My first foray into D&D was a 3.5 home game in Saltmarsh. I rolled up a paladin thinking I'd be slaying monsters, rescuing the innocent, being a paragon of goodness, etc.
After introducing the party together the first week, the GM says, "Okay, it's been two weeks since we've played, so two weeks will pass in-game. How does your character make money during that time period? . . . What do you mean you didn't take any profession skills? Well, you can perform untrained manual labor, work down at the docks. That earns 2 silver a day. Oh, and you can't stay anywhere that's less than 10 silver a day . . . Oh, you'll be broke before two weeks is up? You can sell that scale mail armor, I suppose . . . "
Seriously, I'm amazed I stuck with the game at all. If I wanted meaningless toil to stave off hunger for another day, I don't need D&D for that.
Wow. Sorry for laughing. You can't tell, but I'm laughing. Not at you, though. That's horrible.
I think I would have responded by going super technical myself. I'd make a list of things my character needed to do during the day, and then I'd specifically interrupt and drag out the game to make sure they got done.
GM: It's nightfall, you've traveled for the day. What are you doing? Other Players: We'll bed down for the night. Me: I'm going to brush my teeth. Is that a Dex check? ... Other Players: We set up a watch. Here's the order. Me: I'm going to leave the area of the campfire to go to the bathroom. It's a (roll die) number 2. Can I make a Search roll to find a good spot? Oh, and I need to make a Nature roll, see what plants nearby are handy for wiping with, but won't cause a rash. ... GM: Okay the night passes-- Me: Wait--during my watch, I need to make some coffee so I can make sure I'm alert. Are the coals of the fire still warm enough? ... GM: Dawn comes, and the city is a half day's journey away. Me: I'm going to do some pushups when I wake up--we haven't fought in a couple of days, and I need to maintain my fitness and Strength stat. I'll do (roll) 5 sets of (roll) 25 pushups. (Roll Strength check) That's one. (Roll) Two. (Roll) Three. (Roll) Oh, I missed that one. What happens to my Strength stat? ... GM: The guards move aside, motioning for you to enter the castle. "The King awaits," the larger one says. Me: I clean my boots before entering. Is there a place to sit down to take them off? I could just sit on the ground. I have three flasks of water. I'll use...I think half of one flask to clean both boots, that should be enough. Wait--I forgot to buy a rag in town. Does anyone have a rag in their inventory that I could use? ... GM: The King bids you farewell, and good luck on your quest. Me: I need to find a place in town to get a haircut, it's been two months. And I've forgotten to take the Shave action for a number of mornings in a row, so I must look pretty haggard. Is there a Charisma penalty I should be applying? ... GM: You reach the Ranger, he's in bad shape. Me: I tend to his wounds. For the thigh wound, I'll use a simple compress, with a bandage wrapped around and tied in a square knot. The chest wound was deeper, going by your description. I'm going to clean the wound first as best as I can. I have half a flask of water left. NO, wait, I have some brandy. I'll use that. Then I'll stitch the wound up, if I'm sure there's no foreign material in there. I have...lemme check...14.3 feet of sewing thread left over, how long is the wound?
(More realistically, I just don't come back and play again, to be honest. :)
There’s always the 3rd ED/Pathfinder shop glitch: purchase 10 ft poles and hemp rope, proceed to form three poles (two for the ladder part, the third cut into smaller lengths for rungs) with some rope into ladders, sell ladders back to shop for more rope and poles, wash, rinse and repeat!
OR be a rogue, max your CHA for persuasion and deception, negotiate all expenses for the party for cheapest rates possible (preferably alone) then proceed to tell the party the ‘negotiated’ price which is 20% or so higher than what you actually get the price for things, thus letting the rest of your party ‘cover’ your share of expenses without hindering your ‘equal share of party funds/treasure’. With the criminal background you can take this con even farther, by claiming to ‘know’ a secluded wizard who can/will gladly identify mysterious magic items for a small fee. You as the rogue proceed to take said items to a different inn to find ‘said friend’ (really just one of your fake identities) proceed to try to figure out the magic item(s) (a couple level dip into knowledge Cleric can help in this) or just wing it. Return to party with the revealed magic goods and tell them your friend requires a slightly higher fee for compensation.
Finally, become a gladiatorial ringleader/secret fight club owner: set up a low key, standard dungeon set up, with a ‘treasured artifact’ as the end goal (preferably something cursed, that saps the INT or charms the person into finding said object irresistible (my favorite is what I call the idiot’s jar of wealth: a large jar with a decent amount of coinage or gems (200-500) but the opening is only big enough for a PC to reach into the jar. Once the coins are grabbed, the fist can’t slide back out without releasing the handful of coins, meanwhile the PC grabbing the coin is slowly becoming stupid/paranoid the rest of the party wants to steal ‘their’ treasured gold/plat/gems). The joy of this simple trap is almost no PC will be smart enough to decide to just dump the coins/gems out of the jar. It usually goes something like PC: I cast detect magic on the jar, DM: The coins/gems light up faintly with (whatever school of magic you want) PC: I reach in the jar to get me some. DM: you grab a handful of coins/gems but you can’t remove your hand from the jar’s opening, make a INT or WIS save(DC 16-18 depending on how ‘cruel you as a DM want to be) on a fail lose 2 to INT, OR you become possessive of all the treasure in the jar.
