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Post by geordie on May 2, 2010 17:31:54 GMT -6
Seems to me that someone who can afford platemail should have more money LEFT than someone who buys leather, because only those who can afford it go for the best gear. I'm thinking of having fighters roll for starting AC to determine their cash. Obviously this won't work in a swashbuckling game where combatants rely less on armour - maybe I'll base it on CHA instead ?
I don't want to create loads more subsystems, just use what's there. Has anyone else tried something different with money/equipment ?
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fitz
Level 2 Seer
Posts: 48
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Post by fitz on May 2, 2010 19:24:15 GMT -6
I think you've got it the wrong way around -- those who rely on it for their lives are going to buy the best stuff they can afford.
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Post by dwayanu on May 2, 2010 19:49:32 GMT -6
If you just give the players money and let them buy armor, then ...
You'll find out what actually happens.
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Post by tombowings on May 2, 2010 21:39:29 GMT -6
I don't feel I understand the goal of this rule and what it is trying to accomplish. What is this rule trying to invoke exactly?
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Post by coffee on May 2, 2010 21:49:12 GMT -6
Sounds to me like he's saying the rich will get plate because they're rich, and thus will have more money left over. The poor will only buy leather, because that's all they can afford -- and they won't have much left over after that, either.
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Post by tombowings on May 2, 2010 23:08:44 GMT -6
Yes, I understand that. But why?
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Post by apeloverage on May 2, 2010 23:15:20 GMT -6
One way to do this would be to have money range by orders of magnitude. For example, roll 2d6, then roll another 1d6, and that's the number of zeroes at the end. Then either assign armour based on the last 1d6, or have its cost vary by orders of magnitude - a shield costs 10, leather costs 100, chainmail costs 1000, platemail costs 10000 for example.
It sounds like something Chivalry & Sorcery would do. Does anyone know how it works in that game?
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Post by dwayanu on May 3, 2010 2:54:30 GMT -6
As I recall, the first edition rulebook did not have any "starting money" rule, unless your parents were dead and you had an inheritance. The C&S Sourcebook offered something, I think. In the rulebook, you had your family particulars and social status, and then you could get a position for income. Obviously, a noble would have access to more wealth than a peasant.
Armor ranged from 10 for a leather jerkin, to 500-1000 for a mail hauberk, to 2000 for full plate.
A good knight's fee yielded on average 50 per day, an unskilled laborer's wages 1 or 2.
(The economics were admittedly not terribly historical.)
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Post by kesher on May 3, 2010 10:38:17 GMT -6
Actually, I've been thinking lately that NO ONE should be able to afford plate mail armor out of the gate...
As per the standard tables, really, it's a rare character who CAN'T afford pm if they want it.
Without constructing a whole social system for the game (as opposed to C&S, where it's integral), I don't think it's out of line to have a CHA bonus regarding starting funds...
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Post by piper on May 3, 2010 11:51:53 GMT -6
Actually, I've been thinking lately that NO ONE should be able to afford plate mail armor out of the gate... While I understand where you're coming from, as a referee I have no issue with a first level fighter with 1d6+1 hp having plate mail. His life expectancy is still measured in seconds, even with plate and shield. |
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Post by coffee on May 3, 2010 12:02:18 GMT -6
Actually, I've been thinking lately that NO ONE should be able to afford plate mail armor out of the gate... Why not? Are you afraid you won't be able to hit him with a first level monster...say, a rat? |
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Post by tombowings on May 3, 2010 12:06:27 GMT -6
Actually, I've been thinking lately that NO ONE should be able to afford plate mail armor out of the gate... Why not? Are you afraid you won't be able to hit him with a first level monster...say, a rat? I think it is more that he wants players to have something to strive for and spend money on: making gold more than a measure of experience points (which it often ends up becoming). |
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Post by kesher on May 3, 2010 14:02:05 GMT -6
That's definitely part of it. It also just bothers me aesthetically----first level fighter all stomping around in plate mail just doesn't do it for me. I mean, I'd purposefully NOT buy plate mail for my fighters just because it didn't make sense to me to wear that kind of armor into a dungeon (I mean, besides the obviously protective value.) I guess I'm trying to say, as ridiculous as it sounds, it violated my suspension of disbelief...  |
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Post by tombowings on May 3, 2010 14:21:37 GMT -6
There are other ways to encourage players not to wear plate mail armor. How about this rule for surprise:
Roll two dice for surprise when there is a chance one group of characters may suspires another. The group gains surprise if the sum of the dice is greater than all of the following:
1 + the number of character in the party
1 + twice the number of characters in leather
1 + three time the number of characters in mail
1 + four time the number of characters in plate
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Post by howandwhy99 on May 4, 2010 10:31:28 GMT -6
money == equipment in my game. Giving every player the same pool of equipment to pick from and a random starting "worth" (a.k.a. 3d6x10 GPs) means they get what they get based upon luck.
I don't balance the game based upon competitive design, but rather as amounts they can expect NPCs and other PCs to have of the same experience.
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Post by geordie on May 4, 2010 11:38:56 GMT -6
OD&D, for all it's level titles, has this free-market economy implicit in the equipment list.
All starting players have freedom of choice based on initial luck at rolling 3d6 x 10 = starting money. Even if they come from a poor background, if they can afford 50GP they can buy plate armour and are allowed to go swanning around in it, where every they please.
It's that self-made man, pioneer, social maverick thing I guess. Cowboys rather than Knights.
Even in medieval-style settings !?!?
I know they're veterans but really, a peasant is a peasant.
That 3d6 is a covert STAT - it's the ability to spend. And it changes with play.
In a snooty strict class system with little social mobility and mighty deference, that INITIAL stat (+ maybe cha mod) could be used as the ability score to roll against to gauge the reactions of other humans.
you cannot buy class
Or maybe - the no-backstory option - the more able you are in a D&D setting the more you earn so you add up your 6 stats, divide by 6 then multiply by 10 to ascertain what money you start with. Survival of the fittest.
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