I am confused on how treasure works and so I don't know what to give out to players. Could someone help me understand the treasure system and how it works.
After players kill monsters, often they find treasure. Treasure is shiny things, or used to buy shiny things, or sold to get money to buy shiny things.
Also there's a "wealth by level" table that shows roughly how much money worth of shiny things players should generally have.
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Check out treasure info here.
In summary..
Depending on the creatures involved, there may or may not be any treasure.
Each creature has a Treasure rating, something like: None, Half, Standard, Double, Triple, etc. This typically refers to the Medium progression column of the Treasure Values per Encounter Table.
Example: If your group fought a CR 5 troll which has "Treasure: Standard", you would look up an Average Party Level of 5 and find 1,550 gp.
So as a DM, you could build a reward worth rougly 1,550 gp. Since some of your encounters might have no treasure, you can decide to put a little more (or less) in a given encounter.
Also, as a DM, if the creature is intelligent and some of the treasure is magic gear, I make sure that the creature uses it.
If the Troll's treasure rating was Double, then the treasure amount would be 2 x 1,550 gp = 3,100 gp.
The table, "Wealth by Level", provides a guideline for an approximate total of wealth an individual PC should have when they reach a certain level. So for instance, it is recommended that a 2nd level PC have about 1,000gp of wealth--however, this is wholly within your control as DM.
Thanks for the help.
Basically there is treasure by encounter levels, which you should follow as opposed to the Wealth by Character level chart. I say this because wealth by level doesn't take into account revival spells, restoration spells, and so forth. It all focuses on the minimum that a character should have at that level, and therefore it isn't a "living" character's progression.
If you want to get extremely technical with ensuring everything works out and you stay around WBL then you'll need to go in depth and ensure that the monsters and the treasure all line up, so for every monster that has double, triple, quadruple treasure you need to use monsters that have no treasure to balance those or you'll end up with insanely over-geared characters.
The entire point of the Treasure of monsters is to partially denote how hard said monsters should be for that CR.
A troll can be problematic, so it had double Treasure Standard. Something with triple is even tougher, and quadruple or higher is probably almost as powerful as something the next CR up, but not quite enough for it to matter.
IGNORE WEALTH BY LEVEL it is for characters who are STARTING at that level, NOT for character who have been out adventuring. If you do go by wealth by level--like I did--then you have to throw in extra treasure whenever the party uses anything that is an unforseen consumable such as having Raise Dead cast, or restoration simply because if you do not then you are effectively not at wealth by level anymore since you have "taken" money from them.
If you do want to use Wealth By Level then they gain NO treasure, at all, and next level they magically just rebuild all their gear to the next level's WBL.
The treasure system exists for a reason, and everything is supposed to be sold at half-value so be wary of just giving them items that they can use right now. If you do, then ensure that someone in town REALLY wants to buy that item at full price and have its cost be at half value so the party isn't gaining anything by keeping it and not losing anything by selling it. I like adding the "appraised" quality to such goods as it tell the PCs that they can sell it at full value--its a house rule.--
One fantastic way to do treasure is to just drop a ton of consumables that they are likely to use. If they use all of those potions of cure light/moderate/critical/omfg-how-are-you-still-alive wounds then they just used all of their money, while if they sell them then they are getting the money they need, but if they keep them they are effectively ahead of the curve while losing power due to their gear being sub-par.
Treasure can be as big of a pain as actually building the encounters. Your best bet, if you so choose, is to drop items that are worth exactly the amount they PCs should get, and this enables them to sort of know what the loot is worth. It also means that they have to decide if they are going to deal with the weight, stockpile it somewhere, or leave it behind.
Remember, as much of a roleplaying system this is it is still a ~game~ that is played to be enjoyed. You can add gamey aspects in to make it more fun or easier, or you can skip this and consumables galore are everywhere.
I use this now, up to you to follow if you so choose.