Hire/recruit a numerous amount of different trope monster dwellers for each room area of the dungeon, start with kobolds or goblins, move on to Orcs or hobgoblins (not enough to outright slaughter low level/unprepared adventurers but enough to pose a challenge. Later rooms can have a troll or owl bear or some such thing, and later rooms can be rented out to cultists or a necromancer for keeping expenditures down.
Proceed to post ads for adventurers ‘wanted’ as a ‘rival’ group of adventurers overpowered your original ‘group’ and has holed up at your company’s dig site. In order to keep the higher ups from finding out the failure, you have been given the ‘green light’ to proceed with off the books/table methods in taking care of this ‘problem’. In order to insure your bosses are suitably repaid in justice, the more humiliation the new party can inflict against said trouble makers the better (i.E go in with all your gear and you get the minimum reward...however, go in with no armor and no/pathetic weapons and the reward will be doubled/tripled!
This first group of adventurers will not even notice the clique dungeon set up and/or the complete lack of proper ecosystem structure to the dungeon’s inhabitants, until they start to really get taxed on their ‘resources’. While the first group is going through, proceed to repost the need for more ‘adventurers’ and then send that new group of adventurers in to ‘take out’ the first group (aka the rival intruders).
Now I actually did this as a mission in a campaign and it was glorious (the PC’s went in completely unarmed and minimally armed, placing a down ‘bet’ of 3,000 gold (the party’s rogue rolled a Nat 20 on persuasion, and the benefactor gladly offered them 5:1 returns. The party then proceeded to go full murder hobo on 8-9 kobolds in the first room, quickly dispatched the 6 or so goblins in the next room, and had a challenging but fun slaughter of the 4 Orcs in the ‘barracks’ of the dungeon. They decided to take a short rest, and were almost caught by surprise by the next ‘shift’ of Orcs coming in for duty (the whole party of PC’s failed their perception checks to spot the Orc Employee roster/tally of adventurers killed). They then snuck past the troll and owlbear. Only to almost be annihilated by the necromancer and his initiates. One of the magic users then stupidly used the knock spell to magically open the locked corridor next to the necromancer quarters (which was full of zombies) the sound of the knocked open door naturally woke both the troll and the owlbear and all heck broke loose. The party finally made it to the back few rooms of the dungeons and found the lone survivor of the previous group of adventurers (their hand snuggly stuck in the trapped jar) and basically pulling a ‘gollum’ with his ‘precious’. Only one PC had started to suspect the whole thing was a trap, when I sprang the follow up group of adventurers on the PC’s, where after they killed a couple of the NPC group, were bloodied to the point of basically suing for peace after discovering all parties were being ‘played’.
Our drunken Monk bought a bar, brews beer, and sells what he doesn't drink.
My (female) Hexblade/Rogue relocated a bakery/brothel from Neverwinter to Phandalin. We'll see how that goes over... not sure if the natives will be too happy about that. At least there's cupcakes involved.
I once used channel divinity on forge cleric to make a bunch of gold and platinum rings worth the same as the money I spent to make them
There was a grandgrand fes, and I rolled a persuasian check to see how well I was at selling them at triple their value. I figured any rings unsold would just be channeled back into money later
Create jewels using Creation, perhaps use a proficiency roll to determine the quality. Cast Disguise Self on yourself, Arcanist's Magic Aura on the created jewels so they seem non-magical, and Charm Person on the jeweller. If you have some levels in Sorc consider using Subtle Spell if you have it.
Sell the jewels.
By the time they realise the con job as the jewels vanish, you'll be away with the coin and looking like yourself again. The jeweller will be looking for somebody that doesn't exist.
May want to consider an object different than jewels if you need longer time to sell.
Alternatively: Fabricate with some crafting proficiency can allow you to produce more items than your non-magical competitors: what they take weeks to months to make, you can make in 10 minutes.
If there is a war consider plate armour. It's 750 gp each set in profit and you can undercut competitors. To make things cheaper offer to buy at discount all the used and broken weapons and armour to offer discount on new ones: Fabricate is brilliant at recycling.
My 14th level wizard, during a war, made over 6,000 gp in a day.
--
You can use Magnificent Mansion and rent out rooms for a day to nobles needing an overnight stay. If you're a Mark of Hospitality Halfling with the relevant Dragonmark feat you can even cast this once per day for free. The mansion holds 100 people. Charge 5 gp for the night and that's 500 gp made with ease.
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond. Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ thisFAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
my character and co awoke this red dragon because we needed lore he then flew and devoured his cultist, the towns folk saw this and cause a panic house prices dropped and we bought a house and then sold it at a profit
cast wall of ice in a desert then sell the water at a profit
Related to this, if captured by pirates and you are a cleric, Create Water becomes very valuable. Got me a cabin upgrade from the brig, to a proper bunk.
Give your DM a dollar in real life and ask him to announce that your character found a bag containing 1000 gold.
