Wealth perk use?

[specks]

How have players or the GM used the wealth perk in your games?

Is the perk just flavor or do you they give any special benefit to the characters?

[sentry0]

8 hours ago, specks said:

How have players or the GM used the wealth perk in your games?

Is the perk just flavor or do you they give any special benefit to the characters?

 

I think it largely depends on the genre for me.  In games where you're expecting players to pay for everything in points, wealth definitely becomes a flavor tool.  That said, a trip on the private plane across the ocean is no big deal, but if it becomes an every day thing I would make them pay points for it.

 

In games where equipment is being used (Heroic, usually) then wealth becomes much more prone for abuse.  The character can simply buy potentially game unbalancing gear and services when needed.  Like a lot of things in this game it comes down to trust between the GM and the players that things won't be abused.

[Surrealone]

2 hours ago, sentry0 said:

In games where equipment is being used (Heroic, usually) then wealth becomes much more prone for abuse.  The character can simply buy potentially game unbalancing gear and services when needed.  Like a lot of things in this game it comes down to trust between the GM and the players that things won't be abused.

Unless, of course, Resource Points are being used -- then there's no room for abuse, at all … despite characters not paying "for everything in points".  (Instead, they pay 1 per 5 pts beyond the initial GM allocation of Resource Points, so some amount is free while anything beyond has a price [that isn't one for one]).

[archer]

Yeah, for me it is genre-dependent.

 

For modern games, wealth eases things for the players. They can jet around, go to fancy restaurants, and have a lifestyle rather than just a life. If no one has a wealth perk and the team doesn't have transportation, just them getting to the scene of the crime can be a challenge at times. Some players like the struggle. Some want to have cool team jets or to throw money at their problems. Either way is fine to GM but it's much better if the players all agree on the style.

 

For many low fantasy or medieval games, most people live in poverty and they don't deal much with actual money. Players who spread around even small amounts of wealth can buy favors, followers, eternal devotion, etc. because a small amount of money given to someone who has none can be the difference between life and death. Players who have wealth in those kinds of games need a rationale for why they have it and why the crown (or the church) hasn't taken it away.

 

In high fantasy games where basic economics are set aside and players routinely bring dragon's hoards back to town with them, the players can buy stuff like lands, priesthoods, knighthoods, or other minor grants of nobility as well as gear and comfort. Since money is more common, the common folk do their dealings using money rather than barter and the lifestyle of grinding poverty isn't the norm. And small amounts of money given or traded to such common folk aren't a life-changing event and those common folk don't treat it as such.

 

 

I am a huge fan of the characters I play having the wealth perk. Part of that is having grown up very impoverished by American and all non-third world standards. Part of that is because I don't want my role-playing experience held back by logistics.

 

If I need to peel off a twenty dollar bill to pay an informant, I don't want a character who has to worry about whether he has twenty dollars to spare. And if I have to peel of a twenty dollar bill ten times in a night, I don't want to have to worry if my character in his secret ID can pay the rent or not. "Worrying about the rent" isn't a fun gaming activity for me so I actively avoid it by throwing character points at the problem.

 

And regardless of my character's wealth and regardless of genre, my characters tend to be the type to pick up the loot and take it home. Obviously not money from the bank. But gear from agents and supers to tinker with, maybe money from drug dealers because I trust myself to find a worthy cause for it more than I trust the cops or drug dealers to find a worthy cause for it, vehicles, bases, I consider it all to be fair game. I can justify that better when I have the wealth perk.

 

If I get to use it often depends on whether I later want to spend points on it. But I've always liked the idea of if my team's base gets blown up or if we have to go on the run that I've already stripped and then repurposed some villain's base that we'd shut down years ago. I've never gotten to actually play through that. But I've had it ready a couple of times.

 

That's one of those neat things that someone like Tony Stark, Batman, or Reed Richards could pull off without his teammates knowing about but someone like Spider-Man couldn't.

[BoloOfEarth]

In many of my Champions campaigns, I've gotten much use of the supernaturally lucky lawyer Irving Probalino (from Digital Hero #16, and mad props to Allen Thomas for creating him), making him a constant thorn in the players' sides as he finds ways to get various captured supervillains cleared of charges.  This current campaign, however, they finally had the idea for a "filthy rich" PC to use his wealth to put Probalino on exclusive retainer.  Not only do the heroes no longer have legal issues to bother them, but they also found a way to keep a lot of supervillains locked up. 

[Ximenez]

In the medieval world, "wealth" was defined primarily as regular income--mostly generated from agriculturally productive land, but sometimes from other things. For a heroic fantasy campaign I assigned a specific income level for every point of wealth, and set a ceiling on the max points the PCs could spend. Every so often I'd increase the ceiling. Adventuring was a high risk/high reward activity that had boom and bust cycles...sometimes they had tons of money; a couple times they lost almost everything. Wealth gave them a steady base.

 

Also, wealth took time to manage. Characters had to explain how they were getting the wealth, and then deal with issues related to the source--spending some time managing the store, visiting the farm, or whatever they did to get the money.

[bluesguy]

In both my fantasy and superhero campaigns people have used the wealth perk.  It has shown up much more often in fantasy games set at the heroic level where people buy equipment.  In one case the player wanted to play a noblewoman who ran away from her family and a potential marriage.  She basically took her inheritance and left.  The player didn't want to have to deal with book keeping around money.  She paid for Wealthy as a perk and our agreement was that any kind of normal daily living or general equipment she could afford to buy.  If she wanted to buy something for the entire party then we would have a conversation about the impact on her 'wealth' for that month.  When the party decided to pool their money and buy a tavern/inn - she had to show she actually had the silver saved up to pay her share.

 

I came up with a set of formulas to figure out if the tavern made money each month (above expenses).  They players could influence the outcome based on characters using their trading skill rolls.  At the beginning of each game month they would make their trading rolls and I would tell them the result (I introduced some randomness to the outcome as well).  Some months they made an good profit; other months they broke even; pretty rarely they lost money.  Any money they would dump into a rainy day fund.  They kept adventuring and would come back to their home/tavern/inn between adventures.

 

In my current campaign one of the players is a ship captain.  He is part of a family business (think clan sized family) that is involved in shipping.  He also bought wealthy.  When they are in home port he goes to his nice home with his two servants.  He doesn't worry about how it gets covered, he is wealthy.  I hand wave how the ship much money the ship makes/loses each month.  Two other players are from very wealthy families but have walked away from that are did not buy wealth as a perk.  Originally the ship he captained was owned entirely by the clan.  The party ended up with a huge treasure and they decided that the ship captain needed his own boat.  So they took that treasure and spent it on a ship that they designed for their needs and had it built.

[Scott Ruggels]

As a GM, it the wealth perk has been taken, I assume the character gets the James Bond/ Rock Star levels of access, resources and travel ability. Elon Musk levels of “get shit done”, cost a lot more, but give More reward. Again, I often hand wave points unless it has a direct combat effect, as I really hate bookkeeping I’m not here to play, “Papers &Paychecks.”  For Fantasy the perks, wealth and title are often interchangeable, and I tend to GM them similarly, however, unlike the first example, wealth and titles come with responsibilities and those can get fun. 😁

[megaplayboy]

In a superheroic setting, it's mainly flavor or sfx for justifying the superbase, power armor, etc.  In a heroic setting, as others have noted, it has more tangible impact. I'd be very leery of letting a PC have wealth at the 15 point "filthy rich" level, since it could be really imbalancing.  I think Fantasy settings are one genre where having great wealth is awkward, because usually pursuit of wealth is one of the primary motivations for adventurers.