Wbl

[Buufreak]

How do you guys all handle it? I mean, how do you make sure that everyone is getting something that is worth their while, within the limits of their level (limits doesn't sound right there, but its the only word that is coming to mind), and that no one is getting the short end of the stick/jipped?

[noob]

The single thing is that in fact players starting to trade and etc and etc and doing a lot of non adventure based things for wining money should get xp for making a business work and employing people and succeeding at making money and so on and so in the end gain levels because trading is something which make you learn a lot(and help all the citizens infinitely more than going into a crypt and killing the dead for looting their bodies) and so they end up with a level pretty comparable to their wealth

[Telonius]

I usually don't use random magic items for treasure. Either it's a magic item the enemy was using, or it's a magic item I've deliberately placed there that will specifically be useful to one of the characters.

Otherwise, I always give the players a total treasure amount after the session is over, and a per-character amount. They can spend it however they like, and most items they would want to purchase are available during downtime between quests. (Most groups I've played with also have a "party fund" that gets an equal share of the loot. This is typically spent on healing items or resurrections, so the Cleric isn't stuck paying for it himself). If I notice one of the characters making consistently silly or less-powerful choices, I'd probably suggest a few items to them.

[noob]

Well for looting I remember having once a gm who mostly made as loot what the people carried so it was mostly headbands of intellect,capes of resistance,swords,wands of disintegrate and so on because we mostly fought humans and high level humans are smart and so carry their valuables under the form of items boosting them(When they are on a guard duty else most of the time you do not carry a sword or a cape of resistance but they probably put them at the bank or at another safe place)
In the end the wealth was balanced by frequent castings of disjunction(each of them remove a percentage of your items and so in fact the more you carry the more you loose so in the end we mostly carried only the essential items and no potions(except in antimagic zones where we carried alchemical potions like antidotes and so on(the poisons are extremely nasty))) nor wands(but some teleporting items) and we could basically sell all the items we wanted and buy nearly anything we wanted unless it was absurdly overpowered(like we could not but swords who casted locate city bombs at each attack).

[VisitingDaGulag]

760k should be available individually to each PC. If they chose to not take it or waste it rather than spend it, that's up to them. So just tally their sheet at the end of the campaign and make sure all the items that have ever been theirs = 760k, if they've been playing to their fullest.

easy

[Tvtyrant]

I use body parts a lot. So you kill a dragon and get 10K worth of dragon part items, or collected the blood and pelt from that werewolf/troll. It works out because I use parts in metamagic and in making magic items.

[Curmudgeon]

If you've provided, on average, the values on Table 3–3: Treasure Values per Encounter (Dungeon Master's Guide, page 51), then you've done your job as DM. Everything else should be left to the player. Heavy-handed wealth management just tends to suck the fun out of the game.

[Story]

all the items that have ever been theirs

Consumables don't count towards WBL.

[marphod]

Consumables don't count towards WBL.

Used consumables don't count towards WBL.

It is irrelevant for WBL, if I had burned through thousands of Cure Light Wounds from potions, scrolls, or wands by level 15. The Wand of Cure Light Wounds I have on my character sheet counts, though.

Most DMs don't count a Wizard's Spellbook (or Archavist's prayerbook) against their WBL, unless they've added a large number of their highest-level spells. Certainly, if the Character has an upgraded Spellbook, the cost of transferring known spells is usually ignored.

[atemu1234]

Used consumables don't count towards WBL.

It is irrelevant for WBL, if I had burned through thousands of Cure Light Wounds from potions, scrolls, or wands by level 15. The Wand of Cure Light Wounds I have on my character sheet counts, though.

Most DMs don't count a Wizard's Spellbook (or Archavist's prayerbook) against their WBL, unless they've added a large number of their highest-level spells. Certainly, if the Character has an upgraded Spellbook, the cost of transferring known spells is usually ignored.

I count it against their WBL, if they spend money on it. It holds its value as much as any other item.

[Milo v3]

I just get people to automatically reset their wealth to the WBL amount every 3-4 levels, but otherwise wing it.