Or you could just let your DM run the game and not be a dick about trying to earn money in game. But if you're gonna be a dick about trying to earn money, at least slip your DM a buck, and just skip to the end where you have the money, instead of wasting the time of your DM and the other players while you're explaining some elaborate scheme that you cooked up to earn money.
My personal philosophy for DMing is the characters should at least be making enough to live comfortably. Why? Cause it can so easily backfire if you make them come up with scams to make money. Also, I find that when they have enough to feel comfortable they tend to b more generous to the people they meet and less likely to try and cheat people to get ahead since they feel they are already better off then the others....
Give your DM a dollar in real life and ask him to announce that your character found a bag containing 1000 gold.
Or you could just let your DM run the game and not be a dick about trying to earn money in game. But if you're gonna be a dick about trying to earn money, at least slip your DM a buck, and just skip to the end where you have the money, instead of wasting the time of your DM and the other players while you're explaining some elaborate scheme that you cooked up to earn money.
You're making the assumption people play with the mindset rich = win.
Trying to make money in the game isn't being a dick, it can be a fun endeavour in and of itself. Sometimes playing the hero isn't what you want, and you can find fun in scheming, robbing places, etc. There's a whole rogue subclass dedicated to being a Thief.
Want to quickly earn some money for costly spell components or diamonds so the cleric can save your arse even after death? Well, you can risk your neck trying to find a dragon, travel there, defeat it and get its horde - taking potentially days to weeks. OR you can spend a few hours with a scam and get what you need.
My wizard only got half the spells he had by using Fabricate to make armour during a war. Those spells helped save the party when they finally found an adventure to go on.
By now our party is rich. I mean ridiculously rich. Literally millions of gold. And yet we still adventure, and we still like getting money, but ultimately we adventure because it's fun, not because we seek gold. Our bard just loves the fame and attention, too.
So maybe open your mind a bit and not call people "a dick" just because they play in a way you don't approve.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond. Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ thisFAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
Give your DM a dollar in real life and ask him to announce that your character found a bag containing 1000 gold.
Or you could just let your DM run the game and not be a dick about trying to earn money in game. But if you're gonna be a dick about trying to earn money, at least slip your DM a buck, and just skip to the end where you have the money, instead of wasting the time of your DM and the other players while you're explaining some elaborate scheme that you cooked up to earn money.
You're making the assumption people play with the mindset rich = win.
Trying to make money in the game isn't being a dick, it can be a fun endeavour in and of itself. Sometimes playing the hero isn't what you want, and you can find fun in scheming, robbing places, etc. There's a whole rogue subclass dedicated to being a Thief.
Want to quickly earn some money for costly spell components or diamonds so the cleric can save your arse even after death? Well, you can risk your neck trying to find a dragon, travel there, defeat it and get its horde - taking potentially days to weeks. OR you can spend a few hours with a scam and get what you need.
My wizard only got half the spells he had by using Fabricate to make armour during a war. Those spells helped save the party when they finally found an adventure to go on.
By now our party is rich. I mean ridiculously rich. Literally millions of gold. And yet we still adventure, and we still like getting money, but ultimately we adventure because it's fun, not because we seek gold. Our bard just loves the fame and attention, too.
So maybe open your mind a bit and not call people "a dick" just because they play in a way you don't approve.
There's nothing wrong with wanting more money, but it is very disrespectful to derail a campaign that your DM is leading and other players are participating in just because you're not happy with the amount of gold and magic items that your DM believes is appropriate to provide to you.
I am going to call people ***** because they're playing in a way that I don't approve. I trust the DM's judgement when it comes to how much money and how many magic items he provides to the party. And people that try to circumvent that and derail a campaign with cockamamie schemes to acquire more gold and magic items are *****. When you make it clear to the DM that you're going to waste his time and the party's time with your fancy schemes to get more money than he feels appropriate to give to you, you're making the game less fun for the DM and for the other players. And that quite certainly makes you a dick.
If you think the DM isn't giving your party enough gold/magic items, talk to him out of game about it. Don't waste his time and the party's time by trying to force him to either shut down your stupid schemes, or give in to your pettiness and give you more gold/magic items than he thought appropriate. If you just asked him to give your party more gold or magic items, he'd probably do it. Or he would explain why he wasn't giving you and your party more gold/magic items.
Just talk to your DM if you feel you don't have enough gold. Don't be a passive aggressive dick by wasting his time and the party's time just because you didn't have the courage to talk to your DM about your perceived lack of gold/magic items.
"There's nothing wrong with wanting more money, but it is very disrespectful to derail a campaign that your DM is leading and other players are participating in just because you're not happy with the amount of gold and magic items that your DM believes is appropriate to provide to you."
Why is it derailing? If the DM has a very specific "you will do this and nothing else" campaign then it's not really D&D, is it? That's just a script you're following, not a game you're playing. Some player freedom is part of the game - amount may vary by campaign, especially for newer DMs using preset adventures, but some freedom is allowed, nay, encouraged. At some point, be it main campaign or downtime, you get to make your own choices and do your own thing.
