Starting Equipment and Lifestyle Costs

Starting Gold

• All characters roll 5d4 x 10 x level gp to begin the game; this reflects their life savings.
• They may purchase any equipment for standard prices per PHB Chapter 5 (p.143-161) except armor, the cost of which is below.

Armor Cost

• Light: 10 gp
• Medium: 100 gp
• Heavy: 500 gp
• Plate: 1,500 gp

Lifestyle Costs

• RAW, as per PHB p.157

Thoughts on Game Design

Taking a nod toward older editions, this RAW variant (PHB p.143) relies on random starting gold to reflect one’s life savings, but standarized regardless of Class. With the adjustment to armor types and costs, this method also makes it less likely for First Tier characters (Levels 1 - 4) to have access to Heavy Armor at character creation. This is intended to incentivize acquiring resources to purchase or make Heavy Armor.

While not strictly accurate, to help players understand the economy of this homebrew setting, one can imagine 1gp is the equivalent of $100 in USD (at the time of this writing). A lifestyle that necessitates between 1 sp/day - 1 gp/day is where most free common folk find themselves. With that in mind, the characters require a consistent source of income to maintain that lifestyle. Adventuring is—at its core—a risk/reward system that looks for large gains for high risk.