D&D 3.5 "Starting Gold" Question

naporeon

Quick question: I'm at work, so I don't have access to my books...what is the starting gold for a L8 character? Is this information in the SRD anywhere? My perfunctory search did not find it.

Please feel free to lock this thread as soon as the question's answered.

DevoutlyApathetic

naporeon wrote:

Quick question: I'm at work, so I don't have access to my books...what is the starting gold for a L8 character? Is this information in the SRD anywhere? My perfunctory search did not find it.

Please feel free to lock this thread as soon as the question's answered.

27k

naporeon

Thanks a bunch!

Horseshoe

naporeon wrote:

Is this information in the SRD anywhere? My perfunctory search did not find it.

If I remember correctly, the SRD is not supposed to contain anything proprietary (I think that's the word) and certain monsters, classes, and items fit that bill... as do things like treasure tables, experience tables, and starting gold (I think the idea is that this way you cannot properly create or level a character without owning a core book).

Otherwise there would be no reason to fork over the cash for the core books and WoTC would be out a buncha money.

Anthrax! Please.

Horseshoe wrote:

naporeon wrote:

Is this information in the SRD anywhere? My perfunctory search did not find it.

If I remember correctly, the SRD is not supposed to contain anything proprietary (I think that's the word) and certain monsters, classes, and items fit that bill... as do things like treasure tables, experience tables, and starting gold (I think the idea is that this way you cannot properly create or level a character without owning a core book).

Otherwise there would be no reason to fork over the cash for the core books and WoTC would be out a buncha money.

That is not entirely the case. For monsters and items they just changed the names. Quiver of Ehlonnna becomes Efficient Quiver, etc.

Experience tables and starting wealth are entirely arbitrary. DND, as a setting does it one way, d20 modern another, Ravenloft and Faerun, etc.

It's not there to rob you of character building tools, it's there to provide developers with the system with which to make a game.

DeVryGuy

Anaximander wrote:

Horseshoe wrote:

naporeon wrote:

Is this information in the SRD anywhere? My perfunctory search did not find it.

If I remember correctly, the SRD is not supposed to contain anything proprietary (I think that's the word) and certain monsters, classes, and items fit that bill... as do things like treasure tables, experience tables, and starting gold (I think the idea is that this way you cannot properly create or level a character without owning a core book).

Otherwise there would be no reason to fork over the cash for the core books and WoTC would be out a buncha money.

That is not entirely the case. For monsters and items they just changed the names. Quiver of Ehlonnna becomes Efficient Quiver, etc.

Experience tables and starting wealth are entirely arbitrary. DND, as a setting does it one way, d20 modern another, Ravenloft and Faerun, etc.

It's not there to rob you of character building tools, it's there to provide developers with the system with which to make a game.

I believe he meant certain monsters, like beholders and mind flayers which were left out because those are "D&D Monsters" and not just generic monsters suitable for any game world.

Anthrax! Please.

DeVryGuy wrote:

Anaximander wrote:

Horseshoe wrote:

naporeon wrote:

Is this information in the SRD anywhere? My perfunctory search did not find it.

If I remember correctly, the SRD is not supposed to contain anything proprietary (I think that's the word) and certain monsters, classes, and items fit that bill... as do things like treasure tables, experience tables, and starting gold (I think the idea is that this way you cannot properly create or level a character without owning a core book).

Otherwise there would be no reason to fork over the cash for the core books and WoTC would be out a buncha money.

That is not entirely the case. For monsters and items they just changed the names. Quiver of Ehlonnna becomes Efficient Quiver, etc.

Experience tables and starting wealth are entirely arbitrary. DND, as a setting does it one way, d20 modern another, Ravenloft and Faerun, etc.

It's not there to rob you of character building tools, it's there to provide developers with the system with which to make a game.

I believe he meant certain monsters, like beholders and mind flayers which were left out because those are "D&D Monsters" and not just generic monsters suitable for any game world.

Ah. Well then.

DevoutlyApathetic

Anaximander wrote:

Experience tables and starting wealth are entirely arbitrary. DND, as a setting does it one way, d20 modern another, Ravenloft and Faerun, etc.

This is a symptom not a reason.

Anaximander wrote:

It's not there to rob you of character building tools, it's there to provide developers with the system with which to make a game.

It is there exactly to rob you of character building tools. To be more accurate it is there so anybody who uses the OGL license has to say "Refer to Core Book 1 for the experience table" so that Wotc still makes some money from all OGL licensed stuff. Ravenloft and Arcana Unearthed both use variant xp tables because it's illegal to copy the xp table without a special license from Wotc. Wotc has been willing to give this in the past (OA and Rokugan IIRC) but hasn't recently done so.