KEY:
A = Current Level
ß = Multiplier of everything sold at half value
C = Multiplier of everything sold at full value
D = Starting gold
E = Acquired Gold Half Value
F = acquired gold full value
G = To go from current level to next level
H = total xp gained to hit next level
I = total gold gained if all encounters are CR [current level] encounters
J = XP for current level encounter
K = gold awarded by current level encounterA) [ß]/[C](D____/E___/F)_____G:_(H______/I)______J___/K
01) _______________________________________________Level 01:(8,000_______/5,200)_______400___/26002) [0.7]/[1.3](1,000____/650_________/1,300)______Level 02:(12,000______/11,000)______600___/550
03) [0.7]/[1.4](3,000____/2,025_______/4,050)______Level 03:(24,000______/24,000)______800___/800
04) [0.8]/[1.7](6,000____/5,025_______/10,050)_____Level 04:(36,000______/34,500)______1200__/1150
05) [0.9]/[1.8](10,500___/9,337_______/18,675)_____Level 05:(56,000______/54,250)______1600__/1550
06) [1.0]/[2.0](16,000___/16,118______/32,237)_____Level 06:(84,000______/70,000)______2400__/2000
07) [1.1]/[2.1](23,500___/24,868______/49,737)_____Level 07:(120,000_____/97,500)______3200__/2600
08) [1.1]/[2.2](33,000___/37,056______/74,112)_____Level 08:(180,000_____/125,625)_____4800__/3350
09) [1.1]/[2.3](46,000___/52,759______/105,518)____Level 09:(240,000_____/159,375)_____6400__/4250
10) [1.2]/[2.3](62,000___/72,681______/145,362)____Level 10:(380,000_____/215,729)_____9600__/5450
11) [1.2]/[2.4](82,000___/99,647______/199,294)____Level 11:(500,000_____/273,437)_____12800_/7000
12) [1.2]/[2.5](108,000__/133,827_____/267,654)____Level 12:(760,000_____/356,250)_____19200_/9000
13) [1.3]/[2.5](140,000__/178,358_____/356,716)____Level 13:(1,020,000___/462,187)_____25600_/11600
14) [1.3]/[2.6](185,000__/236,131_____/472,263)____Level 14:(1,520,000___/593,750)_____38400_/15000
15) [1.3]/[2.6](240,000__/310,350_____/620,700)____Level 15:(2,040,000___/776,953)_____51200_/19500
16) [1.3]/[2.6](315,000__/407,469_____/814,939)____Level 16:(3,160,000___/1,028,645)___76800_/25000
17) [1.3]/[2.6](410,000__/536,050_____/1,072,100)__Level 17:(4,040,000___/1,262,500)___102400/32000
18) [1.3]/[2.6](530,000__/693,862_____/1,387,725)__Level 18:(6,160,000___/1,644,270)___153600/41000
19) [1.3]/[2.6](685,000__/899,396_____/1,798,792)__Level 19:(8,240,000___/2,132,421)___204800/53000
20) [1.3]/[2.7](880,000__/1,165,949___/2,331,898)__Level 20:
So, what all this means is that if the PCs are level 1, and they defeat an encounter that is a CR 1, then they could get 1/2 260gp (130gp) since they can divide that up as they choose, or you can drop some sort of item that they do not know is worth 260gp or 130gp if sold. You can keep all of this wealth divided by dropping (number of PCs) items whose values are 260gp/(number of players) each (E.G. 4 players, 4 "gems" that are all worth 65gp each, but only sell for 32gp 5sp.
If them item is a consumable then it can be of the max gold cost because if the PCs use it then it is used. A CR 1 encounter could drop 5 potions of cure light wounds and 5gp because each potion costs 50gp, but since it is consumable it doesn't matter, the GP, since it is not being "sold" to be used to buy more gear is at half value (5x50gp = 250gp. 250gp + 10gp = 260gp. Gold doesn't need to be sold, so 10/2 = 5).
For usable items, like A +1 longsword, or a +1 suit of armor, or various gear that the party needs should all already be "bought" with treasure to equal half value.
So a +1 longsword costs 2315gp (15gp + 300gp + 2000gp), so in order for that item to drop it needs to be dropped at half value already, but be able to be sold at full value, and therefore in order for the above sword to drop the treasure value for the encounter needs to be at least double that number, so 4620gp or more value, and the only treasure value that drops that is a level 11 encounter or higher.
This is where monsters with "double" or higher comes in because they mean you can get items at much lower level. Then again there is also the trick of adding up all the "treasures" of the monsters in the encounter and just doing it that way.
Either way it should be easier for the PCs to buy their desired items in town as opposed to finding them while they are out. The dropped items are really just there to be sold afterall.
If, on the other hand, you want your item drops to be important to the story, such as "You are fighting Dark Fey" then you can always have it so the PCs fight a sufficiently built encounter whose treasures equal the amount you need to drop the item that will help them and then drop the item. Alternatively you can just deny them any treasure and eventually they get the big treasure drop item.
Basically it just boils down to how you want to run creatures. If you drop items designed to defeat the creatures then you are gimping the creatures. If you drop consumables that help the players then you are empowering the PCs to survive the dungeon. If you just drop loot items that, when sold, equal the gold they should have gotten then you are neither helping your players nor harming your monsters.
Just boils down to how you wish to do it.