Endarire
2014-01-20, 05:48 AM
Greetings, all!
Intro
In D&D and Pathfinder, spending wealth can directly grant you power. Wealth by level exists for good reason - to give an approximate minimum and maximum for what's considered a balanced amount of stuff to have. But how much does wealth (as in material stuff and other thingies purchasable with GP) affect a character's power? (This post was partially inspired by Vow of Poverty, low-wealth builds, and the Easy Bake Wizard (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=16813695).)
Wealth by Level Chart
3.5 and Pathfinder Wealth by Level (WBL) Charts (http://www.dndarchive.com/forums/depth-roleplay-qa/character-wealth-level)
The Setup
Let's assume we're playing 3.5 in a campaign setting from ECL1 to 20. Let's assume we're playing by the rules as written, with a banning on any sort of 'loop.' Also, any custom item that casts spells is out; thus, a ring that casts shield at will is out, but a scroll or potion or wand or eternal wand or schema of shield is OK. Other custom items are generally OK.
Let's also assume that we have a few scenarios. The first is a standard group with standard PC wealth by level - an arcanist ("Wizard"), a divine caster ("Druid"), a skillsman ("Rogue"), and a Big Melee Guy ("Warblade", Captialized for Emphasis). Multiclassing is allowed, but these are the initial classes of each build. (The other specifics of the build I leave to your imagination, but please post details in your reply if they matter!) These characters get approximately wealth by level (no more than 10% difference compared to the official chart). Any consumables obtained (scrolls, potions, etc.) including spent, count against WBL. Yes, this group is able to craft and relevant repricing for crafting counts.
The second is the same group, but starting at character creation they have the wealth by level of PCs 5 levels higher. Thus, at level 1, each has the wealth of a level 6 PC (13,000G); at level 2, each has the wealth of a level 7 PC (19,000G); at level 3, each has the wealth of a level 8 PC (27,000G); etc. Just like normal, any wealth spent isn't replaced. Thus, if a level 1 PC spends all of his 13,000G then becomes level 2, he only gets 6,000 more G to spend.
The third is the same group, but the difference in wealth by level is 10 levels. Thus, a level 1 PC has the starting wealth of a level 11 PC (66,000G), and so on.
In all of these scenarios, the group is initially playing the same campaign.
Questions
With these things in place, I assume that those with more wealth will use it to more drastically shape the campaign sooner. More specifically...
1: How do character builds change among the scenarios? Does having higher wealth make people take different feats, PrCs, skills, templates, and so on? Does having a higher starting wealth further encourage or discourage taking level adjustments later in life?
2: How does having higher wealth increase low-level survivability? Notoriously, characters are squishy and have have died in a hit or two (or in one round at most) in the first ~2 levels of their existence. What do high wealth parties do to change that?
3: How do interparty tiers change? Normally, the tier system is functional for levels 5-12 with approximately equal optimizers. This wealth surge gives more options, and lets certain builds flourish sooner. More importantly, how do martial characters improve compared to casters (and how much do these martial characters improve compared to the versions of themselves with less gold), and by how much?
4: How does this wealth surge influence the desire for items that aren't "boring but practical?" For example, getting higher pluses on vital stats (INT for Wizards, WIS for Druids, DEX and CON for everyone) certainly does help, but paying 4000G for +2 INT (for an INT-based character) at level 1 in the second scenario seems debatable. It'll probably win this debate, but it's still something to consider.
5: How much sooner do people run out of stuff that they feel they really want to buy? After covering the essentials - stat boosters, save boosters, skill boosters, extra consumables (scrolls/potions/wands/etc), extra storage (Heward's Handy Haversacks, Bags of Holding, Portable Holes, hirelings...), and eventual must-have items (flight, true seeing, this list (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=187851)) - where do you put the rest of your cash?
6: How do challenges compare? Is a group of level 1s with level 6 wealth reliable able to handle challenges meant for a level 6 party? What about a level 2 group with level 7 wealth against level 7 challenges? What about a level 1 group with level 11 wealth against level 11 challenges?
