Topic: Starting Wealth

[Arcane]

Hi everyone,

Unless I am mistaken, I haven't seen in the HARP rulebook any option to buy extra wealth with development points upon character creation.

According to you, how much a character would gain by spending 1 DP to increase his/her starting wealth, considering for instance that the Nobility trait costs 20 DP?

[Old Man]

Interesting - page 62 (63 of the PDF) repeats the text on starting cash ... but, as you note, nothing on increased wealth. You could probably do something like roll once on the Money table - Poor/Normal/Rich column for 1/2/5 DP ...

[Arcane]

Dear Old Man,

Thanks for your answer which appens to be entirely satisfying to me.

[pyrotech]

I am not as fond of variable results for character points spent.  The wealth tables are not normalized so there is a reasonably good (about 1 in 16 or so) chance that a character will get the exact same result on the poor table for 1 cp as they would on the rich table for 5.

I'm not even very fond of the starting wealth 10+1d10gp option.  I prefer a more static 15gp starting wealth.

I would recommend something more along the lines of 2gp per character point spent.  That should allow enough money to purchase a few more expensive thing without allowing a PC to be too wealthy at game start.  A GM could also put a 5 point cap on this, but honestly I can think of better uses for 10 character points than not quite tripling starting wealth.

I might also consider an independent income talent.  This could represent land holdings, family stipends, and the like.  A normal living expense in vanilla Harp looks to be about 1gp per month - so I would probably price this talent at 1/2/5/10 for 1gp/2gp/5gp/10gp per month of independent income.  But I'm a little concerned about the top end being too cheap here.

Well that is my current opinion on the topic anyway.

Regards,

Pyrotech

[ReaperWolf]

I am not as fond of variable results for character points spent.  The wealth tables are not normalized so there is a reasonably good (about 1 in 16 or so) chance that a character will get the exact same result on the poor table for 1 cp as they would on the rich table for 5.

I'm not even very fond of the starting wealth 10+1d10gp option.  I prefer a more static 15gp starting wealth.

I'm with you 100% on this but then again random character creation and I don't get along on any level.

As for spending points, I'd go with a staged system with three levels ranging from wealthy to stinking rich. Characters with lots of money will enjoy a few advantages over other characters especially of the GM allows magic items to be purchased at character creation (I don't, spend DP instead).

As for income that would make a nice talent/perk provided the character realistically has a chance to get to a city or what have you to gain access to the funds.

Maybe there are several ways to get funds each with their own advantages & disadvantages. Say the character is a noble and has serfs working the land? Or the character owns property and rents it out? Investments in mercantile enterprises?

>>ReaperWolf

[Arcane]

Dear pyrotech and ReaperWolf,

Thanks for your interesting answers.
Indeed, one of my player, embodying a rich merchant-thief, wants to start the game reasonably wealthy but being noble does not fit his background.
Hence my asking for a solution.
At firt I've tried a fixed conversion of 1DP for 2 gp, yet it did'nt fit well, as a 20 DP expense would result in a mere +40 GP, which is rather inconsistend with the price of, say, a battle horse, or even irrelevant compared to the Noble background that one can purchase for 20DP (which, in my opinion, may give access to land, proper-sized mansion, serfs & servants and the like).

I may try to go for the solution proposed by Old Man but granting a bonus on the roll, because spending 5DP to roll on the Rich column of the Money Table should end up with a 5 SP gain in case of bad luck.
However, the idea of an independant income talent, combined with the expense of DP as "month of savings" might be a solution as well.

Another might be to purchase extra "starting money roll" by spending DPs (say for instance un extra 10+1D10 for 2 or 4 DP).

[Thom @ ICE]

I've always found the starting gold (10+1d10) to be sufficient for a starting character, but I see the need for something like this.  I've been turning it over in my mind since the question was posted and hit on lots of options.  Two that I am leaning towards...

1) Static gain - x2 Progression up to 5DP
1DP = 2gp
2DP = 4gp
3DP = 8gp
4DP = 16gp
5DP = 32gp

2) Random gain - Roll on Table 14.9.1 Money
Poor Roll = 1DP
Normal Roll = 2DP
Rich Roll = 5DP

The Static gain is a bit better for actual gain considering an average roll will yield:
1DP = 1sp
2DP = 18sp
5DP = 10gp

But the high end benefits of the random roll may be of interest to some.  The 1DP random option will probably only be used by the individual who has 1 extra DP and no where to spend it.

[Arcane]

Thanks for the answer, Thom!

[Thom @ ICE]

That's not a formal official ruling that will show up in a book, but it is how I would rule it.
I hope it works for you.
Thom

[NicholasHMCaldwell]

I'd hesitate to spend DPs for a wealth roll or for a lump sum - I'd rather spend DPs on skills and talents that my character cannot lose. HARP SF has Magnate which gives starting characters ten times the starting money for 20 DPs and looking closely at that, I think, it should have also explicitly stated a regular income (i.e. dividends from the megacorps) but does not at the moment. (Something for SysOp's Guide to clarify).

The idea of an increased starting income plus some form of regular stipend / annuity could be worth 5, 10, 15 or 20 DP dependent on the scaling factor on starting money and how it compares with the cost of living in your campaign.

Best wishes,
Nicholas