Starting gold & items for characters greater than first level

[Legacy_Lilura]

               

Is there a formula or generally agreed-upon rule for this... say the module is designed for a tenth level character, but doesn't supply the character with starting gold or items, just leaving that up to the player to "console in", import, or whatever? I mean in cases where this isn't clarified by the module maker, of course..


I've always felt a bit odd giving myself gold or items, feeling that such balance isn't really for the player to decide and is actually much more of a DM call. Starting gold & items seem to have rules for first level - see the table on this page - so that has me wondering about this, too.


But.. if no formula or rules exist, then I'm interested in how others decide starting wealth for their - let's say tenth level - characters. I don't mind if your answer is "my wealth's what I feel it should be based on my role-playing backstory I wrote", but that's not my cup of tea because there's no DM to say "ye, sure!" or "methinks.. nay." What do you think?

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Tchos]

               

Character wealth by level is on page 135 of the Dungeon Master's Guide (v3.5).

 

But I only play Pong, so what do I know?

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_icywind1980]

               

If I feel like keeping in the spirit of not cheating (not often xD ) I use the ''Determine amount of gold by level'' feature in the PGC mod.

 

http://neverwinterva...3-powered-igipe

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_werelynx]

               

I just take the exported character that I already have :-)

If I feel I have too much gear/gold i drop, but rarely ;-)

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Tarot Redhand]

               

Is this page of any use?

 

TR

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Lilura]

               

Thanks for both those links, guys! It seems a tenth level character starts with 49,000 gold, which seems reasonable for the modules I have in mind (one of which hosts a "starter store" of sorts, from which one can purchase a few relevant items before the adventure proper).

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MagicalMaster]

               

Is there a formula or generally agreed-upon rule for this... say the module is designed for a tenth level character, but doesn't supply the character with starting gold or items, just leaving that up to the player to "console in", import, or whatever?

 

Nope!  Think of the difference between a level 10 character in Aielund vs Swordflight alone, for example.

 

In general, people who prefer somewhat lower magic are thinking "You have a +1 weapon most likely, maybe a +2 if you're lucky" while people on somewhat higher magic are thinking "You have a +3 weapon most likely, maybe even a +4 weapon."  If you know more about the general magic level and resting intentions of a module you can hazard a better guess, but otherwise?  This isn't even getting into the actual balance issue and cost of items -- something with 5 or 10 resist to all physical damage isn't very expensive price wise (9.4k for 5 to all, 33k for 10 to all) but incredibly powerful power wise.  The price doesn't reflect the power.

 

Then you bring up other potential issues like Haste or immunities...Permahaste is less than 14k and Mind Spell immunity is only 10.5k.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Lilura]

               

I agree, I just don't like having to hazard a guess... It's a DMing failure and bad design, imo.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MagicalMaster]

               

I think it's forgivable if the module was designed as a sequel to another module, but otherwise yes, I agree.  If you're playing "The Nether Scrolls" as a bridge between SoU and HotU then I'm not going to be upset if TNS isn't set up to bring a fresh character up to speed (I mean, just start with HotU in that case).  Ditto something like the Aielund Saga, though Savant actually did make sure each Act could be started fresh which was appreciated.

 

What particular module are you thinking of?  Might be able to hazard my own guess which you could check to see if it aligns with yours (and presumably others could throw their guesses into the hat too).