I've spent a fair amount of time doing treasure and realized it's a hold over. I'm thinking about just having PCs gain treasure when they level, or the next time they "go into town" after they level. If that seems odd to gain gear in a dungeon. The delay represents making sure the gear isn't cursed, ordering items, selling items through consignment, etc. PC can just 'rebuy' them from the last level, plus the new value from leveling or make some changes with the percentage rules for higher level characters.
This is similar to XP. PCs who mostly uses skills for the first half leveling, than mostly attacks for the second you don't complicate the book keeping by giving out different pieces as they go. They just gain class abilities when they level.
Some power gamers will be slobbering at the idea of knowing exactly when they'll have treasure and able to spend it how they want, but if someone really wants to roll up a +84 to hit save or die twice a round silly ignore 3 rules to make it work build they're going to do it no matter what. I think it will be worth it to get ride of the time spent on book keeping, rolling treasure, making sure the party is in the right area for leveling, and changing bonuses as you go. Besides some minor benefits to immersion, are there other upsides to doing gear as you go?
I've spent a fair amount of time doing treasure and realized it's a hold over. I'm thinking about just having PCs gain treasure when they level, or the next time they "go into town" after they level. If that seems odd to gain gear in a dungeon. The delay represents making sure the gear isn't cursed, ordering items, selling items through consignment, etc. PC can just 'rebuy' them from the last level, plus the new value from leveling or make some changes with the percentage rules for higher level characters.
This is similar to XP. PCs who mostly uses skills for the first half leveling, than mostly attacks for the second you don't complicate the book keeping by giving out different pieces as they go. They just gain class abilities when they level.
Some power gamers will be slobbering at the idea of knowing exactly when they'll have treasure and able to spend it how they want, but if someone really wants to roll up a +84 to hit save or die twice a round silly ignore 3 rules to make it work build they're going to do it no matter what. I think it will be worth it to get ride of the time spent on book keeping, rolling treasure, making sure the party is in the right area for leveling, and changing bonuses as you go. Besides some minor benefits to immersion, are there other upsides to doing gear as you go?
Minor benefits to immersion?! If you just keep track of WBL and not have any loot drop you are shattering immersion. Your gear just turns into another class feature, like what feat or skills you picked up. Mechanically I'm sure the game would play just fine, but IMHO it would cross the line from a role playing game into a tactical wargame, so much flavor would be removed.
That being said, here are a few issues I could see coming up. You would not see as many "flavor" items. Things like a grey bag of tricks can be useful, but I'd never spend money on them. People would probably just keep to the "Big 6". You also can't give out gear that's higher level then is appropriate. In a game I'm in, one of our party was rewarded with an ancestral sword from her family far more powerful then anything else in the party. But that's OK, she'll be using it for the rest of her career, and as a shugenja (3.5 robe-wearing healer type class) she's not going to be overpowering combat with it. But from a strict WBL point of view, she's blowing the scale.
Take a look at a character built at high level and one who has been played to that same level. Even with the same class and build, there will be a large difference in their gear. And that difference is a huge part of characters changing from stats on a page, to the heros in our games.
I second that. In my game, I often give out treasure tailored to the party, and sometimes they fine an item that they will need later on (in the same dungeon or a later adventure) that they would never buy on their own. Plus it lets you playtest some of your own homebrew items to see if they should be available for widespread purchase, or left as a one-off, unique item (like firearms, for example).
Someone with a free over priced item or one they can't get sell is already GM deceleration. So what's the difference? If she normally couldn't have the sword now, or there is only 1, and the GM bends to let her have it, why can't you do that under a new set?
Immersion also gets shattered by loot record keeping, discussing who gets what, and dragging the rest back for sale. Heroic PCs come from stories, regardless of gear, and this frees up time for that.
Also it would lower the number of powerless tanks/glass cannons. Those builds are enabled by PCs don't have any restrictions about how they spend their money. They can just pump AC to something stupid, or put everything towards attack bonus. Or whatever. With WBL percentage rules it would cause fewer silly or semi-silly builds in play and I can't think that's a bad thing.
Or a reverse question, are their any in game benefits to the system in use now?
@ Epic - How long you been doing that and how is it working out?
If there's no treasure received after a fight is one or session is over, what do the players have to look forward to? Every fight will feel the same to a minor degree, as now they can battle the High Priest of Rovagug, a dragon, the Queen's Elite Guard, and three rogue Hellknights and end up with the same rewards for victory: nothing. Oh, and if they beat up a badger, a halfling farmer, a bulette, and an ankheg? Same rewards. So players that are reward-oriented now have to get something else in exchange for the loss of loot from their battling.
Versimilitude just took a hit too. No loot from a dragon? Wait, they'll only get it when they level? So if they fight a dragon the adventure after leveling, they can't use the loot till they level again? Same with the High Priest and the Hellknights? What're they doing with all this stuff? Why can't they decide what to do with it when they camp at night? Or did someone rob all of them and then spontaneously decide to drop it on the PCs a week later? And at high levels, that's a LOT of loot to have fall into their laps.
One in-game benefit of loot: as you go along, you may find that you want or need an item you don't have. If you have loot to sell, you can make or perhaps buy that item. Maybe you unexpectedly use up a few wands of cure light wounds due to some bad luck fighting those Hellknights. Maybe the cleric wants to have a few extra scrolls of restoration handy now that he knows you're going to fight your way through the Crypt of Doom to confront Rovagug's High Priest. Whatever the reason, sometimes characters actually do want to stock up on gear before, during, and/or after an adventure. And commonly, they sell off stuff they procured along the way that they aren't using. If you can't do that and have to sell the gear they got last level, then they can still end up screwed up as they may be forced to sell essential gear to get other essential gear.
All this said, I could see how the idea works in certain campaigns. If the PCs work for a king or powerful merchant, perhaps an academy, they might get new gear as they prove themselves to their employer.
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I would find it quite strange if my party fought an opponent who had a powerful sword or armor, and yet once we defeated him the sword or suit of armor was either nowhere to be found or couldn't be identified until we were "in town". That would make it seem much more like a game than a believable world. YMMV, of course, but I wouldn't like it.
If you want no loot at all, you can build fantasy characters in Mutants and Masterminds. Your only progression will be stats and powers.