher than those in the WBL table.

That was the "not including any other resources spent" line.

[Sith_Happens]

That was the "not including any other resources spent" line.

*rereads*

Missed that part.

[Hyde]

No worries :smallcool:

[Laserlight]

I just want to mention that the CR system (as borked as it is) assumes that you will have your WBL or something near in order to function. Having less or more than you are expected to can make encounters harder or trivial. So even if it is a guideline it is useful to keep in line with it.

Which implies that WBL is not about your total net worth, it's about what you can use on encounters. If you have 10,000gp in a bank on the other side of the ocean, that doesn't help you with the battle tonight.

[Keneth]

It doesn't imply that at all. Valuables are part of the equation, if you choose not to spend your money, that doesn't really affect anything. WBL is supposed to represent your net worth.

Since 3.5 WBL stuff is copyrighted, I'll just post this part from Pathfinder SRD:

Table: Character Wealth by Level lists the amount of treasure each PC is expected to have at a specific level. Note that this table assumes a standard fantasy game. Low-fantasy games might award only half this value, while high-fantasy games might double the value. It is assumed that some of this treasure is consumed in the course of an adventure (such as potions and scrolls), and that some of the less useful items are sold for half value so more useful gear can be purchased.

Table: Character Wealth by Level can also be used to budget gear for characters starting above 1st level, such as a new character created to replace a dead one. Characters should spend no more than half their total wealth on any single item. For a balanced approach, PCs that are built after 1st level should spend no more than 25% of their wealth on weapons, 25% on armor and protective devices, 25% on other magic items, 15% on disposable items like potions, scrolls, and wands, and 10% on ordinary gear and coins. Different character types might spend their wealth differently than these percentages suggest; for example, arcane casters might spend very little on weapons but a great deal more on other magic items and disposable items.

[Slipperychicken]

It's your character's value in adventuring gear, which the game assumes he has acquired via adventuring up to his current level. People just conceptualize it as cash because that's how one evaluates wealth by level.

Also, because it would be tedious to roll 9,001 random treasure tables to determine what miscellaneous garbage he has cluttering his inventory at 12th level.

[Curmudgeon]

At character creation, the question is largely moot, it's going forward I have questions about.
Wealth by Level should only be used at character creation — when you're creating characters above 1st level. Everything else is just a matter of the DM populating the world with enough treasure so the PCs will acquire the specified gp per encounter. After that what happens is entirely up to the players. They can use the items as is, or sell them. They can save their money or squander it. It's not the DM's job to save the PCs from their own actions if they don't make good use of the treasure.