Buying Wealth in Play

In my Felltower game, we use the fees for purchasing new advantages and skills. Training costs, because, hey, AD&D 1st edition.

What about Wealth, though?

We use slightly special rules for wealth.

A new advantage is usually $40/point, but for Wealth you need sufficient money for that Wealth level's starting wealth. So to get from Average ($1000 starting wealth) to Comfortable ($2000 starting wealth) will take ($2000 - $1000 =) $1000. Getting to Wealthy ($5000 starting wealth) would cost $4K if Average, $3K if already Comfortable. It costs money to establish those connections in town.

Otherwise you end up with a seeming oddity of "Wealth" requiring less actual small-w wealth than you have when you start. In fact, if you start with Comfortable you get 2x as much money as another starting character, and have contacts in town(s) to sell goods at 60% of list price. But if you bought it later, you only need $400 worth of capital to establish those contacts? That just feels odd. It doesn't have a natural symmetry.

But charging the wealth cost does. So we do.

Takes money to make money.