The Nature of Treasure and Money

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Trusted note is another term for certified check, which could be a target for forgery (Hey, folks with the Criminal or Charlatan background! Pay attention! This is where and how you use those forgery kits!)

Be careful how far you proceed with your bank ideas, otherwise you will end up trying to duplicate the banking and financial services industry of the USA.

 That's all we need in D&D, The FDIC and The Fed.  Next we'll have Social Security and SNAP.

 Well, in a way, (in the Forgotten Realms), the temples of Ilmater, Chauntea and Lathander, would probably provide no charge open soup and sandwich dining halls during the day, so that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs might not be needed. The Federal Reserve System ("The Fed") came about when the Federal government realized that having a single unified currency for the nation was infinitely better than permitting each bank to issue its own scrip. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was a response to the 1920's when banks went crazy with their loans, loaning more money than the banks had assets to back up those loans. When the stock market crashed in 1929 and sucked all the wealth tied up in those crazy loans into a bottomless pit, banks and other financial service businesses also fell into that bottomless pit, most to never see the light of day ever again. Social Security is another safeguard against another bottomless pit opening up. The temples of Waukeen, Deneir, Oghma, Gond and Tyr, would probably oversee banks to make sure things did not get too crazy. (In the Forgotten Realms, Waukeen is the deity of Commerce, Oghma is the deity of Knowledge, Deneir is the deity of Written Knowledge, Gond is the deity of Practical Knowledge and Tyr is the deity of Justice.)

 

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Trusted note is another term for certified check, which could be a target for forgery (Hey, folks with the Criminal or Charlatan background! Pay attention! This is where and how you use those forgery kits!)

Be careful how far you proceed with your bank ideas, otherwise you will end up trying to duplicate the banking and financial services industry of the USA.

 That's all we need in D&D, The FDIC and The Fed.  Next we'll have Social Security and SNAP.

 Well, in a way, (in the Forgotten Realms), the temples of Ilmater, Chauntea and Lathander, would probably provide no charge open soup and sandwich dining halls during the day, so that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs might not be needed. The Federal Reserve System ("The Fed") came about when the Federal government realized that having a single unified currency for the nation was infinitely better than permitting each bank to issue its own scrip. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was a response to the 1920's when banks went crazy with their loans, loaning more money than the banks had assets to back up those loans. When the stock market crashed in 1929 and sucked all the wealth tied up in those crazy loans into a bottomless pit, banks and other financial service businesses also fell into that bottomless pit, most to never see the light of day ever again. Social Security is another safeguard against another bottomless pit opening up. The temples of Waukeen, Deneir, Oghma, Gond and Tyr, would probably oversee banks to make sure things did not get too crazy. (In the Forgotten Realms, Waukeen is the deity of Commerce, Oghma is the deity of Knowledge, Deneir is the deity of Written Knowledge, Gond is the deity of Practical Knowledge and Tyr is the deity of Justice.)

 

This is actually one of the other avenues by which a purportedly benevolent PC or party can inadvertently use their personal power and wealthy to change things in a realm and rub up against established powers the wrong way.

 

 It depends, then, on how the established civil, military and religious authorities, from DM's view point, would see things. A municipality that is dominated by Temples to Chauntea and Lathander (deities of agriculture, life and renewal), would probably see open soup and sandwich kitchens as a wise, righteous and legitimate public operation. A municipality dominated by Temples to Bane, Asmodeus and Shar, would probably see open soup and sandwich kitchens as a sign of massive moral weakness and as a sign that the good aligned municipality can be easily eliminated.

Silverymoon, in the Realms, is one of those good aligned municipality. The entire region of Thay, on the other hand, is definitely not good aligned. It is a region where the undead roam freely, both day and night and where the living exist in constant dread.

 It depends, then, on how the established civil, military and religious authorities, from DM's view point, would see things. A municipality that is dominated by Temples to Chauntea and Lathander (deities of agriculture, life and renewal), would probably see open soup and sandwich kitchens as a wise, righteous and legitimate public operation. A municipality dominated by Temples to Bane, Asmodeus and Shar, would probably see open soup and sandwich kitchens as a sign of massive moral weakness and as a sign that the good aligned municipality can be easily eliminated.

Silverymoon, in the Realms, is one of those good aligned municipality. The entire region of Thay, on the other hand, is definitely not good aligned. It is a region where the undead roam freely, both day and night and where the living exist in constant dread.

I'm not really a huge fan of basic good and evil style narratives and world that split along cartoon values, but it's simple enough to make it like that if the players are more combat-oriented and would just like to get on with their next campaign. It's very workable. It's a simple case of Good temples and organizations would love the PCs, and evil ones would think they were naive or foolish.

For my part, if I were the DM, I would like to make it a lot more nuanced dependent on what the PCs are doing, exactly, with the wealth and power. If the PCs open up a soup kitchen or asked for Bastion that would feed and house the poor and other such benevolent actions, I would say that's a Bastion that was assisting the local authorities in that way and also generating sociopolitical influence for the PC in question for those populations. Temples of Chauntea and Lathander would be quick to hear of such a venture and they'd probably send a few people over to suss out what's really going on. If the PC was, in fact, a worshipper of either deity or any other aligned deity, they would probably be overjoyed at the prospect of a new and powerful ally, and they would want to establish relations very quickly, possibly with an offer of aid of some nature. Of course, this is both a friendly gesture and a way to ingratiate themselves to a powerful person, should they ever have need to request some little favor on their own behalf...

If it's off, then they would probably investigate and infiltrate the PC's fledgling operation. It's kinda weird if a follower of Mystra or Boccob used their resources to feed the poor, but maybe the guy was raised in the streets and this was his way of giving back. If they feel that he's on the up and up, they may want to help out in their mutual goals and maybe even influence him a little to be a little more Chauntea or Lathander-leaning. Couldn't hurt, right?

A local lord would definitely take notice if someone's doing something to gain popularity among the poor. They may not do anything about it, but they'll definitely make a note of who's doing what. This means that if the party makes a call at that local lord, that lord would already know the player characters from all the various shenanigans each of them has been perpetrating with their money and influence. A party of level 6'es aren't unknown mercs!