Wealth as a stat! - Brainstorming thread

[Bjarkmundur]

I'm playing Wrath and Glory (40k), and as my DM explained it, wealth is a stat. If an item's value is under your wealth, you can afford it. Otherwise, you cannot.
I love this idea! Having it scale with levels also means XP/milestones are still the primary carrot-on-a-stick for adventurers. After an adventure I can just describe the booty and say "your wealth resets and increases by 1!".

I'm thinking through this as I'm writing this post, eager to get your input, suggestions and general advice.

I don't like economies in FRPGs. I don't like counting coins and finding ways to spend it. I want there to be a simple yes or no whether a character can afford an item, and how much he can buy.

Implementation #1: Wealth Rank and Wealth Points

You have a wealth rank equal to your character level.
Each time you gain a level your wealth rank increases by 1, and you gain Wealth Points reset to a number equal to your Wealth Rank.
You can purchase items that have a Wealth Value of up to your Wealth Rank.
The number of magic items you can purchased is limited to your wealth points, mundane items are only limited by your wealth rank. Meaning that at level 5 you can buy 5 Rank 1 magic items, or one rank 5 magic item.


Now I just need a table for items, and I never have to worry about gold ever again! Woohoo!

Common: Rank 1
Uncommon: Rank 5
Rare: Rank 9


This might also make designing and describing shops and vendors easier. When I say to a player "The temple is served by a level x cleric, who is willing to sell spell scrolls of the cleric spell list up to a value of 4 each level."
This makes it really clear to my players both what spell scrolls are available, and how many are in stock each level.

[DeTess]

I'm playing Wrath and Glory (40k), and as my DM explained it, wealth is a stat. If an item's value is under your wealth, you can afford it. Otherwise, you cannot.
I love this idea! Having it scale with levels also means XP/milestones are still the primary carrot-on-a-stick for adventurers. After an adventure I can just describe the booty and say "your wealth resets and increases by 1!".

I'm thinking through this as I'm writing this post, eager to get your input, suggestions and general advice.

I don't like economies in FRPGs. I don't like counting coins and finding ways to spend it. I want there to be a simple yes or no whether a character can afford an item, and how much he can buy.

Implementation #1

You have a wealth rank equal to your character level.
Each time you gain a level your wealth rank increases and you can purchase items of value up to a number equal to your wealth rank. If your wealth rank is 4 and you want to buy a spell scroll with a value of 4, you can buy one, or you can buy 4 scrolls with a value of 1.


Now I just need a table for items, and I never have to worry about gold ever again! Woohoo!

I've seen similar implementations in other games. One thing you need to take into account is the other uses for wealth, such as bribing a guard and the like, so an idea to introduce is a wealth check, with certain backgrounds granting proficiency, that could be sued for things like bribery, more general mercantilism or attempting to get an item above your current wealth.

[Bjarkmundur]

I've seen similar implementations in other games. One thing you need to take into account is the other uses for wealth, such as bribing a guard and the like, so an idea to introduce is a wealth check, with certain backgrounds granting proficiency, that could be sued for things like bribery, more general mercantilism or attempting to get an item above your current wealth.

I actually was hoping to avoid wealth checks. Instead of rolling for "how rich am I" I'd allow my players to roll for "how cheap is the item". In other words, bartering and haggling. My group might be missing a wealth point to bribe the guard, but with a friends cantrip and a persuasion check, one might be able to lower his price.

[Bjarkmundur]

Then there are the ideas of rank increasing feats, penalties to rank, or temporary bonuses resulting in penalties, etc.

[Kane0]

I could see it sitting alongside Honor and Sanity as a variant attribute.

[theVoidWatches]

I wouldn't set it equal to level - after all, a level 1 noble background character is going to be richer than a level 1 hermit. Level-ups are a good place to increase it, but really it should increase whenever you get a notable drop of wealth. Say, looting a dragon's horde might give you three points of wealth. With that helping them increase wealth, you might consider also having a mechanic to decrease it - say, maybe they can afford stuff from one level about their current wealth, but doing so is a large enough expenditure that it reduces their current wealth level.

[Bjarkmundur]

Wealth
Wealth has been simplified with the use of Wealth Ranks. Your wealth rank is determined by your level and your class. Whenever you gain a level your wealth rank increases. Your DM can also increase a character’s wealth rank, either permanently or temporarily.

Your wealth rank determines what items you can buy. You can purchase items and services up to a value equal to your wealth rank. Magic items are more limited, and can only be bought in limited quantities. Whenever you gain a level you gain a number of wealth points equal to your wealth rank. You can have a maximum number of wealth points equal to your wealth rank. These points can be used to purchase magic items, scrolls, and potions. How many wealth points each item consumes is based on the item's rarity, as per the table below.

Example: Dave is a 1st level Paladin. He gains one wealth rank from his level, and one from his class. When he reaches 2nd level his wealth rank increases by 1, to a total of 3, and his wealth points reset to 3. This allows him to buy various goods and services previously too expensive, and he can buy up to 3 common magic items.


Gaining Items
Mundane and magic items, whether permanent or consumable, can be acquired via purchase, crafting or as loot.

Purchase
To purchase an item you must meet the minimum wealth rank requirement for that item and have enough wealth points remaining. An item’s wealth point value is equal to its minimum wealth rank requirement.

Wealth Rank
1 = Common Magic Items, Martial Weapons, Basic Armor
2 = Splint Armor, Breastplate
3 = Uncommon magic items
5 = Rare magic items, Full Plate, Half Plate,

Crafting
To craft an item you must meet the item’s minimum wealth rank requirements, but you only need half the number of wealth points.

Loot
Whenever you are awarded a treasure hoard, you gain a wealth rank, and can roll for a magic item using the Treasure Hoard loot table.

[DeTess]

I think your current system scales to quickly. A 5th level character should not be able to just casually pick up a rare item in most games, and rare items are on a different cost tier than plate armor. I'd take Void's advice and detach wealth mostly from level (if you want to attach it, attach it to the proficiency modifier), and instead use events that increase wealth, like finding a treasure. Lastly, you need to consider how other wealth-related events happen, such as trying to bribe someone or buying 3 tons of grain to ship to another city and sell there.

[Vogie]

I had my own version of Wealth modifiers set up in a thread here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?588684-The-Wealth-Modifier-system-(PEACH)).

[Bjarkmundur]

I think your current system scales to quickly. A 5th level character should not be able to just casually pick up a rare item in most games, and rare items are on a different cost tier than plate armor. I'd take Void's advice and detach wealth mostly from level (if you want to attach it, attach it to the proficiency modifier), and instead use events that increase wealth, like finding a treasure. Lastly, you need to consider how other wealth-related events happen, such as trying to bribe someone or buying 3 tons of grain to ship to another city and sell there.

I agree. This is just a prototype. I'm gonna rewrite the whole thing with an exponential scaling. The first few wealth ranks would be in increments of 1-50gp, while later ranks represent a jump og 250-500gp etc.

I don't quite understand your system Vogie. I'll read it over a few times more to wrap my head around it.

The only problem right now is that any wealth rank system is still dependant on gold value of items. This is something I'll have to look into. Replacing gold but still using gold seems weird.
Maybe replacing gold for the players is good enough.