>This half-elf beggar, a sub-CR1 NPC, has over 200 gold pieces.
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/npc-s/npcs-cr-0/beggar-half-elf-commoner-1/
There is no defending this, is there?
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It seems like a lot but the currency of Halfelfia has been undergoing hyperinflation recently. 200 gold pieces isn't even enough for a loaf of bread.
damn
maybe just a typo?
200 copper
A typo that has never been fixed for several years.
NPC CLASS GEAR
The npcs in this chapter have gear according to the Basic
Level column of Table 14–9: NPC Gear on page 454 of the
Core Rulebook. However, keep in mind that the table is
designed for adventuring NPCs, not common townsfolk.
Just because the table says a 2nd-level commoner has 390
gp doesn’t mean every 2nd-level pig farmer actually has
390 gp worth of portable valuables on his person or at his
home! The farmer owns a few pigs, some miscellaneous
farm tools, a handful of gold and silver coins, and (in a
country where peasants can own land) a few acres and
a cozy shack, but otherwise doesn’t have any assets of
interest to adventurers. For the sake of following the table,
the characters in this chapter are listed with appropriate
gear (and perhaps some livestock) according to their
professions, and the remainder of their level-appropriate
gold is listed, but it would be exceedingly rare for these
normal people to have savings equivalent to multiple years
of work stored in a mattress or buried under the house.
Given that a character working for a week can earn gp equal
to half the result of a Craft or Profession check, a typical
NPC-class character is probably carrying one-tenth of that
amount (at most) at any particular time. Attacking farmers
for their gold is not profitable for adventurers!
...
Use common sense to decide whether an NPC’s listed “surplus” gold is
reasonable or not, and award treasure accordingly.
-NPC Codex pg 242
The beggar doesn't actually have that much gold, thus being a beggar. Its a flaw of the system focusing on adventurer NPCs and not common townsfolk, and the game expects the DM to think and adjust the character appropriately.
Seems more like a flaw of whoever wrote the entries to me. It turns out you can just not put the number in if it doesn't need to be there. Yes, sure, you can add a note saying that the reader should use common sense on the matter but the writer could have saved effort while doing the same thing.
>Use common sense to decide whether an NPC’s listed “surplus” gold is reasonable or not, and award treasure accordingly.
Yet they didn't use common sense to decide whether assigning that amount of gold was fricking stupid in the first place, curious.
If what James Jacobs said about NPC entries is true, even as far back as Jade Regent the staff writers would just plug the details into a database and it would shit out the NPC stats for them.
>Just because the table says a 2nd-level commoner has 390 gp doesn’t mean every 2nd-level pig farmer actually has 390 gp
So what DOES it mean?
It means the pig farmers have a normal distribution of gold which averages to 390 gp, if they all have exactly 390gp it would be unrealistic.
To be exact they have 390 gp worth of wealth, which could be pretty much anything: For example a pig farmer could own 100 gp Shack and 250 gp Animal Pen housing 4 pigs (3gp each), meaning that if an adventurer wanted to randomly rob the farmer they might only gain a couple gps worth trash. On the other hand, if they actually helped the farmer they might be rewarded with a 300 gp potion that the farmer picked up somewhere a long time ago. The sum is just there to give the GM a general idea on how much you might gain from the NPC.
Also if you give the loot in copper coins it will be 30000 coins which will weigh 600 pounds preventing the players from easily carrying it.
>The farmer owns a few pigs
>but otherwise doesn’t have any assets of
>interest to adventurers
Why are Pathfinder adventurers so interested in pigs?
Stop kinkshaming!
>It seems like a lot but the currency of Halfelfia has been undergoing hyperinflation recently. 200 gold pieces isn't even enough for a loaf of bread.
t. Intelligence 8
Inflation is just taxation without benefit.
Inflation actually does help a certain type of person, one who is massively in debt. If you take out a $10,000 loan and then minimum wage (and everything else as a consequence) doubles, congratulations, your effective debt just halved.
You could triple minimum wage and it wouldn't make a dent in the profit margin of the average megacorp.
~~*Schwarz*~~
Shut up israelite.
>only rich people want to be able to save money
Socialists seriously need to be exterminated.
>He might be honest in his begging, or he might pretend to be something he’s not—such as disfigured or a war hero—to evoke sympathy.
The latter part suggests that some of gear, i.e. the gp and the disguise kit in particular, are optional.
I'd sooner interpret that as a homeless guy claiming he fought in "the war" and lost his leg in a dogfight (truth is he was bitten by a stray dog and developed sepsis).
That sounds realistic, yeah. I was imagining more of a scammer / fake beggar -- there's plenty of those in reality too.
Works either way, just pick and choose what you want I guess.
I've got a cousin who goes begging around Christmas every year. Uses the money to pay his taxes.
I mean there's literally a fun mystery story about such a situation though 200g is rather excessive and in overly high coinage.
>he might pretend to be something he’s not—such as disfigured or a war hero—to evoke sympathy.
This is just some based and accurate commentary on actual beggars.
He's assuredly going to spend it all on pesh. This is why I don't give alms to beggars.
Sounds like a potential plot hook.
There's a beggar near me who packs up his cardboard signs and then drives back to his personally owned single family home in his 2022 minivan at the end of the day. Not all beggars are poor or homeless.
There was one of those in my town until he got jumped by a bunch of goons for making the town look bad. Fricking gyps, man.
Well Oblivion drug costs 100 gp and apparently is commonly used in slums, so maybe he's been saving up?
More likely, according to chart even 1st level basic NPC has 260 gp, so the creator probably simply put that in without thinking about how appropriate it would be.
If it rewards xp, it should reward gold so players reach expected gold per level in time and don't just start to get steamrolled out if nowhere
Stop running your game like Skyrim
What do you mean? In skyrim you can amass any amount of gold in any level. In ttrpgs you limit the ability of players to make gold per level so they stay on track for optimal fun.
You referenced level scaling, which is 100% a videogame problem.
??? Most sword and sorcery ttrpgs have a challenge rating system and it is balanced around players having specific amounts of gear at specific levels. Unless you want to play something esoteric like "That time I leveled up in another world to maximum level but ended up dirt poor!" weeb campaign you go by the guidelines for a good experience all around
If you throw encounters at players that "steamroll" them because they didn't have enough money to buy gear it's because YOU fricked up.
Yes I agree, and thats why it is important to give them enough gold from things they kill. And that is what the expected gold per level calculations are for.
He's a very good beggar
>The commoner offers his pitiful handful of copper pieces to buy his life.
never trust a bum
>https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/npc-s/npcs-cr-0/beggar-half-elf-commoner-1/
>Doesn't know beggars are actually loaded
Who's gonna tell him?
knowing beggars in my city, they make more than a lawyer does a day just panhandling. a ton of them live in 2 story houses and own a minivan, they just get all dirtied up and wear shitty clothes when they're holding a sign on the streetcorner.