how much gold to reward players?

[The Shadowdove]

For your average dungeon for lvls 1-4 how much gold should be rewarded at the end of the mission?

Say a team of 3-4 level 3 and 4 players Go through an average orc filled dungeon. They manage to slaughter their way through to the end and kill the hobgoblin commander as well as sorceress mastermind at the end.

Location: cave base with simple log gate surrounding camp/entrance.

Enemies killed:

3 lvl 3 Orcs
2 lvl 4 orcs
4 lvl 2 goblins
1 lvl 4 hobgoblin
1 lvl 3 sorceress


How does this equate as far as gold per party member and amount/quality of magical items and general loot?

Give me a solid example please. We're incredibly Nubby and not nearly as DND book smart as everyone on these forums.

Side note: we've only played 3.5 dungeons and dragons for a few months.

Our current party are a gnome druid(riding dog), human barbarian, half-orc fighter, human monk.


Thanks in advance. Your experience and time are much appreciated,

Dove.

[Firechanter]

Okay, it's a bit tricky to get the hang of it at first, but you'll find everything you need in the DMG and MM, or the SRD.

There is a quick way and a detailed way.

The quick way: look up Table 5-1 in your DMG, "Wealth by Level". Make sure that each character has roughly the amount of wealth indicated there for its level. For example, at the end of level 1, everyone should have roughly 900GP to their name (or gear worth as much).

The detailed way:

Step 1: find the CR of the defeated opponent. For example in 3.5 a regular Orc is CR 1/2. An Orc with class levels has CR = Class Levels. Other creatures have a higher base CR, and class levels stack on top.
Also, check out the Treasure entry, which is usually "Standard" but sometimes None, Half, Double or Triple Standard.

Step 2: find the table "Treasure per Encounter". Here is an online link:
http://systemreferencedocuments.org/resources/systems/pennpaper/dnd35/soveliorsage/treasure.html
Step 3: ???
Step 4: Profit

SCNR... of course step 3 is, give out treasure worth the defeated CR's entries.

Using your example:
3 lvl 3 Orcs
2 lvl 4 orcs
4 lvl 2 goblins
1 lvl 4 hobgoblin <-- LA+1
1 lvl 3 sorceress

So that's 3x3, 2x4, 4x2, 1x5, 1x3...
All in all, that's pretty much exactly 10.000GP.
Of course not all of it should be in coin. Any gear acquired counts towards the total. So if the Hobgoblin had a +1 weapon, that's worth 2300GP.

Note that players won't be able to use everything they find. A lot of stuff will need to be sold. Gear can usually be sold for 50% of the listed price. That's why you should reference Table 5-1 now and then to make sure everyone's close enough to WBL.

[Omegas]

Alternatively

Although its not suggest in the book wealth by level is a good guide in the DMG. An easier way to determine treasure is to determine how close they are from their next level and award them wealth based on a percentage of their level.

Example lvl 2 suggest that players should have 900g
if they are 2/3s the way to level 2 (ie; 650 exp) they should have 600 gold. If they have already been awarded 550 gold then they should receive 50 from the encounter. This is a cheat but it is useful for new DMs, until you get the hang of encounter rewards.
_______________________________

Experienced DMs use wealth by level as a guide, meaning if the party is short the king or something rewards them for their service. This makes up the difference and if they have two much the DM skims a little off the next few treasures.

Also keep in mind not all enemies have treasure. You'r not going to search a unicorns rump pouch for gold. It is your world, but most DMs offer kingly rewards or on a random encounter = found treasure not enemies.

[Sith_Happens]

Snip

While the quick way is fine, if you can do it the detailed way you should. The WBL table is specifically described as an approximation for the outcome of the treasure tables after applying a reasonable guesstimate for how much of a party's treasure will get spent on consumables or fall prey to sell-for-half. Therefore, following WBL explicitly will increase the demands on the party to budget smartly (though it's possible that that's a desirable outcome for you).