[Curmudgeon]

Most DMs don't count a Wizard's Spellbook (or Archavist's prayerbook) against their WBL, unless they've added a large number of their highest-level spells. Certainly, if the Character has an upgraded Spellbook, the cost of transferring known spells is usually ignored.
Why would you say "most DMs" use your house rule? It's counter to my experience. Wizards spend money to purchase and record spells; that's what they do. They already start off with 6,800 gp worth of free spells (spellbook, all 64 cantrips, and 3 1st-level spells @ 100 gp each page); that's enormously more wealth than any other class gets to starts the game. They also get 2 free spells, of whatever level they can manage, at every subsequent level. I'm certainly going to make sure that other spells are paid for out of their treasure.

[MukkTB]

If you've provided, on average, the values on Table 3–3: Treasure Values per Encounter (Dungeon Master's Guide, page 51), then you've done your job as DM. Everything else should be left to the player. Heavy-handed wealth management just tends to suck the fun out of the game.

This is my style. In high op games you can houserule WBL as the maximum cash value of items you can benefit from. But mostly it just doesn't seem to be a problem. Some adventurers may end up poor. Some adventurers may make more cash. As long as you're in the general ballpark, everything is fine.

[Seto]

I usually don't randomly roll loot, except sometimes for random encounters.
I keep tabs on what every party member gets, if they're behind the group I arrange for them to get a useful item worth the gold they should have. Thing is, I don't use the XP system but instead tell the players "you level up" when it's appropriate storywise. I don't have to handle level discrepancies and it makes it easier to manage WBL, among other things.

[marphod]

Why would you say "most DMs" use your house rule?

First, it isn't my house rule. It is an observation.

Second, I make the statement because in the past 25 years of gaming, playing with well over 100 DMs for D&D, in 1st Ed and the color boxes through 3.5/PF, plus observing games in person and on line with probably another 100 DMs, in independent gaming communities in (physically) DC, Boston, San Francisco, Iowa, and elsewhere, I've found that only a small minority of those DMs fully enforced the costs of spells recorded in their spellbooks.

My personal experience may have a sampling bias, but even accounting for that, it surpasses the threshold of statistical significance.

[Curmudgeon]

First, it isn't my house rule. It is an observation.
...
My personal experience may have a sampling bias, but even accounting for that, it surpasses the threshold of statistical significance.
I take it you avoided RPGA official games, then. Those were fairly strict about following the rules.

[marphod]

I take it you avoided RPGA official games, then. Those were fairly strict about following the rules.

I tried RPGA for a while; never did much for me.

Also, calling RPGA strict to the rules is a bit of a misleading statement. They added a non-trivial number of inconsistent addendum and changed rules as they saw necessary for group play and consistency.

If I recall correctly, in the 3.x era, there were restrictions on wizards from coping spells from other PCs. There were restrictions on how much XP you could earn in an adventure. In the 2nd Edition era, wizards didn't have to roll to learn spells that were adventurer rewards (and still were restricted on copying from other players). Also in 2nd edition, they did something strange with the class-level-limits by race, the XP costs of kits were changed, dual classing had its own set of hellish addendum, and prime requisites were ignored. In 4th Edition, you were limited to acquiring a single magic item per level.

Regardless, while RPGA may have been the largest organized play at the time, it was only a small minority of D&D games played.

[Telok]

I never had any issues with mostly ignoring WBL.

Enemies were equipped according to their ability and intelligence with an eye towards not overloading the party with "vendor trash" magic items.
Monster lairs are stocked according to story considerations. Legendary, plot important, or specially placed monsters have predefined loot. Sometimes up to the minor artifact level, depending on the plot and the monster. Monsters that the players just go out and hunt down for fun and profit have loot appropriate for their type and proximity to civilization (closer = more, but if it's close enough to amass treasure it's more accessable to NPC monster hunters too).
Replacement characters get 2/3rds WBL from the boring lists of +number magic items, and the usual book items with a price cap according to the market conditions.
Standard potions and standard low level scrolls are available from assorted alchemists, temples, and sages. Random magic items up to caster level five or six are available from magic guilds and training halls, these are proof of ability items made by apprentices and journeymen as part of their training.
Other magic items can be comissioned from certain retired adventurers provided the PCs can find, not insult, and pay them. The PCs will also have to provide and special components or materials.
The placed story / quest / dungeon rewards tend to be powerful and unique magic items from either ages past or the master craftsmen of this age. There is a distinct trend in these items towards stuff more useful to mundane classes.