How much gold should the PCs be offered for "kidnapping" job?

[Mongrel]

In a 5e DnD game I'm running, I plan to have a very expansive thieve's guild offer the PCs a job: find the person who poisoned some of their men and bring that person to them alive. I'm wondering what an appropriate gold offer for that job would be? The closest I can find is rules from earlier editions regarding assassinations, but these don't work perfectly as 1) that is a different job with its own pros and cons, including the fact that actually finding the perpetrator is part of the job, and 2) those prices tend to be based on the level/challenge rating of the target, which the guild has no way of knowing. (fun fact, it was actually one of the PCs who poisoned them, but the guild doesn't suspect this)

The PCs are currently level 4. They did a (relatively minor not terribly dangerous) job for a major power in the world before and were paid 425gp total for it (106gp apiece). That same power has offered them several other relatively difficult jobs (most of them boiling down to "manipulate the nobles of a rival major power to defend poorly against their invasion), and have agreed to pay 1k gold each for the two easier of these missions, 2.5k gold for a medium difficulty "bonus objective" and 5k gold for a quite hard "bonus objective."

I do want to reward them with more gold, as I think I've been a little stingy with it (the PCs have about a couple hundred gold each I think) and the players are in a merchant city atm, and want to buy stuff. At the same time though, I don't really want the rewards of the thieve's guild, expansive as they are, to necessarily outstrip those of an actual empire...though I suppose it wouldn't be too bad for the PCs to decide they aren't being paid enough by said empire and either abandon those quests or renegotiate the prices

[smcmike]

If it was one of the PCs that did the poisoning, you'll need to offer whatever the amount is that will get the rest of them to sell him out.

[Emay Ecks]

1. PCs should only have around 400-500 gold by the time they are level 4 in 5e based on gold rewards from the dungeon master's guide, so it doesn't sound like you've been too stingy at all (although those values are gonna skyrocket for the 5-10 range)

2. Consider having the thieves' guild pay them in a small monetary reward and then the rest in "favors." This could range from a magic item, a future assassination that the players can call in, a loyal npc thief who is more than happy to follow the players around while they're in town and provide them with any info they want.

[Armored Walrus]

If you're looking for a rules answer look in the DMG under hoard treasure. A suitable reward for completing a task for an NPC is the hoard reward associated with the NPC's CR. So the reward in this case would be commensurate with the kidnapping target's CR. Either because the offer made by the ones hiring them is that high, or because they will find loot during the mission that will add up to that.

[Mongrel]

If it was one of the PCs that did the poisoning, you'll need to offer whatever the amount is that will get the rest of them to sell him out.

The other PCs don't know that the poisoner was one of the party (at least not in character, though they've been pretty good about not metagaming in the past). It could conceivably be an issue once/if they found out, of course.


1. PCs should only have around 400-500 gold by the time they are level 4 in 5e based on gold rewards from the dungeon master's guide, so it doesn't sound like you've been too stingy at all (although those values are gonna skyrocket for the 5-10 range)

Well, at a little over 200gp of wealth per PC I'm behind based on those figures heh. They do have magic items though, so it balances out I suppose.


2. Consider having the thieves' guild pay them in a small monetary reward and then the rest in "favors." This could range from a magic item, a future assassination that the players can call in, a loyal npc thief who is more than happy to follow the players around while they're in town and provide them with any info they want.

This is a neat idea, thanks! It's a politically driven campaign, so such favors would definitely be useful. Would have a fun "playing with fire" feel to it as well, since if they ever found out who the poisoner actually was the party would probably be in for it.

[Easy_Lee]

The PCs are level four. Do you want them to have about five hundred gold apiece by level 5? If so, do you expect them to hit level 5 after completing the job? Assuming both of the above are true, I'd reward them 300 apiece + whatever favor is appropriate for the campaign, so they hit your gold target when they level. Throw in some bonus objectives for extra cash.

[Mongrel]

The PCs are level four. Do you want them to have about five hundred gold apiece by level 5? If so, do you expect them to hit level 5 after completing the job? Assuming both of the above are true, I'd reward them 300 apiece + whatever favor is appropriate for the campaign, so they hit your gold target when they level. Throw in some bonus objectives for extra cash.

That seems reasonable, yeah. Thanks for the suggestion ;)