You don't have to make costs or treasure progression quadratic or linear. A far better progression would be something like the old 3.x experience progression, to wit:
((Level-1)^2 + (Level-1)) x 500
Using 500 as above, a 2nd level character is expected to have 1000 sp, a 3rd level character is expected to have 3000, a 4th level character is expected to have 6000, and so on.
This means two 10th level characters (45000 each, or 90000 total) still can't pool their money to acquire the loot of a 20th level character (190000), preventing stuff from being as easily broken. It also keeps the economy from going absolutely insane. A potion that heals twice as much is more than twice as expensive, as it should be due to greater action economy, but not crazy ludicrous expensive.
You can play around with the formula or change the multiplier to adjust the actual numbers, but the principle is the same. There is a middle road and I feel it would be better for the game.
… The formula you gave is quadratic, though?
That works out to Amount = 500 * Level^2 - 500 * Level, which is a quadratic equation.
But not an exponential explosion like in PF1 or SF :p
But not an exponential explosion like in PF1 or SF :pYou don't have to make costs or treasure progression quadratic or linear. A far better progression would be something like the old 3.x experience progression, to wit:
((Level-1)^2 + (Level-1)) x 500
Using 500 as above, a 2nd level character is expected to have 1000 sp, a 3rd level character is expected to have 3000, a 4th level character is expected to have 6000, and so on.
This means two 10th level characters (45000 each, or 90000 total) still can't pool their money to acquire the loot of a 20th level character (190000), preventing stuff from being as easily broken. It also keeps the economy from going absolutely insane. A potion that heals twice as much is more than twice as expensive, as it should be due to greater action economy, but not crazy ludicrous expensive.
You can play around with the formula or change the multiplier to adjust the actual numbers, but the principle is the same. There is a middle road and I feel it would be better for the game.
… The formula you gave is quadratic, though?
That works out to Amount = 500 * Level^2 - 500 * Level, which is a quadratic equation.
WBL really can't be linear because that means there'd be no increase in rate of treasure acquisition (income). That's silly.
Quadratic or Exponential imply explosive growth, but technically they can be flattened out to suit the game. It'd be interesting if like slow & fast XP progression there were rich & poor WBL options (with parameters on how to tackle the deviance.)PF2 is trying to tighten the math to suit a "+2 levels = x2 power" curve which does not correlate directly with WBL. Developers have to run a lot of numbers involving attacks, damage, AC, h.p., saves, and so forth based on the simple chassis they've chosen for PF2.
Ex. If hit points progress somewhat linearly in this system, it's because defenses are making up the difference to keep defensive progress up to the +2/x2 rate. If the chassis doesn't increase those defenses enough, then feats/items/spells need to step in.
Then devs have to align WBL with these numbers. Since that simple chassis (even factoring in the stat increases) likely doesn't fall into the +2/x2 pattern by default, they have to look at when and where magic items come into play and how to keep them from coming into play too late/too early.
And they have to do this alongside the various feats/spells they're offering which don't just toy with basic stats, but action economy as well.
And they have to do it so no one spell, class, or feat (and only 3 items IIRC) becomes mandatory, like Haste.
Oh, and they have to do this while appealing to grognards like myself who want a smooth transition between editions.
(And Beholders, but whatever...)
Everyone pooling their resources together to get a certain item means you have that 1 item... but it means your deprived of other things you could have bought. Plus, you have to convince everyone to pool their resources together in the first place.
Edit: ninjaed succinctly by Deadmanwalking
The thing is, going off the linear treasure idea again, you don't even necessarily have to pool your resources together. Take as a for instance:
Say there's a weapon designed for a level 20 character, that is awesome for a level 20 character. Now say as a balancing point it's worth 1/3 of a level 20 character's WBL, a not unreasonable point for a character's main weapon I don't think. But... say you have a level 10 character who's player is really big on offense, and not afraid to take second- or even third-best defense to get it. In a linear system, they see this level 20 weapon, meant for a character twice their level and balanced around that power level, and they're drooling. They look at the price tag... and on a linear system, it's 2/3 of their WBL. So they'll still have 1/3 of their WBL to cover armor and other amenities, which is more than fine for this theoretical player. So they spend their 2/3 WBL and now they have a weapon that is literally twice their power level.
The only ways to stop such a situation in a linear treasure situation is to either inflict artificial caps on what you can buy (a la Starfinder but even worse, and frankly that's not exactly universally loved in Starfinder) or to make level-appropriate gear cost 50+% of your WBL for that level (which is a -I would hope obviously- flawed solution, you pretty much could not have both weapon and armor level appropriate even if you didn't need any other items at all.)
EDIT: Phrasing
But not an exponential explosion like in PF1 or SF :pYou don't have to make costs or treasure progression quadratic or linear. A far better progression would be something like the old 3.x experience progression, to wit:
((Level-1)^2 + (Level-1)) x 500
Using 500 as above, a 2nd level character is expected to have 1000 sp, a 3rd level character is expected to have 3000, a 4th level character is expected to have 6000, and so on.
This means two 10th level characters (45000 each, or 90000 total) still can't pool their money to acquire the loot of a 20th level character (190000), preventing stuff from being as easily broken. It also keeps the economy from going absolutely insane. A potion that heals twice as much is more than twice as expensive, as it should be due to greater action economy, but not crazy ludicrous expensive.
You can play around with the formula or change the multiplier to adjust the actual numbers, but the principle is the same. There is a middle road and I feel it would be better for the game.
… The formula you gave is quadratic, though?
That works out to Amount = 500 * Level^2 - 500 * Level, which is a quadratic equation.
Those are also quadratic. In PF1, wealth increases from 1k to 3k from level 2 to 3. If it were exponential, it would keep multiplying by three every level, putting level 20 WBL at a bit over 387 billion gp.
PF1 WBL starts quadratic and changes to exponential (+30% per level past 11th or so).
PF1 WBL starts quadratic and changes to exponential (+30% per level past 11th or so).
Oh, looks like I over-fit then. Thanks for pointing that out!
Starfinder does have limits on what PCs can purchase. Usually it's Level+2 in a major settlement. The narrative explanation is that it takes contacts, licensing, background checks, etc., to source particularly powerful and expensive items.