Supplement Four
Mongoose
HYBORIAN AGE = POOR AGE
The Hyborian Age is not a time of riches. Character should not be able to get rich by adventuring. Monsters do not sit on piles of gold as do dragons in a D&D game. Think of the Conan stories. Conan has gone on many adventures. He has explored several ancient ruins, and he's faced all sorts of demons and monsters. But what wealth has he gained from this? Hardly none.
Remember this when creating your Hyborian Age adventures. You've got to remove the D&D-ish adventuring rewards of better equipment and mounds of loot from your thinking. That's not what adventuring during the Hyborian Age is all about--although it can be used as a good hook to lure the PCs to a specific adventure.
Don't share this thought with your players. If you do, the PCs will never be enticed to venture into an old ancient ruin in search of untold riches. Remember, in the stories, Conan was often lured by the promise of wealth. He just never found any lasting wealth.
And, remember the High Living rule from the core rulebook. Again, this is not something that you'll want to share with your players. Don't take away their dreams of loot. But, use the guideline to structure your games so that wealth, when obtained, seems to drip through their fingers.
Wealth, during the Hyborian Age, is more akin to that of the Dark Ages. Most people simply do not have a lot of wealth. Remember this if your characters are thieves and break into homes.
PAGE 135 of the D&D 3.5 DMG
If you have the DMG, then look on page 135. There, you will see a gauge to use to estimate how wealthy an average character should be, according to his character level.
Of course, this is just a very vague rule of thumb. Create your NPCs according to your story. But, if you want a generic method of gauging wealth, then you can use this. I have lowered the numbers below to fit more closely with a Conan game. This can be useful when figuring how much wealth a PC might find on a downed foe when stripping bodies.
When using the DMG Table 5-1 as a gauge, consider the number to represents silver pieces, of course. A Conan character should have about 1/100th of that number in actual wealth. Thus, a 1st level character will have 1d6 - 1 sp, as noted in the core rulebook. A 4th level character will have, according to the chart, a maximum of 54 sp. This should be a range of 0-54 sp. Roll that randomly however make sense to you. For example, you can roll 2d20 + 1d10 + 1d4 sp. That will generate an amount of wealth for a 4th level character to be 4-54 sp, which sounds just about right to me (given the prices of items in the game). Minimum sp should not be higher than the character's level.
Remember that the wealth of a character does not have to be in coin. This wealth number covers any rings, earrings, bracelets or armlets, necklaces, piercing, and any other kind of wealth the character may have. If you have a 4th level NPC, and you roll that he has 27 sp in wealth, then it is most interesting if you get creative and detail the character something like this: 14 silver lamus (the local coin currency), a painted wood bead necklace worth 3 sp, and a bronze lucky charm in the shape of a carved frog, about the size of a bottle cap, that he keeps in his pocket, worth 10 sp.
BASE ITEM PRICE: Also remember that the prices of items listed in the game are base prices. Items are priced for the base, no frills version of that item. Look to the description of prices in the core rulebook. There are three categories for item prices: Base Quality, Merchant Quality, and Noble Quality. Base prices are that listed in the game. Merchant Quality prices are base price multiplied by 5-20 times. Noble Quality prices are base price multiplied by 50-100 times, where as the highest nobles, such as kings, use a quality that is at least 100 times base price.
Remember this pricing rule when characters in your game are shopping the bazaar for equipment. For example, a weapon-master's stall may have three swords for sale:
A base, no frills, short sword worth 50 sp.
A cutlass with alligator-leather grip, chromed blade decorated with script, worth 800 sp (base price is 50 sp).
A scimitar with a ruby encrusted hilt, delicate engraved decoration, chromed blade, with matching shagreen scabbard, worth 5,600 sp (base price 75 sp).
CHARACTER EQUIPMENT
You can also use the chart in the DMG to gauge the quality of equipment the character is carrying. Consider the base budget for equipment (based on character class) given in the core rule book. The chart in the DMG gives you a bigger budget with which to equip the character. This reflect the adventuring and wealth the character has obtained during his travels. The character may not have more equipment. Instead, he may just have more expensive equipment.
As an example, a character may have a leather jerkin, but it may look like this:
Or, it may look like this:
Or, it may look like this:
When using the DMG chart as a guide, consider that the character has the appropriate base budget for equipment, as given in the core rulebook, but increase it by an amount equal to 10% of the amount shown in the DMG, in silver pieces. So, a 2nd level character would have the base equipment budget plus 90 sp. A 5th level character would increase his base equipment budget by 900 sp.
This will allow you to bring things into the game that the PCs may want (once they strip the bodies). And, it will give you an idea of what the item will sell for used. Remember, though, that the core rulebook tells us that used items sell for, at most, 50% of their value (as the re-seller must make a profit and will sell a used item for less than what a new item will bring at market).
Now, if the used item is extremely used, bloody, dirty, damaged, and just not new, then the item will sell, if at all, for something in the range of 0-50% of the new item cost.
When the PCs are selling items, also consider the availability of the item. If a merchant already has five base quality short swords, then he's probably not going to spend his coin on buying a sixth. A used base quality short sword in excellent condition would fetch, at most 25 silvers. But if the short sword is worn and notched, with dried blood in the cracks, the merchant with five of these (all in better condition) may only offer a single silver piece for the sword, if he buys it at all.
