I realize that i'm over thinking this, and I'll probably submit to the inevitable, but I'd like some others to provide input.
Here's the situation. Last game our characters were sent back in time, from a roughly modern setting (still fantasy, with magic and monsters, but with some modern mentalities and financial institutions) to a standard fantasy world (with gold pieces). During the downtime between last session and our next one, we sold off the treasure we found right before we got here and we ended up with about 4k gp each. My character is a blue-collar worker (a fisherman by trade when he's not doing the "adventurey" stuff) and, after some rough calculation, I figure it would take about six years to earn that much gold as a fisherman.
How would you, as a modern person used to cash, credit, debit, etc. deal with having six years of salary (almost 100 pounds of coins) with no permanent address and at least the hope of returning home some day? I know what I'd do as a player, but I'd like to at least consider this from a realistic perspective.
Would you hide it somewhere so you won't lose it?
Would you try to find someone trustworthy that would hold onto your money like a bank (without really knowing how that kind of stuff works in the past)?
Would you spend it, not truly knowing if another windfall like that will come (it will, of course, but YOU wouldn't necessarily know that)?
I think I'd start spending it on stuff to hopefully get me home - think standard adventuring gear - with some money lost to con-artists and some failed magics. I'd probably keep doing that till ths money was about half gone. Then I'd realise I'm here for a while and try to set myself up with a house or some-such. This gives me a base to operate from and ensures I won't die from exposure if/when my money runs out.
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6 years salary up front and I get to remember everything I know from the intervening time?
I'd buy 3000 bitcoin in 2013 for about $35 a piece, bank the rest of my money and live cheaply while living my life "as normally" as possible so as to not destroy my own timeline.
Then December 18th I would cash in for a cool 58.5 Million in USD. At this point I would take my newborn daughter and wife and move to Canada outside Toronto somewhere quiet where I can get a REAL construction permit to build my dreamhouse hobbit hole with geothermal heating, wind turbines, rainwater collection, and solar panels to make it as bill and hassle free as possible.
6 years salary up front and I get to remember everything I know from the intervening time?
I'd buy 3000 bitcoin ...
I think you misread the question. You get ~6 years of salary (equivalent) but are sent back 500 years and into a magic world.
Otherwise that's not a bad plan.
I probably should have mentioned (stressed) that my character is very simple. For reference, think Bubba from Forrest Gump. He's a shrimpin man who was in the military for a bit but came back home to work in the local fishery. Because of his fishing skills and learning how to use them in combat (net/trident build) he was tapped by the local chamber of commerce in his small coastal town to represent them and bring attention to small businesses in the area. He does that by fighting in gladiatorial events that are broadcast on tv to the entertainment of the masses. (Xcrawl, to be precise... think WWE meets dungeon crawling). We were in an event that went off the rails and we were sent to Waterdeep in Forgotten Realms.
He doesn't know or frankly understand any of that. He just knows that people talk funny and his credit cards don't work but the stuff they just found sold for golden coins which are neat to look at and are probably worth something in real money but his heart was never in the celebrity stuff. He just wants to get home or, barring that, back on a boat and make himself useful. I'm going to assume that he wouldn't ditch his companions, so that's why he'll follow them into adventuring, but the idea of carrying what would take 6 years to earn on a boat is troubling.
Add to that the fact that he has no experience with bags of holding (not allowed in the crawl) and he has no local home (buy one, maybe?) i'm just stuck with what to do.
As a gamer, there's a lot I want to buy, but I want to roleplay this as well as possible.
Spread the money out three different places. That way you can't lose it all through bad luck. Bury 1/3 in a hidden place. Have someone trustworthy hold 1/3 of your money. Carry 1/3 on your person, perhaps in less bulky form like platinum or gems.
I think this makes the most sense starting off. I'll see if I can buy a home, maybe with a trustworthy crewmate to keep it occupied when i'm out, and take a few coins to have some money. Once he gets used to the change in lifestyle, depending on if they find a way back, of course, he can grow into his new role/ way of life organically.
Thanks!
During the downtime between last session and our next one, we sold off the treasure we found right before we got here and we ended up with about 4k gp each....
