Money & Starting Characters

[Rhishisikk]

To answer the original problem, have you considered stealing from SpyCraft?

MAKE a standard adventurer's pack, and then give one to each player.  This has worked out well, except for once, when a dwarf (mine) lost his temper on one of those narrow mountain paths, and hurled twenty pounds of hemp rope over the side.  Of course, we needed it for climbing later that same day.

Another solution, give the characters a number of 'unspecified common' items equal to their starting action dice.  This will allow them to have low-cost items without having to spend an action dice to go back and 'retroactively buy' something silly like soap or chalk or eating utensils.  (All useful for adventurers, but all things I tend to forget.)

[Crafty_Alex]

You've got 2 easy solutions for a perceived cash shortage in FC:

1) Increase the starting cash (start the PCs at a higher level, since starting cash is Career Level x 100s, or just give them some money)
2) Presume they get some free stuff (like a dagger and a set of rations that all commoners might carry, or they could receive some basic kit from their first employer).

I think this is largely a Theory Craft problem in play. The very first fight they get into with a humanoid characters, they're going to start amassing gear. Sure, the aforementioned soldier might start out with a sword and a shield and not much else...but then he kills a mercenary and grabs 4 daggers, a suit of studded leather, and a longsword, plus whatever that guy's treasure code was. Suddenly, this is not such a big deal He's not going to suffer the 1100 or 1600 hits that it will take to make a huge difference...you can always loot the bodies in FC. And what he doesn't use, he can sell, then start upgrading his stuff.

As someone who's run this game in varying degrees of completeness for over a year and a half, I can say that gear was only an issue for about 1/2 of the first adventure...then they ran into a group of unsuspecting standard characters  . My players sorta enjoyed not having everything at the start - it was more special when they could upgrade a weapon or armor with craftsmanship or add new more deadly upgrades. Even if they weren't changing all the time, their gear did, and they made choices to sell and manage their stuff that made the game interesting in between adventuring and leveling.

[spinningdice]

Sorry, to elaborate my earlier point. When we've played D&D and a few other games, we've usually got what we wanted and then offered some left over money to the other characters who are struggling. The Wizard and Thief who need a minimum of gear are usually happy to offer some coinage to their loyal protector - always build up some good will with the guy who's going to be soaking up damage for you!!!

I've built a few characters and yes, certain builds (Particularly if you want to be a specialist in some exotic weapon or style) cost mroe than you can afford, but not massively so, if you get some panache your extra cash in your first adventure should cover the shortfall, and if not - it's time to loot...

[MugMug]

I've statted up several characters now, spread out amongst the classes, and haven't run into any significant issues with starting wealth. So far I've got a Drake Soldier*, Saurian Scout, Human Burglar, and Human Courtier. I definitely have my eye on other gear once the loot starts rolling in, but as far as starting equipment goes I'm satisfied.

(* Relied heavily upon the crude "upgrade.")

Walter

[Foghorn]

I've helped a few people out gearing up at first level for a game I'm running and when the starting cash ran out I traded them a nice piece of iconic equipment as long as they were able to come up with a story of what it was and where it came from. Then, without telling them, I've created a twisted series of subplots from the Burglar who thought he got away with the pistols cleanly all the sudden has people chasing after him, the Assassin starts to have the spirits of people she's practiced her deadly trade on following after her because of her cursed (should have put a little more stock in those stories) armor, etc.

This has been fun for me because it gets the players a little more involved with their characters and their gear, and they don't know what I'm planning yet, either. Effectively, it's just giving them a little more money to start with, but with a little different twist on it.

[Ferdinand Von Plat]

He's not going to suffer the 1100 or 1600 hits that it will take to make a huge difference...you can always loot the bodies in FC. And what he doesn't use, he can sell, then start upgrading his stuff.

Oh, I definitely agree. My numbers were mostly large because larger numbers show the difference better. You see 1 DR and 3 DR on paper and it's only 2 different, so it's easy to say "but that's just two numbers". When you show the results with a large set it's easier to see the difference.

It would have been more fair to use, say, 10 attacks. Which is (rounding up) 6 hits totaling 11 damage for an armor focus or 4 hits for 16 damage. At that point a couple of mends and a night's rest or a healing spell or two is still going to heal both characters up exactly the same. Either way it's very manageable for a level 1 character to deal with that kind of damage over what will likely be the course of an entire adventure. As opposed to if you had tried to apply my 1000 hit set to actual gameplay, which would be more like an entire campaign from 1-20 where the characters only got what they started with at char gen.

[Dhampire]

...I've got a Drake Soldier*, ...[and] Relied heavily upon the crude "upgrade."

Why would you have to?

With a 1d10 Bite, 1d8 Claw, and a Breath Weapon, the only major expense necessary would be armor.

[MugMug]

...I've got a Drake Soldier*, ...[and] Relied heavily upon the crude "upgrade."

Why would you have to?

General Equipment, especially kits, if your campaign allows that for Drakes.

Walter

[samsimilian]

Not played yet, but in D&D at least, most groups I've been in have been happy to use their cash on other players when gearing up.

i have made the same experience