Many of these "schemes" are simple quick things and can easily just be mentioned as a downtime activity - that thing you do between adventures/sessions, where what you do derails absolute zilch even in the most restrictive campaigns? I'm guessing you forgot about downtime. Which, by the way, is actually a money-making prospect and you can earn money with it through various ways, there are even examples in the sourcebooks. Including the crafting and selling of things - so it seems even Wizards of the Coast themselves disagree with you.
"I am going to call people ***** because they're playing in a way that I don't approve."
This is an extremely toxic mentality. People doing something you don't like doesn't make them *****. How we play has no relevance to you, we're not playing in your game, so why are we ***** for playing in a way that we (DM included) find fun? It's a very negative and hostile way to approach something incredibly banal and unimportant. If you were saying "I don't like this in a game I'm playing in" then that's perfectly fine and acceptable. But you didn't. You chose to make a blanket statement for everyone, and insult previous posters in this thread. Now that is disrespectful and very immature.
" I trust the DM's judgement when it comes to how much money and how many magic items he provides to the party. And people that try to circumvent that and derail a campaign with cockamamie schemes to acquire more gold and magic items are *****. When you make it clear to the DM that you're going to waste his time and the party's time with your fancy schemes to get more money than he feels appropriate to give to you, you're making the game less fun for the DM and for the other players. And that quite certainly makes you a dick."
It's not about trust. It's an alternate route of profit either as part of downtime (bringing back to that derailing nonsense) or as an alternative to the usual adventure. We don't all play preset adventures, some of us are just told "this is the world, what do you want to do?" and we have to go find adventures and work to get coin. We could try this scheme, go do this mission on the job board, or chase down that rumour. All options. Getting money from the scheme is no different than getting money for a mission or treasure reward.
Once again you're making assumptions - you're assuming it's not going to be fun for the DM or "other players" and that these things aren't discussed and approved beforehand. Most DMs I know welcome creative thought and imagination, that thinking outside the box, and the challenge such thoughts may bring. And when a scheme goes wrong - a surprise bit of chaos : perhaps a social "can they find a way out of this mess with bribes and persuasion" or maybe a classic "chased by the guards" moment. Such good times. Whether it's a scheme on the market or down in a dungeon: skill challenges, tension, worry, setbacks, adapts, success or failure and resulting consequences either way. It's all part of it. And of course, the session 0 explains what the limits are, and we work together to have fun.
Or perhaps they can be smaller and simpler and everyone gets their own thing, so that our characters have more to them than being "a party member" - they are individuals who may have some individual wants and needs. Or maybe the group can have a rule like missions and rewards go into the shared party funds pile while your side-hussles are for just your own pocket.
Some of us do check with the group and DM if this type of thing is OK when not on big adventure arcs, so - if as a group we've agreed it's fine, and all of us at the table, including the DM, actually enjoys it and has fun with it - why does it make us "*****"? You're making the assumption we aren't discussing this option with the group/DM or that we're being ungrateful or something.
"If you think the DM isn't giving your party enough gold/magic items, talk to him out of game about it. "
It's not about the rewards not being big enough. Let's put this way: say you're out of work and living off welfare. You (ideally) get just enough to have food and basic amenities and maybe one small luxury or two. You could be quite content (some are), but now say you decide you want to try and have a bigger place or get more luxury. Do you really just go to the government and ask for more? No! You go get a job, or maybe you rob a bank, or maybe try gambling, or something. You go out to get money. In D&D this mean even after getting the treasure, if you think you want more you just go adventure again or go scheme up something.
I mean do you honestly tell the DM, "no more adventures!, my character has enough to live off modestly for decades, they're good. D&D is over for this character, goodbye!" - NO, you want more gold and shinies so you tell the DM you want more gold by.. doing something in-game to earn it, by more adventures or scheme. It's not that the DM hasn't given you enough, it;s just you want to keep playing and get some even more shiny while at it, because why not?
I don't want the DM to just "give" the gold. I want to do something to get it. Hel, even if I dont need the gold, I still want to try all these different schemes, adventures and things because they all offer something interest and fun.
There's a reason even filthy rich celebs shoplift - it's not because they're unhappy with their payslips or because they even really want that item - it's just the experience, the thrill. Sometimes to feel good you have to try new things.
In my game the party collectively holds over 2.4 million gold in shared funds and most have upward of 400k each in personal. They still adventure AND still do money making side-gigs (the bard holds performances and sells autographs - our ranger is a kenku that forges those autographs and sells them as well, the wizard fabricates things and sells scrolls, etc). It's not because we need the money, it's because it's interesting, it's more to our characters and feels right for them, and takes a nice breather from the high-stakes missions.
Please remember, we don't all play the same way you do, so I urge you to stop making assumptions about our motivations or group play. My group, for example, loves our little side-stuff every now and then, including the DM! Everyone gets fun from it. So why would that make you so pissy enough to insult us?
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond. Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ thisFAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
Live in Sharn (Eberron). Have Feather Fall prepared. Walk around the streets for about 20 minutes. Wait for someone to fall off a bridge/building near you, cast feather fall on them, track them down and charge them for saving their life.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
It's really simple - talk to your DM and your party before you do many of these schemes.
