4e: Wbl?

[Baxbart]

I must be blind or something... I've skimmed through the books several time. Is there a table somewhere that indicates how much gold a character should start with when beginning at level 2 or higher?

Much appreciated.
Bax

[AKA_Bait]

There is no specific table as far as I can tell. A characters "WBL" above first is the following though:

Items Owned:
1 of your Level +1
1 of your level
1 of your level -1
Money/junk equal to 1 item of your level -1.

You could, using the item values, create a WBL table from this but it would be a somewhat deceptive table since WBL is intended to be broken up into items and a player can't blow most of their gold on one really powerful item anymore.

[LoneGamer]

Level 1: 100 GP
Level x: One item of level x+1, one item of level x-1, cash equivalent to the price of an item of level x-1.

[Starbuck_II]

Level 1: 100 GP
Level x: One item of level x+1, one item of level x-1, cash equivalent to the price of an item of level x-1.

Granted, that only works for those who start at 2nd.

When I followed the guilelines for treasure parcels for a 5 person party:
You usually have a little less in number than those who start 2nd.

Granted, a one have level 5 item (which is equivalent to a level 1 and level 3 treasure in cost), one has a 4 (2 1st), one has a 3 (1.5 1st), one has a 2nd (1.2 1st).
Then 720 gold divided up so 124 each.

#1 has at 2nd level has both his Treasure +1 and Treasure -1. +124
#2 has at 2nd level has his Treasure -1 and Treasure -1. +124
#3 has at 2nd level has his Treasure -1 and plus 180 gp technically. +124
#4 has at 2nd level has his Treasure -1 and plus 70 gp technically. +124
#5 has at 2nd level has none. +124

So most of party has a little less than guidelines.

[Gralamin]

Granted, that only works for those who start at 2nd.

When I followed the guilelines for treasure parcels for a 5 person party:
You usually have a little less in number than those who start 2nd.

Granted, a one have level 5 item (which is equivalent to a level 1 and level 3 treasure in cost), one has a 4 (2 1st), one has a 3 (1.5 1st), one has a 2nd (1.2 1st).
Then 720 gold divided up so 124 each.

#1 has at 2nd level has both his Treasure +1 and Treasure -1. +124
#2 has at 2nd level has his Treasure -1 and Treasure -1. +124
#3 has at 2nd level has his Treasure -1 and plus 180 gp technically. +124
#4 has at 2nd level has his Treasure -1 and plus 70 gp technically. +124
#5 has at 2nd level has none. +124

So most of party has a little less than guidelines.

Why would the group split the gold equally? That is poor treasure distribution. A better way is this:
Add up all the treasures sale prices (608) and add the 720 gp to that (1328). Since there is 5 people in the party, divide by 5 (265.6 result). This is the base share of each party member. Now remove each item from the party members share to see how much gold they have. This changes it to...

#1 has at 2nd level has both his Treasure +1 and Treasure -1. +65.6
#2 has at 2nd level has his Treasure -1 and Treasure -1. +97.6
#3 has at 2nd level has his Treasure -1 and plus 180 gp technically. +129.6
#4 has at 2nd level has his Treasure -1 and plus 70 gp technically. +161.6
#5 has at 2nd level has none. +265.6

It largely balances out after two levels, as next level #5 would get the level 6 item, #4 would get the level 5 item, #3 would get the level 4 item, #2 would get the level 3 item, and #1 would get gold.

[Yakk]

Having a level 5 item is better than having a 1st and a 3rd. Really. :)

Remember, D&D magic items are not fungable -- those are prices (without that 10% to 40% markup) that you buy them at. You sell them at 1/5th those prices.

And players are generally able to enchant their own at-or below-their-level items using either gold to buy components, or raw residuum.

[Chronos]

What if you want to have a whole bunch of handy-but-not-overwhelming low-level trinkets, instead of a few high-level ones? My characters usually end up having three page equipment lists, just from all of the many cheap low-level magic and mundane items.

[Thrawn183]

That's what have that cash amount is for. You can spend it on significantly cheaper magic and mundane itmes or one fairly significant one.

[LoneGamer]

Granted, that only works for those who start at 2nd.

Yes, those are explicitly the rules for generating PCs above level 1.