if we can buy XP with gold

[With a box]

Would it be too broken?
(Use pathfinder ratio, 1XP=5gp)

[Eloel]

Would it be too broken?
(Use pathfinder ratio, 1XP=5gp)

Wall of Iron is infinite gold. That means the first one to research the spell ascends.

[Crake]

Wall of Iron is infinite gold. That means the first one to research the spell ascends.

it would taper off in a logarithmic scale as the market becomes saturated

[Eloel]

it would taper off in a logarithmic scale as the market becomes saturated

With multiple casters, yes. A single caster would ascend way before a market for iron is saturated.

[fallensavior]

Would it be too broken?
(Use pathfinder ratio, 1XP=5gp)

Yes, but not in the way you think.

Suppose a character spends all gp on xp. They hit higher levels quicker, but have no gear.

[fallensavior]

With multiple casters, yes. A single caster would ascend way before a market for iron is saturated.

List price is what? 1sp per pound? How many pounds of scrap iron do you suppose the average merchant would be willing to buy?

[SinsI]

List price is what? 1sp per pound? How many pounds of scrap iron do you suppose the average merchant would be willing to buy?
Actually, if you do the math it turns out you won't even affect iron prices that much - only a 50% reduction at best:

Iron weights 172(slag)-490 pounds per cubic feet.
At CL 12, your caster creates a wall 3 inch thick, 12*5*5 feet square. That's 12*5*5*3/12 = 65 cubic feet of iron.
=12900-36750 pounds of iron.

At 1 sp per pound, that's from 129gp sp to 367gp 50 sp.

The catch? Wall of Iron requires Gold Dust worth 50 gp. :)
Congratulations, you've used a 6th level spell (worth 6*12*25 = 1800 gp) to earn 317gp 50 sp!
(and that, assuming you get full price for the iron, instead of normal practice of getting only half price)

It is the Fabricate that breaks economy in that combo, not Wall of Iron.

[Yahzi]

Would it be too broken?
(Use pathfinder ratio, 1XP=5gp)
Not at all. In fact, it makes the game even more fun, because now you have to balance gear (and followers) vs levels.

I actually wrote a whole book about it. :)

[Endarire]

A book? What?

[Pippin]

Would it be too broken?
(Use pathfinder ratio, 1XP=5gp)
Artificers can do it. Just buy an item whose creation required XP (like a tome of clear thought +5) and use his Retain Essence class feature.

[atemu1234]

List price is what? 1sp per pound? How many pounds of scrap iron do you suppose the average merchant would be willing to buy?

Is it bigger than a breadbox?

[Grod_The_Giant]

I think you'd need a caveat about only "gold earned through adventure" or something, to prevent...not just WBL-breaking shenanigans like Wall of Iron+Fabricate, but simple stuff like making Profession checks and selling spells. Or maybe the rule only applies to literal gold, and the normal economy uses silver coins and letters of credit or something.

That aside... there's also a question of "do you keep the gold?" Like, is it "you found 5000 gold, that means you earn 250 xp!" or "you found 5000 gold, would you care to trade that for 250xp?"

[Douglas]

Kings and nobles would all be high level, having bought experience with tax money.

[Eloel]

Kings and nobles would all be high level, having bought experience with tax money.

That actually makes sense, because otherwise they wouldn't be able to stay kings and nobles.

[SinsI]

I think you'd need a caveat about only "gold earned through adventure" or something, to prevent...not just WBL-breaking shenanigans like Wall of Iron+Fabricate, but simple stuff like making Profession checks and selling spells.

Selling spells would actually gets more and more ridiculous. 10th level wizard has ~4000 gp worth of spell slots each day, so he would need only two weeks to earn himself a new level. Since the price of spells sold is directly proportional to caster level, and by advancing you get more slots to sell - it means that the higher level you are the less time you would need to advance.

[Eloel]

Maybe, just maybe, you could use gold to re-fill XP up to the maximum you've ever reached. So, you can craft and sell stuff and buy XP with the gold, and if you're not particularly skilled in either of them, you end up at the same place?

[SinsI]

I'd say you should be able to buy "magic crystals" that you use to craft items instead of XP. But you shouldn't be able to use it to level up yourself.

[ace rooster]

I think you'd need a caveat about only "gold earned through adventure" or something, to prevent...not just WBL-breaking shenanigans like Wall of Iron+Fabricate, but simple stuff like making Profession checks and selling spells. Or maybe the rule only applies to literal gold, and the normal economy uses silver coins and letters of credit or something.

That aside... there's also a question of "do you keep the gold?" Like, is it "you found 5000 gold, that means you earn 250 xp!" or "you found 5000 gold, would you care to trade that for 250xp?"

Yeah that would work, only at that point you might as well have the DM out of character asking how much of their reward they want in xp, and simply modify the treasure as appropriate. That also means that you resonably use single large treasures as rewards, as the party doesn't need to split it anymore (One person gets the magic sword but less xp, everyone else gets more xp).




I don't think using it only for item crafting is a good idea, and crafting in 3.5 works out at 12.5 gp per xp. It only helps casters, effectively reducing the cost of stuff for them with little other impact. It further unbalances the game, and effectively increases WBL, making the chrismas tree situation more extreme. It would feel right within the game, but from a game design perspective is not a good idea I think.

Also, there is no provision in the rules for selling spells (Or indeed anything else that the DM does not include under the heading 'loot'). You can buy spells, and they are far more expensive than you would expect, but selling them is a no go as far as I am concerned as a DM. Fluffwise I justify it by magic having small side effects if not done in a controlled fashion, and there being significant expense in terms of time and materials to keeping things controlled. For example; Casting a level 1 spell in 6 seconds results in about as much damage as 100 cigarettes, and makes the caster feel a bit like they have just smoked 100 cigs in 6 seconds too. Additional enviromental damage might also occur, that might irk the local powers that be if done in bulk. This has no implications for adventurers (smoke 100 cigs, or orc hits you in the face. Not a hard call), but if a PC tries to cast spells industrially will very rapidly become a problem. This is why NPC casters charge so much.

Finally, your numbers are off. A wizard can get up at 6, cast his spells, and then take a nap to be ready to cast again at say 8 in the evening, before going to bed at 10. If he does this he gets twice as much as you would think, and if he is really committed he can get 3 times as much.

[Eldan]

This could be a method of salvaging Vow of Poverty...

[JDL]

Assuming that experience is a two-way street, and you can 'spend' it in exchange for gold? I don't see a problem. It becomes a form of universal currency. Death and resurrection cost gold or experience, take your pick. Taxation requires you pay either in gold or experience. Nobles use the experience gathered in taxes to fund magical item creation and advance their chosen warriors in class levels. Reaching 0 experience means you're bankrupt.

[dascarletm]

You could rewrite your campaign world to revolve around this. Gold=power. It would be quite interesting.

[SinsI]

If you want to implement this, it might be best to switch to level-independent XP rewards system from Unearthed Arcana. 1 XP at level 1 and 1 XP at level 20 are worth completely different amount.

[Endarire]

This. Is. Dark Souls (http://darksouls.wikia.com/wiki/Dark_Souls_Wiki)!