If you clear things with your DM and your party before you go it, you're not being a dick. It's when you turn D&D into a Me versus the DM game that you're being a dick. The DM isn't your enemy, you're not trying to outsmart him. You're not trying to screw over NPCs and daring him to bring consequences.
The DM and the players are on the same team. It's when you forget this that you're playing D&D like a dick.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Wow. Sorry for laughing. You can't tell, but I'm laughing. Not at you, though. That's horrible.
I think I would have responded by going super technical myself. I'd make a list of things my character needed to do during the day, and then I'd specifically interrupt and drag out the game to make sure they got done.
GM: It's nightfall, you've traveled for the day. What are you doing?
Other Players: We'll bed down for the night.
Me: I'm going to brush my teeth. Is that a Dex check?
...
Other Players: We set up a watch. Here's the order.
Me: I'm going to leave the area of the campfire to go to the bathroom. It's a (roll die) number 2. Can I make a Search roll to find a good spot? Oh, and I need to make a Nature roll, see what plants nearby are handy for wiping with, but won't cause a rash.
...
GM: Okay the night passes--
Me: Wait--during my watch, I need to make some coffee so I can make sure I'm alert. Are the coals of the fire still warm enough?
...
GM: Dawn comes, and the city is a half day's journey away.
Me: I'm going to do some pushups when I wake up--we haven't fought in a couple of days, and I need to maintain my fitness and Strength stat. I'll do (roll) 5 sets of (roll) 25 pushups. (Roll Strength check) That's one. (Roll) Two. (Roll) Three. (Roll) Oh, I missed that one. What happens to my Strength stat?
...
GM: The guards move aside, motioning for you to enter the castle. "The King awaits," the larger one says.
Me: I clean my boots before entering. Is there a place to sit down to take them off? I could just sit on the ground. I have three flasks of water. I'll use...I think half of one flask to clean both boots, that should be enough. Wait--I forgot to buy a rag in town. Does anyone have a rag in their inventory that I could use?
...
GM: The King bids you farewell, and good luck on your quest.
Me: I need to find a place in town to get a haircut, it's been two months. And I've forgotten to take the Shave action for a number of mornings in a row, so I must look pretty haggard. Is there a Charisma penalty I should be applying?
...
GM: You reach the Ranger, he's in bad shape.
Me: I tend to his wounds. For the thigh wound, I'll use a simple compress, with a bandage wrapped around and tied in a square knot. The chest wound was deeper, going by your description. I'm going to clean the wound first as best as I can. I have half a flask of water left. NO, wait, I have some brandy. I'll use that. Then I'll stitch the wound up, if I'm sure there's no foreign material in there. I have...lemme check...14.3 feet of sewing thread left over, how long is the wound?
(More realistically, I just don't come back and play again, to be honest. :)
Looking for new subclasses, spells, magic items, feats, and races? Opinions welcome :)
There’s always the 3rd ED/Pathfinder shop glitch: purchase 10 ft poles and hemp rope, proceed to form three poles (two for the ladder part, the third cut into smaller lengths for rungs) with some rope into ladders, sell ladders back to shop for more rope and poles, wash, rinse and repeat!
OR be a rogue, max your CHA for persuasion and deception, negotiate all expenses for the party for cheapest rates possible (preferably alone) then proceed to tell the party the ‘negotiated’ price which is 20% or so higher than what you actually get the price for things, thus letting the rest of your party ‘cover’ your share of expenses without hindering your ‘equal share of party funds/treasure’. With the criminal background you can take this con even farther, by claiming to ‘know’ a secluded wizard who can/will gladly identify mysterious magic items for a small fee. You as the rogue proceed to take said items to a different inn to find ‘said friend’ (really just one of your fake identities) proceed to try to figure out the magic item(s) (a couple level dip into knowledge Cleric can help in this) or just wing it. Return to party with the revealed magic goods and tell them your friend requires a slightly higher fee for compensation.
Finally, become a gladiatorial ringleader/secret fight club owner: set up a low key, standard dungeon set up, with a ‘treasured artifact’ as the end goal (preferably something cursed, that saps the INT or charms the person into finding said object irresistible (my favorite is what I call the idiot’s jar of wealth: a large jar with a decent amount of coinage or gems (200-500) but the opening is only big enough for a PC to reach into the jar. Once the coins are grabbed, the fist can’t slide back out without releasing the handful of coins, meanwhile the PC grabbing the coin is slowly becoming stupid/paranoid the rest of the party wants to steal ‘their’ treasured gold/plat/gems). The joy of this simple trap is almost no PC will be smart enough to decide to just dump the coins/gems out of the jar. It usually goes something like PC: I cast detect magic on the jar, DM: The coins/gems light up faintly with (whatever school of magic you want) PC: I reach in the jar to get me some. DM: you grab a handful of coins/gems but you can’t remove your hand from the jar’s opening, make a INT or WIS save(DC 16-18 depending on how ‘cruel you as a DM want to be) on a fail lose 2 to INT, OR you become possessive of all the treasure in the jar.