How would you, as a modern person used to cash, credit, debit, etc. deal with having six years of salary (almost 100 pounds of coins) with no permanent address and at least the hope of returning home some day? I know what I'd do as a player, but I'd like to at least consider this from a realistic perspective.
Would you hide it somewhere so you won't lose it?
Would you try to find someone trustworthy that would hold onto your money like a bank (without really knowing how that kind of stuff works in the past)?
Would you spend it, not truly knowing if another windfall like that will come (it will, of course, but YOU wouldn't necessarily know that)?
Hmm... According to the PRD, a coin weighs a third of an ounce regardless of type. Assuming an avoirdupois ounce rather than a Troy ounce (since we're told there's sixteen per pound), in today's money 4,000 Pathfinder gold coins would be worth....
<number crunch>
[4000 x 0.911458 (Troy)]/3 x $1300 (1oz Au in 2019 1st-quarter fiat US dollars)
= $1,579,861 ...which is a hefty chunk of pure lucre.
After familiarizing myself with the environment, I'd probably place it in several different Abadar financial institutions of earned repute, then start investing in real-estate in the bigger cities. Then I'd spend the profits learning magic and getting good at it, because why in hell wouldn't you if superpowers were available to anyone who doesn't blanch at the sight of a Rubik's Cube?
I'd also resolve to never go back, because magical healing is far cheaper and more comprehensive than modern medicine, and the rates of taxation much, much lower (at least, upon those of productive ability, that is). Oh, to be free of the hundreds of government proboscises jammed into your hide, all furiously sucking away every millipede's step of the way to the grave.
It'd be freaking paradise. I'll miss Italian food, anime, and the internet, but I'd get by.
Watch the Original Dungeons & Dragons animated series...
That's funny. I had not thought of that. :) And that show is a big one (mentioned a LOT) by us (we are the right age to have seen that on TV when we were kids).
I will think about that. I know one of us has them on DVD... Thanks!!
I don't think looking at the modern value of bullion is relevant to how 'rich' your character would feel. Purchasing power is what matters, and a whole lot of what they would want to buy isn't available at any price. Even things that you can find a magical equivalent of are going to be vastly expensive. You could come up with the magical equivalent of a car, but it is going to cost you a whole lot more than 4000gp.
Now, obviously if you had a way to get the bullion to your own society, that would be great, and you might want to do that, but unless it is pretty clear and immediate, I wouldn't expect that to be anywhere near the top of my worries.
I don't think looking at the modern value of bullion is relevant to how 'rich' your character would feel. Purchasing power is what matters, and a whole lot of what they would want to buy isn't available at any price. Even things that you can find a magical equivalent of are going to be vastly expensive. You could come up with the magical equivalent of a car, but it is going to cost you a whole lot more than 4000gp.
Now, obviously if you had a way to get the bullion to your own society, that would be great, and you might want to do that, but unless it is pretty clear and immediate, I wouldn't expect that to be anywhere near the top of my worries.
The way Isaw the suggestion was based on putting myself in the mind of a blue collar worker who was given 80 pounds of gold.
In gaming terms, it isn't "retire and live the good life" money... it's only 4k and even living a simple life it wouldn't last forever.
Me as a modern guy given 80 pounds of gold, I'd think I was rich. There have been stories in the media about people finding a cache of gold coins and being able to turn them into a lot of money (finder's fees, auctions, etc.). Even if I didn't have an immediate way home, I'd still have that urge to hoarde it somehow just in case.
My current thought is securing a place to live, then hiding a chunk of it, because my character wouldn't necessarily know that gold practically grows on trees in fantasy games. :) Once he has had that revelation, he might be less tight-fisted with it.
I'm still not sure how he'll feel about the "kill them and take their stuff" line of thought, tho. Good thing he was built to deal nonlethal anyway :)
I find it hard to see how you could really discover what you could possibly do with it before you discovered it's purchasing power, other than maybe burying it.
By the time you have discovered that the cheapest nights lodging, staying on the floor of an inn is 2 GP you will realize that the value isn't what you though it was.