The AE reasoning is direct from Mr Cook, he's publically stated this a few times. Richard Atkinson has as well around the launch of 3.0, using his magical gift of making it not sound like greedy money grubbing. (It's not really, Wotc had to justify the opening of that license to stock holders somehow.)

Edit: Actually, did Ravenloft get that license? I haven't actually read that book. AE does use a variant chart for the reason above.

Edit AGAIN: I think it was Ryan Dancey with the magic gift. I'm horrible with names.

DeVryGuy

Fortunately XP Tables are easy to figure out without the core book. Current level * 1000 = XP to get to next level.

I haven't spotted a trend in the character wealth, unfortunately.

Horseshoe

DeVryGuy wrote:

Anaximander wrote:

Horseshoe wrote:

naporeon wrote:

Is this information in the SRD anywhere? My perfunctory search did not find it.

If I remember correctly, the SRD is not supposed to contain anything proprietary (I think that's the word) and certain monsters, classes, and items fit that bill... as do things like treasure tables, experience tables, and starting gold (I think the idea is that this way you cannot properly create or level a character without owning a core book).

Otherwise there would be no reason to fork over the cash for the core books and WoTC would be out a buncha money.

That is not entirely the case. For monsters and items they just changed the names. Quiver of Ehlonnna becomes Efficient Quiver, etc.

Experience tables and starting wealth are entirely arbitrary. DND, as a setting does it one way, d20 modern another, Ravenloft and Faerun, etc.

It's not there to rob you of character building tools, it's there to provide developers with the system with which to make a game.

I believe he meant certain monsters, like beholders and mind flayers which were left out because those are "D&D Monsters" and not just generic monsters suitable for any game world.

Yes, that was my intent. Oh, and don't forget the Displacer Beasts!

Also: Are there emoticons that approximate sarcasm or dry humor? I need them so badly... for... expressiconning?

Pkmoutl

Starting money for 8th level?

If I was your GM, I'd basically let you have just about any mundane equipment you wanted, since you should pretty much have all that by the time you hit 8th level. I'd be sketchy about anything magical, though. I'd probably allow the fighter-types one Masterwork item at most.

Buying it seems so...pointless. Especially if you're starting at such a high level.

naporeon

Pkmoutl wrote:

Starting money for 8th level?

If I was your GM, I'd basically let you have just about any mundane equipment you wanted, since you should pretty much have all that by the time you hit 8th level. I'd be sketchy about anything magical, though. I'd probably allow the fighter-types one Masterwork item at most.

Buying it seems so...pointless. Especially if you're starting at such a high level.

PK...thanks for the input, but the issue is that I created a new character because my old one was unbalancing the game. I was the only one who mapped his feats, classes, and skills out for more than the starting level; it didn't help much that I was the only one with a 1-to-1 BAB progression, and that I had chosen a 3rd party race (Grippli) that were uniquely suited to my character's strategy. By the time his story arc ended, my character's 3rd attack was at a higher bonus than anyone else's first.

Rather than continue to skew the encounters to a higher CR, I elected to make a new character. The DM understandably liked the idea (especially since it made great sense from a role-playing perspective), so here we are.

Phew...anyway, that's why I needed the starting gold for 8th level.

Gabriel_Pitt

Pkmoutl wrote:

Starting money for 8th level?

If I was your GM, I'd basically let you have just about any mundane equipment you wanted, since you should pretty much have all that by the time you hit 8th level. I'd be sketchy about anything magical, though. I'd probably allow the fighter-types one Masterwork item at most.

Buying it seems so...pointless. Especially if you're starting at such a high level.

One masterwork item? At 8th level? Are you kidding me? In a 'standard' D&D game, they're going to have a lot more magical stuff than that, hence why starting gold is important. Potions, armor, weapons, magical items... magical gear is expensive, so you blow through it all pretty quick (and the DMG suggest a limit, like no more of 1/4 of your starting gold on any single thing, to prevent you from getting just one really powerful thing, like super duper armor, and then just waiting til you loot something decent for everything else).

INeedNoSalt

Pkmoutl wrote:

Starting money for 8th level?

If I was your GM, I'd basically let you have just about any mundane equipment you wanted, since you should pretty much have all that by the time you hit 8th level. I'd be sketchy about anything magical, though. I'd probably allow the fighter-types one Masterwork item at most.

Buying it seems so...pointless. Especially if you're starting at such a high level.

Talk about low-magic.