Hire/recruit a numerous amount of different trope monster dwellers for each room area of the dungeon, start with kobolds or goblins, move on to Orcs or hobgoblins (not enough to outright slaughter low level/unprepared adventurers but enough to pose a challenge. Later rooms can have a troll or owl bear or some such thing, and later rooms can be rented out to cultists or a necromancer for keeping expenditures down.
Proceed to post ads for adventurers ‘wanted’ as a ‘rival’ group of adventurers overpowered your original ‘group’ and has holed up at your company’s dig site. In order to keep the higher ups from finding out the failure, you have been given the ‘green light’ to proceed with off the books/table methods in taking care of this ‘problem’. In order to insure your bosses are suitably repaid in justice, the more humiliation the new party can inflict against said trouble makers the better (i.E go in with all your gear and you get the minimum reward...however, go in with no armor and no/pathetic weapons and the reward will be doubled/tripled!
This first group of adventurers will not even notice the clique dungeon set up and/or the complete lack of proper ecosystem structure to the dungeon’s inhabitants, until they start to really get taxed on their ‘resources’. While the first group is going through, proceed to repost the need for more ‘adventurers’ and then send that new group of adventurers in to ‘take out’ the first group (aka the rival intruders).
Now I actually did this as a mission in a campaign and it was glorious (the PC’s went in completely unarmed and minimally armed, placing a down ‘bet’ of 3,000 gold (the party’s rogue rolled a Nat 20 on persuasion, and the benefactor gladly offered them 5:1 returns. The party then proceeded to go full murder hobo on 8-9 kobolds in the first room, quickly dispatched the 6 or so goblins in the next room, and had a challenging but fun slaughter of the 4 Orcs in the ‘barracks’ of the dungeon. They decided to take a short rest, and were almost caught by surprise by the next ‘shift’ of Orcs coming in for duty (the whole party of PC’s failed their perception checks to spot the Orc Employee roster/tally of adventurers killed). They then snuck past the troll and owlbear. Only to almost be annihilated by the necromancer and his initiates. One of the magic users then stupidly used the knock spell to magically open the locked corridor next to the necromancer quarters (which was full of zombies) the sound of the knocked open door naturally woke both the troll and the owlbear and all heck broke loose. The party finally made it to the back few rooms of the dungeons and found the lone survivor of the previous group of adventurers (their hand snuggly stuck in the trapped jar) and basically pulling a ‘gollum’ with his ‘precious’. Only one PC had started to suspect the whole thing was a trap, when I sprang the follow up group of adventurers on the PC’s, where after they killed a couple of the NPC group, were bloodied to the point of basically suing for peace after discovering all parties were being ‘played’.
Our drunken Monk bought a bar, brews beer, and sells what he doesn't drink.
My (female) Hexblade/Rogue relocated a bakery/brothel from Neverwinter to Phandalin. We'll see how that goes over... not sure if the natives will be too happy about that. At least there's cupcakes involved.
I once used channel divinity on forge cleric to make a bunch of gold and platinum rings worth the same as the money I spent to make them
There was a grandgrand fes, and I rolled a persuasian check to see how well I was at selling them at triple their value. I figured any rings unsold would just be channeled back into money later
I rolled a Nat 20 while proficient in persuasion
Dm said I sold them all
Got 800 gold profit out of the deal
Having game time match real time is insane
What happens when you end a session in a dungeon?
Be a Wizard, with Jewellery proficiency.
Find a Jeweller.
Create jewels using Creation, perhaps use a proficiency roll to determine the quality. Cast Disguise Self on yourself, Arcanist's Magic Aura on the created jewels so they seem non-magical, and Charm Person on the jeweller. If you have some levels in Sorc consider using Subtle Spell if you have it.
Sell the jewels.
By the time they realise the con job as the jewels vanish, you'll be away with the coin and looking like yourself again. The jeweller will be looking for somebody that doesn't exist.
May want to consider an object different than jewels if you need longer time to sell.
Alternatively: Fabricate with some crafting proficiency can allow you to produce more items than your non-magical competitors: what they take weeks to months to make, you can make in 10 minutes.
If there is a war consider plate armour. It's 750 gp each set in profit and you can undercut competitors. To make things cheaper offer to buy at discount all the used and broken weapons and armour to offer discount on new ones: Fabricate is brilliant at recycling.
My 14th level wizard, during a war, made over 6,000 gp in a day.
--
You can use Magnificent Mansion and rent out rooms for a day to nobles needing an overnight stay. If you're a Mark of Hospitality Halfling with the relevant Dragonmark feat you can even cast this once per day for free. The mansion holds 100 people. Charge 5 gp for the night and that's 500 gp made with ease.
Offer long-term storage options with Demiplane.
Offer premium travel service with Teleport.
Buy land. Use Wall of Stone to make houses. Sell the houses.
Basically: be a spellcaster.
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond.
Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ this FAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
1. Do some quest for a king or someone important or something
2. Kill monsters i guess
3. ???
