Abstract Wealth in D&D

Here's a modification of the rules for wealth in d20 Modern, applied to D&D. Using these rules allows characters to purchase an arbitrary number of cheap items, but a very limited number of more expensive items. It also makes the Diplomacy skill (and Charisma attribute) a lot more valuable, and also changes the tenor of adventures quite a lot (the DM can no longer have the group simply adventuring for big piles of gold - the party now either needs personal motivations for their adventures, or they need to be hunting for specific rare and expensive items). This may or may not be a good thing.

The Wealth Score

Each character has a Wealth bonus, which represents his ability to gather funds, haggle for good deals, and find and acquire the items he wants. This bonus is applied to rolls made to purchase items.

At character creation, the Wealth bonus is generated by rolling 2d4 and adding a class-based bonus. The Great Wealth feat (see below) adds a further bonus.

The class-based bonuses are as follows:

Monk: -3 (minimum Wealth bonus +0)
Druid: +0
Sorcerer, Wizard: +1
Barbarian, Bard: +2
Cleric, Rogue: +3
Fighter, Paladin, Ranger: +4

At each level beyond the first, characters may make a Diplomacy check to increase their Wealth bonus. They may not take 10 or 20 on this roll. The DC of the roll is the character's current Wealth bonus. Success by 0-4 points increases the character's Wealth bonus by 1, success by 5-9 points increases the bonus by 2, and so forth. For every 5 full points by which the character succeeds at this roll, the bonus increases by a further +1.

(Why Diplomacy? Well, this represents the character's increased reputation, his improved ability to haggle, and his expanding circle of contacts as he goes up in level. It also makes Charisma more useful, which is always a good thing.)

Alternatively, a character may determine his Wealth bonus using his Profession skill. For every 5 ranks possessed (or fraction thereof), the character has a Wealth bonus of +1. However, a character's Wealth bonus by Profession does not increase with his level, and does not include a class-based bonus.

Feat: Great Wealth

You are particularly wealthy.

Benefit: Your Wealth bonus increases by +3. Also, this bonus grants a +1 bonus on all Diplomacy checks to increase Wealth bonus.
Special: You may select this feat multiple times. Each time, both of its effects stack.

Buying Stuff

To buy things, a character must go to a suitable supplier, and make a Purchase check. This is a d20 roll, to which the Wealth bonus applies. A character may take 10 or take 20 on this roll as normal. If successful, the character acquires the desired item. (Note: A natural 1 on this roll is not an automatic failure, and a natural 20 is not an automatic success.) (Also, a character may not take 20 during character creation, although he may take 10.)

A character may freely purchase anything up to his Wealth bonus without consequence. However, purchasing items above a purchase DC of 15, or above the character's Wealth bonus, will reduce the character's Wealth bonus (representing him stretching his resources significantly). The reductions are as follows:

DC 15 or higher: reduction by 1.
DC 1-10 points higher than Wealth bonus: reduction by 1
DC 11-15 points higher than Wealth bonus: reduction by 1d6
DC 16+ points higher than Wealth bonus: reduction by 2d6.

If the DC is both higher than the character's current Wealth bonus and is higher than 15, both reductions apply. So, if the character's Wealth bonus is 14, and he wishes to purchase Chainmail armour (DC 19), his Wealth bonus will reduce by 2 points. A character's Wealth bonus cannot drop below +0, regardless of reductions.

As should be obvious, when buying stuff, you should always buy anything under your Wealth bonus (or 15, whichever's lower) first. Then buy the most important items first, as you may run out of Wealth before getting to the other items.

Selling Stuff

Most items may be sold at a DC equal to that used to by them, minus 3. So, used Chainmail is sold at an equivalent DC of 16. Selling stuff may provide an increase to the character's Wealth bonus equal to the reduction that would have been incurred for buying such an item. So, a character with Wealth bonus +14 who sold a suit of Chainmail would increase his Wealth bonus by 2.

However, if a character's Wealth bonus is 15 or higher, he does not qualify for the +1 bonus gained for selling items of DC 15 or higher. So, if a character with Wealth bonus of 15 sold the same suit of Chainmail, he would only increase his Wealth bonus by +1. Thus, it becomes harder for a character to increase his Wealth bonus as he himself becomes more wealthy.

Some special (and usually unique) items can be sold at their full normal bonus. Typically, these include gemstones and artworks, but also powerful and unique magic items, holy relics, and the like. This is determined purely at the DM's discretion. A standard longsword +1, for instance, would not be considered rare and unusual, but a holy avenger with a long and glorious history probably would.

Pooling Funds

Characters may attempt to purchase items together. One character will be the main purchaser, and the others will use the Aid Another action as usual (they make DC 10 purchase checks, if successful, the main character gains +2 to his roll). However, each character who succeeds at the Aid Another action reduces his Wealth bonus by 1, while the main purchaser reduces his Wealth bonus as normal for the purchase.

Costs of Items

The following DCs show how to convert items from a gold piece cost to a purchase DC. All DCs round up (so, an item costing 25 gp is DC 13, not DC 12).

DC 2: 5 sp
DC 3: 1 gp 2 sp
DC 4: 2 gp
DC 5: 3 gp
DC 6: 4 gp
DC 7: 5 gp 5 sp
DC 8: 7 gp
DC 9: 9 gp
DC 10: 12 gp
DC 11: 15 gp
DC 12: 20 gp
DC 13: 27 gp 5 sp
DC 14: 35 gp
DC 15: 50 gp
DC 16: 65 gp
DC 17: 90 gp
DC 18: 120 gp
DC 19: 150 gp
DC 20: 200 gp

Thereafter, increasing the DC by 8 multiplies the value by 10. So, a 2,000 gp item has DC 28. Most +1 magical items are DC 29.

Wealth Bonus by Level

Typical Wealth bonuses by level are as follows:

1st: +7
2nd: +5
3rd: +6
4th: +7
5th: +8
6th: +8
7th: +9
8th: +9
9th: +10
10th: +10
11th: +11

Thereafter, it increases by +1 per two levels.

Typical Rewards by EL

The typical reward for a given encounter should be approximately equal to the encounter level +3. So, an encounter with four Orcs (4 x CR 1/2 = EL 3) would give an average reward equivalent to a wealth bonus of +6. If, instead, the DM wishes to combine the rewards for multiple encounters into a single award (the end-of-level bad guy), the reward for a sequence of encounters is calculated by totalling the rewards for the encounters taken sequentially, and then halving the total.

Normally, such rewards would be split amongst the group, so each of the four characters would get a +1.5 increase to their Wealth bonus, which rounds down to a +1 bonus.

Consequences of All of This

On average, a character won't be able to purchase a longsword +1 until 8th level, and then will have to wait for it a long time (take 20). This would seem to indicate that either the Wealth bonuses by level are too low, the purchase DCs are too high, or that characters should not be purchasing such items, but rather making them, or adventuring for them. I'm inclined to believe that the answer is somewhere between the first and the second: these rules were adapted from d20 Modern, where equipment is a lot less important. Therefore, although the core of the system is basically fine, the mechanisms still need work.

As noted above, under this system, adventuring for treasure really sucks (ooh, we found a +10 treasure!). Therefore, the DM either needs to motivate characters differently, or they have to introduce unique and special treasures for the adventurers to go after. So, you're not hunting for a generic holy artifact, you're hunting for the Lost Ark of the Covenant. Or whatever. I don't think that's a bad thing.

So, what do you think?