Treasure by Level

A party will find money and other treasure that isn't useful on its own but that can be sold or spent on other things. The credit values in the Party Currency column don't refer only to credits found on credsticks. Gems, collectibles, crafting materials (including precious materials), jewelry, and even items of much lower level than the party's level can all be more interesting than a fully loaded credstick.

If you include a lower-level permanent item as part of a currency reward, count only half the item's Price toward the credit amount, assuming the party will sell the item or use it as crafting material. But lower-level consumables might still be useful, particularly spell gems, and if you think your party will use them, count those items at their full Price.

Not all treasure has to be items or currency. Crafters can use the Crafting skill to turn raw materials directly into items instead of buying those items with credits. Knowledge can expand a character's abilities, and formulas make good treasure for item-crafting characters. A prepared spellcaster might get access to new spells from an enemy's computer, while an operative or soldier might learn new fighting techniques.

Starships, vehicles, and other large assets can't be looted as easily as most other forms of treasure. While using these rewards to give the PCs a base of operations can help progress the story, estimating their wealth and allowing PCs to sell them to buy personal treasure can unbalance a game. Thus, starships, buildings, businesses, and other such assets don't cost the PCs credits to purchase and can't be sold for credits— they're a narrative device meant to help you tell a story. Instead, consider allowing PCs to “trade up” these assets into other assets they're interested in or “trade off” these assets for other benefits, such as introductions to important people, access to previously off-limit locations, favors, street cred, fame, notoriety—in short, power or access.

For some groups, this will feel unrealistic, and you'll want to find another solution. While you could adjust the treasure in future encounters to compensate, it's easier and much safer to make the property impossible to sell, either due to legal complications (like licensing laws), due to the poor shape of the property after the battle, or due to the property's iconic status—everyone knows who it belongs to, and that person certainly isn't your players! These complications could just lower the value of the property such that it becomes an appropriate amount of treasure. This approach can make selling these assets feel like off-loading a financially draining property or tricky to sell.

If the PCs acquire an asset that could conceivably make the PCs money, like ownership of a corporation or a hovercab, remind them that such businesses and ventures require investment, upkeep, and attention—often including staff!—and treat these assets like Earning an Income during downtime. Simply ignore the financial minutiae, let the PCs roll to Earn Income (likely as a group, as such assets are usually shared), and incorporate the asset into the narrative during downtime. If you find this boosts the PCs' wealth too high, you can slightly reduce the treasure you give out to compensate. You can use such assets to provide the PCs other tangible benefits that make the effort seem worthwhile, such as access to resources or introductions to allies.

Giving out uncommon and rare items can get players more interested in treasure. These rewards are especially compelling when the adventurers get the item by defeating or outsmarting an enemy who carries an item that fits their backstory or theme.

Uncommon and rare formulas make great treasure for a character who Crafts items. Note that if an uncommon or rare formula is broadly disseminated, it eventually becomes more common. This can be almost instantaneous if leaked on the infosphere, and it's usually impossible to contain information once it's been released online.

The levels listed for items on the Party Treasure by Level table aren't set in stone. You can provide items of slightly higher or lower level as long as you take into account the value of the items you hand out. For instance, suppose you were considering giving a party of 11th-level PCs an elite laser rifle (with a Price of 20,000 credits) as one of their 12th-level items, but you realize they've had trouble finding armor in their recent adventures, so you instead decide to give them a suit of 11th-level superior freebooter armor (14,000 credits) instead. Since the armor has a lower Price than the weapon, you might also add a 9th-level tactical active camouflage armor upgrade (6,500 credits) to make up the difference. The total isn't exactly the same, but that's all right.

However, if you wanted to place a 13th-level permanent item in a treasure hoard, you could remove two 11th-level permanent items to make a roughly equivalent exchange. When you make an exchange upward like this, be cautious: not only might you introduce an item with effects that are disruptive at the party's current level of play, but you also might give an amazing item to one PC while other characters don't gain any new items at all!

If you're playing in a long-term campaign, you can spread out the treasure over time. A major milestone can give extra treasure at one level, followed by a tougher dungeon with fewer new items at the next level.

Check back occasionally to see whether each PC's treasure is comparable to the amount they'd get if they created a new character at their current level, as described under Treasure for New Characters. They should be a bit higher, but if there's a significant discrepancy, adjust the adventure's upcoming treasure rewards accordingly.

If a party has more than four characters, add the following for each additional character:

• One permanent item of the party's level or 1 level higher
• Two consumables, usually one of the party's level and one of 1 level higher
• Currency equal to the value in the Currency per Additional PC column

If the party has fewer than four characters, you can subtract the same amount for each missing character, but since the game is inherently more challenging with a smaller group that can't cover all roles as efficiently, you might consider subtracting less treasure and allowing the extra gear to help compensate for the smaller group size.