4. Ask for a title or Lordship for your service
5. Profit
Alternatively, sell the Druid wild shaped as a horse. That night the Druid turns back, and you ditch town
my character and co awoke this red dragon because we needed lore he then flew and devoured his cultist, the towns folk saw this and cause a panic house prices dropped and we bought a house and then sold it at a profit
also here is another one:
1. get a gold/platinum/adimatine scissors
2. get a Korred using conjure fey
3. charm it somehow to cut it's hair with the scissors
4. sell the gold/platinum/adamantine hairs on the market
5. live in high luxury
Hi everyone! I'm working up the will to finalize my signature, so... I guess this will be the signature for now
Fabricate full plate armor from 65 pounds of steel
Channel divinity for forge cleric to make the armor turn into platinum, 100gp at a time
cast wall of ice in a desert then sell the water at a profit
Hi everyone! I'm working up the will to finalize my signature, so... I guess this will be the signature for now
Related to this, if captured by pirates and you are a cleric, Create Water becomes very valuable. Got me a cabin upgrade from the brig, to a proper bunk.
Give your DM a dollar in real life and ask him to announce that your character found a bag containing 1000 gold.
Or you could just let your DM run the game and not be a dick about trying to earn money in game. But if you're gonna be a dick about trying to earn money, at least slip your DM a buck, and just skip to the end where you have the money, instead of wasting the time of your DM and the other players while you're explaining some elaborate scheme that you cooked up to earn money.
My personal philosophy for DMing is the characters should at least be making enough to live comfortably. Why? Cause it can so easily backfire if you make them come up with scams to make money. Also, I find that when they have enough to feel comfortable they tend to b more generous to the people they meet and less likely to try and cheat people to get ahead since they feel they are already better off then the others....
They are heroes after all.
You're making the assumption people play with the mindset rich = win.
Trying to make money in the game isn't being a dick, it can be a fun endeavour in and of itself. Sometimes playing the hero isn't what you want, and you can find fun in scheming, robbing places, etc. There's a whole rogue subclass dedicated to being a Thief.
Want to quickly earn some money for costly spell components or diamonds so the cleric can save your arse even after death? Well, you can risk your neck trying to find a dragon, travel there, defeat it and get its horde - taking potentially days to weeks. OR you can spend a few hours with a scam and get what you need.
My wizard only got half the spells he had by using Fabricate to make armour during a war. Those spells helped save the party when they finally found an adventure to go on.
By now our party is rich. I mean ridiculously rich. Literally millions of gold. And yet we still adventure, and we still like getting money, but ultimately we adventure because it's fun, not because we seek gold. Our bard just loves the fame and attention, too.
So maybe open your mind a bit and not call people "a dick" just because they play in a way you don't approve.
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond.
Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ this FAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
There's nothing wrong with wanting more money, but it is very disrespectful to derail a campaign that your DM is leading and other players are participating in just because you're not happy with the amount of gold and magic items that your DM believes is appropriate to provide to you.
I am going to call people ***** because they're playing in a way that I don't approve. I trust the DM's judgement when it comes to how much money and how many magic items he provides to the party. And people that try to circumvent that and derail a campaign with cockamamie schemes to acquire more gold and magic items are *****. When you make it clear to the DM that you're going to waste his time and the party's time with your fancy schemes to get more money than he feels appropriate to give to you, you're making the game less fun for the DM and for the other players. And that quite certainly makes you a dick.
If you think the DM isn't giving your party enough gold/magic items, talk to him out of game about it. Don't waste his time and the party's time by trying to force him to either shut down your stupid schemes, or give in to your pettiness and give you more gold/magic items than he thought appropriate. If you just asked him to give your party more gold or magic items, he'd probably do it. Or he would explain why he wasn't giving you and your party more gold/magic items.
Just talk to your DM if you feel you don't have enough gold. Don't be a passive aggressive dick by wasting his time and the party's time just because you didn't have the courage to talk to your DM about your perceived lack of gold/magic items.
<my point>
<your head>
-
"There's nothing wrong with wanting more money, but it is very disrespectful to derail a campaign that your DM is leading and other players are participating in just because you're not happy with the amount of gold and magic items that your DM believes is appropriate to provide to you."
Why is it derailing? If the DM has a very specific "you will do this and nothing else" campaign then it's not really D&D, is it? That's just a script you're following, not a game you're playing. Some player freedom is part of the game - amount may vary by campaign, especially for newer DMs using preset adventures, but some freedom is allowed, nay, encouraged. At some point, be it main campaign or downtime, you get to make your own choices and do your own thing.
Many of these "schemes" are simple quick things and can easily just be mentioned as a downtime activity - that thing you do between adventures/sessions, where what you do derails absolute zilch even in the most restrictive campaigns? I'm guessing you forgot about downtime. Which, by the way, is actually a money-making prospect and you can earn money with it through various ways, there are even examples in the sourcebooks. Including the crafting and selling of things - so it seems even Wizards of the Coast themselves disagree with you.
"I am going to call people ***** because they're playing in a way that I don't approve."
This is an extremely toxic mentality. People doing something you don't like doesn't make them *****. How we play has no relevance to you, we're not playing in your game, so why are we ***** for playing in a way that we (DM included) find fun? It's a very negative and hostile way to approach something incredibly banal and unimportant. If you were saying "I don't like this in a game I'm playing in" then that's perfectly fine and acceptable. But you didn't. You chose to make a blanket statement for everyone, and insult previous posters in this thread. Now that is disrespectful and very immature.
