Starting gear / money

[AcadiusLost]

So, should this be handled globally by the ACR? It would generally be a Good Idea to have it standardized, so we don't end up with a server bidding war (roll up on my server and you get 500 gp starting gold, instead of 250) etc.

One wrinkle is the character creation process gives everyone a set of class-specific armor, which they enter the game with- so a fighter at level one comes in with "more" even if we give everyone 300 gp (like in NWN1-ALFA). So, we can take away that default armor on entry and give everyone the same gold, or we could deduct the value of the armor, and give the PC an OOC start merchant with full buyback to trade it out if they want.

The 3.5 PhB starts PCs with basic gear plus a random amount of gold by character class- do we want to follow that model, or the straight, class-blind 300 gp guideline from NWN1/ALFA?

I'd say an OOC full-buyback start merchant is a good thing to have for every server, in it's OOC starting area- though it should be script-limited to only sell to new PCs (test for XP totals, <= 1 xp) in any case. But, should the ACR dish out gold as well?

[Tridisus]

yes

Yea the starting merchant with base gold is the best plan, this makes every player different. The forced equipment start is always a bummer so def remove the default stuff even the armor

[Rusty]

300gp / PC, with all prior items stripped, seems to have worked out reasonable well, although I suppose one could make an argument for an amount fixed by class (closer simulating PnP).

This could be done by ACR on OnEnter I suppose; may as well make it ACR to make any future edits easier.

[Spider Jones]

The 3.5 PhB starts PCs with basic gear plus a random amount of gold by character class- do we want to follow that model, or the straight, class-blind 300 gp guideline from NWN1/ALFA?

Those 'starter kits' are actually just basic sets of gear that players MAY select rather than rolling randomly for starting gold. It means you won't start with below average wealth (or above average), but it also means you can't tailor your starting equipment to your PC as well as you might like.

I'd prefer to see a random generation of coinage, based on class, like in PnP. Currently classes that require very little coin to equip themselves initially have a big advantage, monks in particular start with 300 gp, and have little to spend it on that is necessary for their class.

[fluffmonster]

300gp for everyone is the simplest way to not prejudge what players might choose. It is the simplest 'fair' available.

[AcadiusLost]

I may have overlooked them in my skimming of the character creation section of the 3.5E PHB- does anyone have the random starting gold by character class information handy? We could list it up for a (nonbinding) poll to gauge collective sentiment, my sense is that random totals would, on the average, start PCs with less gold than the 300- but I haven't seen the numbers.

I don't imagine differences in starting gold (especially when it's random) would influence starting class selection for most players- it seems like a minor factor when compared to things like starting HP and skill points (skill points especially, due to the multiplication factor).

I suppose I might expect some players would be tempted to re-roll until they got a PC with an above-average starting gold total, though with a centralized character database, that would be a pretty obvious activity, and they'd be forced to choose a different name every time, which could be taxing.

Sounds like we're fairly unanimous on stripping the starting armor at least, so I'll see about getting that part coded: hopefully we can arrive at a generally acceptable consensus on starting funds as well by the time the ACR update is ready.

[Rusty]

While random starting gold is going to be out (rerolling), there is some sense in fixed by-class starting gold.

Starting Gold by Class (average / max)
Barbarian - 100 / 160
Bard - 100 / 160
Cleric - 125 / 200
Druid - 50 / 80
Fighter - 150 / 240
Monk - 12.5 / 20
Paladin - 150 / 240
Ranger - 150 / 240
Rogue - 125 / 200
Sorceror - 75 / 120
Wizard - 75 / 120

Twice the average, or average plus a CLW potion might work well.

[indio]

Random, class based gp + 3 CLW potions.

3.5 CLW is 50gp for potion and scroll. At that price, many classes won't afford basic combat gear if forced to buy potions.

And given the higher rate of combat in our computerised campaign, I'd also be very happy to see the price of potions cut by 1/3rd or somesuch.

The key to an authentic ALFA campaign, imo, is not to make it easy for PCs to die, but to ensure that the rate of resurrections matches the FR D&D standard, to wit, very infrequent. But I digress.

[fluffmonster]

/me had idea for noble's son adventurer fighter dude

/me rolls hideously low gp

/me abandons the PC because that concept isn't viable starting with pennies

That's only one of the issues with rolling for starting coin. Within a class, people will get arbitrarily high or low gold which can make a big difference at lvl1, front-line fighters that can't afford more than leather and a toothpick. Will people start to choose class based on starting coin? Maybe. There is no convincing reason for random starting gold, except to randomly screw people. There is already plenty of adversity for new PCs to face without lumping on the poorbox too.

There might be more rationale for class-based starting gold, but not much. So a magic-user doesn't need 300gp to buy standard magic-user gear. Where is the imbalance here? Our wealth tables don't differentiate by class anywhere else, why is it so important to change that philosophy with the starting wealth?

300gp has worked well for ALFA. It is simple, equitable, adequate. Maybe we don't like the level, though its been enough heretofore, so I suppose could make it 300 + CLW or whatever. But this class-based bit so far seems mostly based on pure ideology.

[HEEGZ]

I've not had any real issues with the way it is now.

[Brokenbone]

I sort of like the PnP starting amounts, those who need lots of stuff (fighters) make out well, those who can adventure pretty much naked (monks) still get enough for basics.

Fluff is right though that after the moment of creation, our standards do not in any sense distinguish by class. That is, you do not reward fighters more and monks less, or you don't have a high wealth cap for clerics and a lower one for druids, etc.

Since we aren't too granular with this from "every moment after creation", maybe leaving it all the same at time of creation is fine as well. We sure do not see ALFA currently overrun with wealthy successful monks who wisely invested an "ill gotten" 280gp.

[Grand Fromage]

Stick with 300. I think we're starting to get too far into fixing things that aren't broken territory. Starting a new PC is hard enough without randomly gimping them on basic equipment.

[Lusipher]

I agree you dont need to go so far as to make your cash dependant on your class. Make it 300g per character and be done with it.

[Rotku]

I like the idea of 300gp. Nice and simple.

[AcadiusLost]

Seems the 300 gp's are in the majority, and on the plus side, easier to code.

I'll work on the code to give gold and remove the "starting armor". I'd worry about it dropping PCs in nekkid, but as we all know, NWN2 PCs wear clothes under their clothes, so it shouldn't be a scandalous situation :p.

We'll see about getting a generic starting area in the basemod to help nudge it along.