The Hyborian Age is not a time of riches. Character should not be able to get rich by adventuring. Monsters do not sit on piles of gold as do dragons in a D&D game. Think of the Conan stories. Conan has gone on many adventures. He has explored several ancient ruins, and he's faced all sorts of demons and monsters. But what wealth has he gained from this? Hardly none.
Remember this when creating your Hyborian Age adventures. You've got to remove the D&D-ish adventuring rewards of better equipment and mounds of loot from your thinking. That's not what adventuring during the Hyborian Age is all about--although it can be used as a good hook to lure the PCs to a specific adventure.
Don't share this thought with your players. If you do, the PCs will never be enticed to venture into an old ancient ruin in search of untold riches. Remember, in the stories, Conan was often lured by the promise of wealth. He just never found any lasting wealth.
And, remember the High Living rule from the core rulebook. Again, this is not something that you'll want to share with your players. Don't take away their dreams of loot. But, use the guideline to structure your games so that wealth, when obtained, seems to drip through their fingers.
Wealth, during the Hyborian Age, is more akin to that of the Dark Ages. Most people simply do not have a lot of wealth. Remember this if your characters are thieves and break into homes.
PAGE 135 of the D&D 3.5 DMG
If you have the DMG, then look on page 135. There, you will see a gauge to use to estimate how wealthy an average character should be, according to his character level.
Of course, this is just a very vague rule of thumb. Create your NPCs according to your story. But, if you want a generic method of gauging wealth, then you can use this. I have lowered the numbers below to fit more closely with a Conan game. This can be useful when figuring how much wealth a PC might find on a downed foe when stripping bodies.
When using the DMG Table 5-1 as a gauge, consider the number to represents silver pieces, of course. A Conan character should have about 1/100th of that number in actual wealth. Thus, a 1st level character will have 1d6 - 1 sp, as noted in the core rulebook. A 4th level character will have, according to the chart, a maximum of 54 sp. This should be a range of 0-54 sp. Roll that randomly however make sense to you. For example, you can roll 2d20 + 1d10 + 1d4 sp. That will generate an amount of wealth for a 4th level character to be 4-54 sp, which sounds just about right to me (given the prices of items in the game). Minimum sp should not be higher than the character's level.
Remember that the wealth of a character does not have to be in coin. This wealth number covers any rings, earrings, bracelets or armlets, necklaces, piercing, and any other kind of wealth the character may have. If you have a 4th level NPC, and you roll that he has 27 sp in wealth, then it is most interesting if you get creative and detail the character something like this: 14 silver lamus (the local coin currency), a painted wood bead necklace worth 3 sp, and a bronze lucky charm in the shape of a carved frog, about the size of a bottle cap, that he keeps in his pocket, worth 10 sp.
BASE ITEM PRICE: Also remember that the prices of items listed in the game are base prices. Items are priced for the base, no frills version of that item. Look to the description of prices in the core rulebook. There are three categories for item prices: Base Quality, Merchant Quality, and Noble Quality. Base prices are that listed in the game. Merchant Quality prices are base price multiplied by 5-20 times. Noble Quality prices are base price multiplied by 50-100 times, where as the highest nobles, such as kings, use a quality that is at least 100 times base price.
Remember this pricing rule when characters in your game are shopping the bazaar for equipment. For example, a weapon-master's stall may have three swords for sale:
A base, no frills, short sword worth 50 sp.
A cutlass with alligator-leather grip, chromed blade decorated with script, worth 800 sp (base price is 50 sp).
A scimitar with a ruby encrusted hilt, delicate engraved decoration, chromed blade, with matching shagreen scabbard, worth 5,600 sp (base price 75 sp).
CHARACTER EQUIPMENT
You can also use the chart in the DMG to gauge the quality of equipment the character is carrying. Consider the base budget for equipment (based on character class) given in the core rule book. The chart in the DMG gives you a bigger budget with which to equip the character. This reflect the adventuring and wealth the character has obtained during his travels. The character may not have more equipment. Instead, he may just have more expensive equipment.
As an example, a character may have a leather jerkin, but it may look like this:
Or, it may look like this:
Or, it may look like this:
When using the DMG chart as a guide, consider that the character has the appropriate base budget for equipment, as given in the core rulebook, but increase it by an amount equal to 10% of the amount shown in the DMG, in silver pieces. So, a 2nd level character would have the base equipment budget plus 90 sp. A 5th level character would increase his base equipment budget by 900 sp.
This will allow you to bring things into the game that the PCs may want (once they strip the bodies). And, it will give you an idea of what the item will sell for used. Remember, though, that the core rulebook tells us that used items sell for, at most, 50% of their value (as the re-seller must make a profit and will sell a used item for less than what a new item will bring at market).
Now, if the used item is extremely used, bloody, dirty, damaged, and just not new, then the item will sell, if at all, for something in the range of 0-50% of the new item cost.
When the PCs are selling items, also consider the availability of the item. If a merchant already has five base quality short swords, then he's probably not going to spend his coin on buying a sixth. A used base quality short sword in excellent condition would fetch, at most 25 silvers. But if the short sword is worn and notched, with dried blood in the cracks, the merchant with five of these (all in better condition) may only offer a single silver piece for the sword, if he buys it at all.
