Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer Creatures
Frozen Sick
D&D Beyond Basic Rules
Basic Rules (2014)
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Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer CreaturesFrozen SickD&D Beyond Basic RulesBasic Rules (2014)Sign in to view your library & saved favorites.
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K so basically, in my campaign theirs this guy who hires the party to do various quests around the kingdom for him, rewarding the party at level 4, 6, 8 and 9 in GP and a few magic items.
The DMG (pg 120-121) suggests using the "treasure hoard" table for quest rewards (based on CR/Level), but I feel like the jump from getting paid 2d4x 100 (500) GP and 1d4-1 at Level 4 to being paid 8d10 x 100 (4,400 GP) at Level 6+ and 1d3 items is way too big.
How do I balance the GP rewards in a way where they get enough to afford cool stuff but in a way that doesn't break the game.
I had an idea to pay the 4.4K GP in smaller amounts (Being rewarded 1K at L6. 1.4K at L8 and 2K at level 9) but idk if thats not enough, especially with the DMG saying that "as a rough benchmark, aim to roll on the Random Treasure table about once per game session."
Also does it mean paying each individual person that amount or the entire party that amount? I feel like RAW is kinda vague, so some advice would be good
Well one way to balance this is to increase the price of goods they can spend their gold on. Inflation's a *****. A DM I played with made a basic potion of healing cost 75gp once.
The greater reward may make sense due to the greater danger or higher stakes.
Also, you can take the reward for the quest, and turn some of it into loot that is acquired during the quest.
Ultimately, though, I don't think most GMs pay much attention to those guidelines. We give the players rewards that feel right for the way the campaign is playing out.
What do you mean by “afford cool stuff” are you using magic item shops? Because really, after you buy plate mail for the fighter and paladin, there’s not much to buy anymore. The exceptions being wizards copying spells casters in general scribing scrolls, and some pricey spell components. So giving the party big piles of gold can actually be kind of cool; they get to feel rich and it’s not really going to unbalance anything.
If you do use magic item shops, then be sure to subtract the items they buy from any treasure they find. Overloading the PCs with magic items can lead to making them quite strong and basically steamrolling encounters you plan.
Typically I just give the players at most a couple hundred gold from the quest giver and then I put the rest of the stuff in the place that they are going to. It doesn't always work out in that it might not make sense for some places to have that kind of loot but it usually works fine.
He doesn't have much besides the skin on his bones. Me: I'll take the skin on his bones, then.
"You see a gigantic, monstrous praying mantis burst from out of the ground. It sprays a stream of acid from it's mouth at one soldier, dissolving him instantly, then it turns and chomps another soldier in half with it's- "
"When are we gonna take a snack break?"
You can think about your economy and what kinds of things you'd want them to be able to buy - or not buy. Magic items at shops? A ship, or bastion? Weapons and armor? Revivify, greater restorations, reincarnations?
It's not necessarily harmful for them to have a lot of gold. You can still control the economy of what they can buy and what it costs.
If the place doesn't feel like it should have gold, interesting loot is still interesting. Secret forgotten chests, a +1 bow from great grandpa in the attic, whatever.
As a player, I kind of prefer getting objects that are useful to me and then are associated with a particular deed, rather than gold and then purchasing. Feels more meaningful to me, to have a connection/history of some sort around it.
Yeah, work backwards from what you want them to be able to afford -- or what the party say they'd want to buy with the loot
Active characters:
Edoumiaond Willegume "Eddie" Podslee, Vegetanian scholar (College of Spirits bard)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Peter "the Pied Piper" Hausler, human con artist/remover of vermin (Circle of the Shepherd druid)
PIPA - Planar Interception/Protection Aeormaton, warforged bodyguard and ex-wizard hunter (Warrior of the Elements monk/Cartographer artificer)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
You're not the only person to be disappointed at how the guidelines for party rewards have some significant "jumps" rather than slowly scaling up. Of course, the intention was to avoid filling up a large amount of space with a loot table for every CR individually... but 3rd edition managed to do that in just 2 pages so.... /shrug.
As others have mentioned, you could just throw out the tables entirely, and pick numbers based on how much spending power you think the party should have.
But if you're not ready to throw out the tables yet, and just want a "quick fix" to make them scale up more gradually, here's what I did:
Do a quick calculation of the "range" of treasure for each entry on the chart and use that to scale up. For CR 0-4, the treasure hoard GP value is listed as 2d4x100. So, for a CR less than 1, you'd pick a number near low end of that range (200 GP), and for a CR 4 treasure hoard, you'd pick a number near the high end (800 GP)... and you just wouldn't actually roll dice for it. You'll have to adjust the numbers a little bit to avoid overlap, though. (The high end of CR 0-4 and the low end of CR 5-10 are both 800 GP.)
I'm glad to hear all the advice! The main things they'll be buying are magical weapons, magical armour/clothes and potions. I will probably add more shopkeepers to make GP feel more valuable, and I'll save the cool/powerful magic items for the significant challenges of the campaign (coz it feels more rewarding getting an Enspelled Weapon w Haste after defeating a long enemy gauntlet than if your rich patron just gives it to you). If theres any other suggestions it would be good to hear them.