A long-time problem in fantasy RPGs is the gold economy. To fix it, we need to rethink the scale of the campaign’s economy. If you keep treasure amounts small, you can always give more later. It’s fun for players to have to decide which equipment they want more and to save up or pool their money for big purchases. It makes the bookkeeping worthwhile.

All This Gold & Nothing to Buy

The problem stems from D&D, right from the beginning, handing out too much treasure, resulting in heroes going from impoverished sell-swords to Richie Riches in just a couple of adventurers. The idea was for heroes to hoard it until they could afford to build a stronghold, but that was never all that popular. Treasure was greatly reduced in AD&D from 1st edition to 2nd edition, tho, so let’s go with the lower figures.

The most expensive equipment in the 2e PHB that a character would likely want is field plate armor at 2000 gp and full plate at 4000 gp or more. How long would it take to amass a fortune like that? Three adventures?

The Monster Compendium says 2d10 hobgoblins (treasure type J, M, D, and Qx5) have a good chance of possessing thousands of gold pieces. Congratulations: your character is half way to the Armani of armor after one adventure. Most classes can’t use such armor, so they they have to be content with buying… a jaguar with their earnings.

Take a moment to reflect on how bizarre it is that they offered a New World big cat right there in the equipment list.

The 5e PHB is even less aspirational than the 2e PHB. Plate armor is 1500 gp. Ships are expensive, but nothing else is; houses aren’t listed, nor are flavorful things like a company charter or a coat of arms. You have to go to the DMG for prices on strongholds, but there’s no word about how much the land you build it on is worth. And yet the book spends two full pages on trinkets your granny might have given you.

Solution

I think part of the solution is just to cut treasure in half. New adventurers should barely be able to afford better equipment, let alone the best equipment. Their wealth should ramp up slowly, so that they eventually thrill to the idea of getting a coffer of gold coins instead of silver.

And having half the treasure would help cut down on players complaining they have too much gold and nothing to spend it on. Of course, you then want to give them something to spend it on.

I give a number of ideas about how to spend treasure in my article on renown. Players should be upgrading from standard weapons and armor to fine quality ones that are quite a bit more expensive. They should need a company charter and a coat of arms. (Make them envious of rival NPC companies that have those things.)

Another place to get ideas/prices is the D&D Shop Catalog, available on Reddit. Here’s a direct link, in case the Reddit post is removed. At some point in the future, I plan to release my own, more complete version with magic items (and that doesn’t have stupid stuff like “ham & cheese sandwich on rye” or fritatta).

Ongoing costs for lifestyle choices, like servants, horses, and such, should be priced per adventure. That way, regardless of whether or not you track a calendar closely (it’s easier than you think), you can track those costs easily: every time the heroes have down time, they need to pay for upkeep and lifestyle.

Wizards should be seeking out arcane tomes they can add to a growing library; and books should be very expensive in a world without printing presses. There are reasons nobles built fortified manor houses and castles: they needed to protect themselves, their family, their subjects, and their treasure. Your player characters should have the same concerns and should therefore be encouraged to go in together to buy and renovate a stronghold. (Building takes too long.)

Item	Cost
Lifestyle befitting your level and renown	50 gp per level after each adventure
Fine armor and weapons	Fine quality costs 5x as much as standard (but bejeweled ones could cost thousands)
Fine clothing, harness, and saddle	A few hundred to several thousand gp
A house in the city	2 to 5 thousand gp (includes a renovation)
Horses and carriages	1000 gp or more
A charter as a free company of adventurers, mercenaries, or traders	100 gp (the company as a whole pays this)
A coat of arms	200 gp (the company as a whole pays this)
A powerful NPC wizard upgrades your fine weapon to +1, your +1 to +2, or your +2 to +3	2000, 3000, or 4000 gp
A powerful NPC wizard adds some special power to your magic weapon that has the correct bonus.	Half the gp value of the magic item with that power
A ship in good condition	4 to 15 thousand gp, depending on size
Jewelry	A few hundred to several thousand gp
A tavern or brewery	3 to 5 thousand gp
An inn (courtyard, stables, etc.)	5 to 8 thousand gp
Training from a mentor needed to level up–martial and rogue classes	50 gp per level
Borrowing a tome, grimoire, or book of lore long enough to level up–wizards and clerics at low level	100 gp
Purchasing a tome, grimoire, or book of lore needed to level up–wizards and clerics at 5+ level	1000 gp, and you’ll eventually need more than one
A somewhat reliable map of a dungeon	500 gp
Donation to the city for a fountain, statue, memorial, etc.	100 to 1000 gp, depending on materials
Donation or sacrifice to the faith–especially paladins and clerics	Any, but amounts of 1000+ gp should be earmarked for specific efforts to help build or renovate a religious building; such donations tend to be rewarded with information or visions of magic items
Land–settled land that earns 1000 gp a year for you (usu. comes with workers)	10 thousand gp, and if you’re a gentleman/woman, you become a lord of the manor; if a commoner, a yeoman
Land–rangers and druids buying untamed wilderness borderlands	4 thousand gp
A ruined structure you can renovate–church, tower, manor house, abbey; is there a dungeon under it?	4 to 10 thousand gp, depending on condition, location, and importance
Influence (bribery?) in local court to get a lord–a vampire or bandit king–declared an outlaw, so the party can go after the villain	A little evidence and a hundred gp
A couple of servants to take care of an ordinary house	10 gp per adventure
Several skilled servants to take care of a large house or small fortress	100 gp per adventure