Elkas has never been wealthy. He grew up on the outskirts of civilization, deep in the embrace of the wild. Scraps of gold didn’t get you a good meal out there. The druid wasn’t accustomed to the obsession with sparkling coins that these ‘civilized’ people. Even so, he could see the appeal in the dragon’s hoard of treasure. A veritable mountain of riches, it felt like a fitting reward after slaying the beast that menaced the countryside. And with his share of the loot, he probably had enough to-
Well, to what exactly?
Money is plenty appealing as a reward for your efforts in gaming. It can be exchanged for goods and services, after all. Even if a difficult boss or challenge didn’t give you a specific piece of treasure or loot, gold never hurts. You’ll use it eventually, and there’s a lot you can do with it. But, The Fifth Edition of Dungeons & Dragons has a problem with spending that I think should be addressed.
The crux of the issue is what you can actually buy. The most expensive normal item that the average player is likely to want is plate armor, at fifteen hundred gold. It sounds like a lot, but only at low levels. Once you get past level 5, that’s easily affordable, but you still have levels 6-20. Especially once you consider that you’re probably not buying much else, and they won’t wear down or need replacing.
You could get magic items, but magic items aren’t available for purchase by default in 5e. There are rules for buying them, but they’re optional, cumbersome, and inconsistent. This wasn’t a problem in prior editions because they just listed prices as part of each item entry. If you got gold, you could look forward to spending it on some cool stuff. In 5e, the cool stuff is still there, but you don’t have a way to get it beyond it finding it as treasure.
As far as mundane purchases go, the Dungeon Master’s Guide has some optional rules for putting money into building up a stronghold. But the prices range from “expensive” to “literal spaceships are cheaper,” and require months to years of downtime. And they’re written in such a way that if you’re not present, construction moves backwards into the negatives. This is a drastic change from earlier editions, where building a stronghold was a more concrete endgame goal for a party.
I wish I could use my loot better, and I’d love to hear your thoughts on the issue. How would you use your treasure in 5e? Share in the comments below, or tell us on the Boss Rush Discord!
Featured Image: J. R. R. Tolkien
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