Some of you have mentioned using the d20 Modern system for fantasy…

D&D 3E

17th-May-2006 08:24 am

Some of you have mentioned using the d20 Modern system for fantasy play. I'm curious about the Wealth mechanic. In d20 Modern, you have a "wealth bonus," and then simply make a check when you want to buy something. Depending on the DC of the item you buy, your wealth bonus decreases.

I like the sound of this system for a couple of reasons. First, it means I don't have to try and figure out the exact price of an inn room or a mug or ale or anything--if it really is expensive for the PCs, make a check, otherwise just assume they can buy it. It seems to mean less work for me in many cases, and to make more sense than telling the 10th level PC with 50k worth of gear "you spend 1 silver on food." It also uses a built in mechanic for barganing (the random factor), so I don't have to try and play that out with the PCs if I don't want to. Also, I'm looking to run a naval campaign with the possibility of a lot of trade goods and stuff. It seems like it would be easier to say "you have +20 wealth of foodstuffs on your ship" than "You have 10,000 gold of foodstuffs on your ship," If the PCs go into pirating or trading, the profit gained could be an easy check. I'd be abstracting the wealth system, in exchange for making stuff like the combat system more definate.

But my question is, how do I convert from D&D's gp system to the wealth system? What kind of bonus would a character have at particular levels? What would be the DC of various items? Anyone have an easy conversion from gp-value to wealth DC?

Comments

(Deleted comment)

17th-May-2006 06:35 pm (UTC)

highbulp

Availability is still covered. In one town buying an item might have the standard DC, in other town it might be double or triple that or just not possible, depending on how easy the item is to get.

I'm going to assume that items in D&D are priced in such a way as to account for any kind of balance. So tranfering from gp-cost to buy DC shouldn't unbalance anything, unless the ratio doesn't match up. It's not like an item that costs less gp is going to have a higher DC. I'm just looking for what that ratio may be.

17th-May-2006 03:37 pm (UTC)

foxsable

Call me crazy, but I love the record keeping aspect of everything, determining exactly what you have, what it weighs and where it is. The modern system is more convenient, but to me less fun.

17th-May-2006 05:10 pm (UTC)

coderay

I completely agree. I played a Modern campaign and I hated the wealth system. Sure its easier, but half the fun of D&D is collecting stuff and gaining wealth.

Boring and unsatisfying.

17th-May-2006 06:41 pm (UTC)

highbulp

How is it not collecting stuff? You can still gain wealth, just instead of gaining it in gold, you gain it in "wealth points" or something.

17th-May-2006 09:12 pm (UTC)

nviiibrown

It's a sterile number, it's like opening a chest to find a voucher for 250gp instead of a pile of gold coins.

For day-to-day stuff, like shopping, it sounds like a great idea, but what hurts it is activities like pooling the party's money for a voyage, or divvying up the value of magic items. The +2 longsword is a DC, but the pile of gold is a bonus, it's a little trickier to figure. What it comes down to is that it's harder to do math with a bonus than with a solid figure.

More to the point, d20 Modern is a game that is much less about getting the goods. Finding loot and accounting it is usually a big to-do in D&D, and as a player, I'd like to have something a tad more concrete than a +5 inside a chest. That said, the 'coin' could certainly be divided quicker and end a few arguments.

I would recommend against doubling DCs, a set +5 or +10 to the DC would be best, as a Purchase DC isn't exactly an integer. As for price comparisons, the DCs of many D&D magic items (and a few pieces of mundane equipment) are listed in the d20 Modern Core Book as well as the Urban Arcana campaign setting. Urban Arcana also has most all types of armor and shields as well. Actually, figuring enhancements on magical weapons and armor might be easier using this system, as it's just a flat DC bonus.

17th-May-2006 06:40 pm (UTC)

highbulp

I too like a lot of minutiae, I'm not sure how far that accounts to money, especially since most games tend to just work in 100s or 1000s of gp. Frankly, I would be spiffed with a world where every country had a different coinage, and there was some kind of exchange rate.

But not everyone seems to agree with this. Most players I know don't care about the details. They ignore weight carried, hate playing with rations, all that stuff. Any effort I put in to keeping track of stuff gets dismissed. So I thought I see about a different system.

17th-May-2006 04:50 pm (UTC)

silver_beetle

I agree about availability, but that would be built into the DC I would think. Although, if it wasn't available, it would be there... Whatever.

I don't think it really needs much modification, really, but the problem I think lies in the possibility of throwing off game balance by letting folks buy magic items with impunity because of their wealth. I dunno, it'd be interesting to see how it works out. Keep us posted.

17th-May-2006 06:43 pm (UTC)

highbulp

People would not be able to buy magic with impunity. First, the DC (cost) of magic would be high enough that it takes a pretty wealthy person/character to be able to afford it. And after you spend wealth on an item, you lose that wealth so you can't buy another.

I don't think the system needs modification, I just need DCs for standard D&D items. The ones in Modern won't work because they class things differently, and magic items don't have DCs to begin with.

17th-May-2006 07:07 pm (UTC)

ryukiri

The only problem I can see with using the d20 Modern wealth system in a D&D setting is the difference in general wealth.

The average person in a D20 Modern game has a higher education, wealth, and general social standing than the average D&D commoner slob.

....I had an overall point, but I don't recall what it is. XD I like the wealth system, but I really only like it for Modern games.

17th-May-2006 07:09 pm (UTC)

highbulp

So wouldn't that just involve a scale of the numbers?

I'm starting to think I should just dismiss the idea, since I'm getting more comments telling me why I shouldn't do it rather than actually answering my question :p

18th-May-2006 02:27 am (UTC)

ryukiri

:x Sorry.

You're right though, it would just be a scale of numbers.

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