7: What else have you to say?
Intro
In D&D and Pathfinder, spending wealth can directly grant you power. Wealth by level exists for good reason - to give an approximate minimum and maximum for what's considered a balanced amount of stuff to have. But how much does wealth (as in material stuff and other thingies purchasable with GP) affect a character's power? (This post was partially inspired by Vow of Poverty, low-wealth builds, and the Easy Bake Wizard (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=16813695).)
Wealth by Level Chart
3.5 and Pathfinder Wealth by Level (WBL) Charts (http://www.dndarchive.com/forums/depth-roleplay-qa/character-wealth-level)
The Setup
Let's assume we're playing 3.5 in a campaign setting from ECL1 to 20. Let's assume we're playing by the rules as written, with a banning on any sort of 'loop.' Also, any custom item that casts spells is out; thus, a ring that casts shield at will is out, but a scroll or potion or wand or eternal wand or schema of shield is OK. Other custom items are generally OK.
Let's also assume that we have a few scenarios. The first is a standard group with standard PC wealth by level - an arcanist ("Wizard"), a divine caster ("Druid"), a skillsman ("Rogue"), and a Big Melee Guy ("Warblade", Captialized for Emphasis). Multiclassing is allowed, but these are the initial classes of each build. (The other specifics of the build I leave to your imagination, but please post details in your reply if they matter!) These characters get approximately wealth by level (no more than 10% difference compared to the official chart). Any consumables obtained (scrolls, potions, etc.) including spent, count against WBL. Yes, this group is able to craft and relevant repricing for crafting counts.
The second is the same group, but starting at character creation they have the wealth by level of PCs 5 levels higher. Thus, at level 1, each has the wealth of a level 6 PC (13,000G); at level 2, each has the wealth of a level 7 PC (19,000G); at level 3, each has the wealth of a level 8 PC (27,000G); etc. Just like normal, any wealth spent isn't replaced. Thus, if a level 1 PC spends all of his 13,000G then becomes level 2, he only gets 6,000 more G to spend.
The third is the same group, but the difference in wealth by level is 10 levels. Thus, a level 1 PC has the starting wealth of a level 11 PC (66,000G), and so on.
In all of these scenarios, the group is initially playing the same campaign.
Questions
With these things in place, I assume that those with more wealth will use it to more drastically shape the campaign sooner. More specifically...
1: How do character builds change among the scenarios? Does having higher wealth make people take different feats, PrCs, skills, templates, and so on? Does having a higher starting wealth further encourage or discourage taking level adjustments later in life?
2: How does having higher wealth increase low-level survivability? Notoriously, characters are squishy and have have died in a hit or two (or in one round at most) in the first ~2 levels of their existence. What do high wealth parties do to change that?
3: How do interparty tiers change? Normally, the tier system is functional for levels 5-12 with approximately equal optimizers. This wealth surge gives more options, and lets certain builds flourish sooner. More importantly, how do martial characters improve compared to casters (and how much do these martial characters improve compared to the versions of themselves with less gold), and by how much?
4: How does this wealth surge influence the desire for items that aren't "boring but practical?" For example, getting higher pluses on vital stats (INT for Wizards, WIS for Druids, DEX and CON for everyone) certainly does help, but paying 4000G for +2 INT (for an INT-based character) at level 1 in the second scenario seems debatable. It'll probably win this debate, but it's still something to consider.
5: How much sooner do people run out of stuff that they feel they really want to buy? After covering the essentials - stat boosters, save boosters, skill boosters, extra consumables (scrolls/potions/wands/etc), extra storage (Heward's Handy Haversacks, Bags of Holding, Portable Holes, hirelings...), and eventual must-have items (flight, true seeing, this list (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=187851)) - where do you put the rest of your cash?
6: How do challenges compare? Is a group of level 1s with level 6 wealth reliable able to handle challenges meant for a level 6 party? What about a level 2 group with level 7 wealth against level 7 challenges? What about a level 1 group with level 11 wealth against level 11 challenges?
7: What else have you to say?