" I trust the DM's judgement when it comes to how much money and how many magic items he provides to the party. And people that try to circumvent that and derail a campaign with cockamamie schemes to acquire more gold and magic items are *****. When you make it clear to the DM that you're going to waste his time and the party's time with your fancy schemes to get more money than he feels appropriate to give to you, you're making the game less fun for the DM and for the other players. And that quite certainly makes you a dick."
It's not about trust. It's an alternate route of profit either as part of downtime (bringing back to that derailing nonsense) or as an alternative to the usual adventure. We don't all play preset adventures, some of us are just told "this is the world, what do you want to do?" and we have to go find adventures and work to get coin. We could try this scheme, go do this mission on the job board, or chase down that rumour. All options. Getting money from the scheme is no different than getting money for a mission or treasure reward.
Once again you're making assumptions - you're assuming it's not going to be fun for the DM or "other players" and that these things aren't discussed and approved beforehand. Most DMs I know welcome creative thought and imagination, that thinking outside the box, and the challenge such thoughts may bring. And when a scheme goes wrong - a surprise bit of chaos : perhaps a social "can they find a way out of this mess with bribes and persuasion" or maybe a classic "chased by the guards" moment. Such good times. Whether it's a scheme on the market or down in a dungeon: skill challenges, tension, worry, setbacks, adapts, success or failure and resulting consequences either way. It's all part of it. And of course, the session 0 explains what the limits are, and we work together to have fun.
Or perhaps they can be smaller and simpler and everyone gets their own thing, so that our characters have more to them than being "a party member" - they are individuals who may have some individual wants and needs. Or maybe the group can have a rule like missions and rewards go into the shared party funds pile while your side-hussles are for just your own pocket.
Some of us do check with the group and DM if this type of thing is OK when not on big adventure arcs, so - if as a group we've agreed it's fine, and all of us at the table, including the DM, actually enjoys it and has fun with it - why does it make us "*****"? You're making the assumption we aren't discussing this option with the group/DM or that we're being ungrateful or something.
"If you think the DM isn't giving your party enough gold/magic items, talk to him out of game about it. "
It's not about the rewards not being big enough. Let's put this way: say you're out of work and living off welfare. You (ideally) get just enough to have food and basic amenities and maybe one small luxury or two. You could be quite content (some are), but now say you decide you want to try and have a bigger place or get more luxury. Do you really just go to the government and ask for more? No! You go get a job, or maybe you rob a bank, or maybe try gambling, or something. You go out to get money. In D&D this mean even after getting the treasure, if you think you want more you just go adventure again or go scheme up something.
I mean do you honestly tell the DM, "no more adventures!, my character has enough to live off modestly for decades, they're good. D&D is over for this character, goodbye!" - NO, you want more gold and shinies so you tell the DM you want more gold by.. doing something in-game to earn it, by more adventures or scheme. It's not that the DM hasn't given you enough, it;s just you want to keep playing and get some even more shiny while at it, because why not?
I don't want the DM to just "give" the gold. I want to do something to get it. Hel, even if I dont need the gold, I still want to try all these different schemes, adventures and things because they all offer something interest and fun.
There's a reason even filthy rich celebs shoplift - it's not because they're unhappy with their payslips or because they even really want that item - it's just the experience, the thrill. Sometimes to feel good you have to try new things.
In my game the party collectively holds over 2.4 million gold in shared funds and most have upward of 400k each in personal. They still adventure AND still do money making side-gigs (the bard holds performances and sells autographs - our ranger is a kenku that forges those autographs and sells them as well, the wizard fabricates things and sells scrolls, etc). It's not because we need the money, it's because it's interesting, it's more to our characters and feels right for them, and takes a nice breather from the high-stakes missions.
Please remember, we don't all play the same way you do, so I urge you to stop making assumptions about our motivations or group play. My group, for example, loves our little side-stuff every now and then, including the DM! Everyone gets fun from it. So why would that make you so pissy enough to insult us?
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond.
Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ this FAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
Gather up magic items as loot.
Cast distort value on one.
Sell it to an unsuspecting vendor for double its actual value.
Run away.
Repeat.
Live in Sharn (Eberron). Have Feather Fall prepared. Walk around the streets for about 20 minutes. Wait for someone to fall off a bridge/building near you, cast feather fall on them, track them down and charge them for saving their life.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
In my games, the DMs expect players to figure out ways to get money or loot
If we get lots of money and loot through social means, or gimmicks, we just get less loot from dungeons
It's not a problem
It's really simple - talk to your DM and your party before you do many of these schemes.
If you clear things with your DM and your party before you go it, you're not being a dick. It's when you turn D&D into a Me versus the DM game that you're being a dick. The DM isn't your enemy, you're not trying to outsmart him. You're not trying to screw over NPCs and daring him to bring consequences.
The DM and the players are on the same team. It's when you forget this that you're playing D&D like a dick.