For Good Earner, it says you get +2 wealth every lvl. Is this a strait add? or is as if i earned 2 wealth.

Prolly the second. That's a system breaker if it's a straight add...

Of course, my inner munchkin is praying it's a straight add... I'll have it as soon as I get another level!

<applies for a job as Nicky's collection agent>

Kinda important for me, i have had it for 4 lvls now. Actually i didnt even know about the 2 wealth per lvl originally(maybe it wasnt there at those play tests).

Yeah, I'm not quite sure what some of my abilities do, because I got them at the con before I'd bought the book... I still need to cross reference everything before Angelita is "play-ready" again.

When you compare it to a maxed out Profession or Professional Criminal skill, its not that much of a game-breaker as a straight add.

The thing is, Wealth is logrithmic. +2 wealth at 20 (Gino's wealth) is like +4 wealth at 10 (Angelita's wealth) or +10 wealth for a new character as straight adds.

If Gino's GM allows him to collect the cash retroactively, that's +8 wealth, for a total of +28. That gives him the ability to buy a midrange car or place a downpayment on a small house with cash and not have to make a wealth roll. This is a little too rich for my taste! Sorry, Gino, no hard feelings, right? You'll bring a nice fat envelope to my wedding reception?

BTW, as an extreme case, 100 wealth lets characters buy really big ticket items, like aircraft carriers for cash! The word for rules/campaigns that let characters amass that amount of money is... Monty Haul.

Another question, while we're on the subject, if you have 10 wealth and have to get +10 wealth within one week to get a total 11 wealth, does all +10 wealth have to be from one scheme, or can it be 5 schemes at +2 each?

<Angelita is so glad she gets +1/scheme/week, even if her current +2 scheme is just paying for her "increased cost of living"!>

My dry cleaner, pedicurist, hair stylist, manicurist, shoe store, cosmetic department and favorite boutique are glad too! Dang, being a Charismatic Babe is expensive! Anyone wanna get hitched so Gino has to give us a big present? I'll really try to keep the fact I'm banging everything in pants inconspicuous...

Considering that getting a lvl is a big thing, it shouldnt happen every game, then why shouldnt it be a strait add? Not broken when you consider that i have to burn one for anything above 20 wealth.

Another problem is that I am my own GM, though Paulie and I co-GM are group so we talk it out. Still i would like a rules call on it from Mr. D.

As a once per level add, it's not broken. If you have to spend any of it, unless you've got a monster scheme going (20+ needed in Gino's case), it's gonna be near impossible to get back until the next level. Though that's only the case if you need all that cash to come from a single scheme. It's easier to get back if you can combine income from schemes to increase your wealth, but then you'd still need quite a few schemes to maintain.

Lol, there's a lot fewer things over 20 wealth than there are over 10!

Good Earner is a once-per-level straight add meant to represent characters that known how to wisely invest their money. Money begats money. The more you have, the easier it is to make.

That being said, any made guy that accumulates a lot of wealth is bound to draw lots of attention. First, wise guys and made guys will attempt to ensconce themselves around a good earner and these tend to be the guys that don't pick up the bill (see Donnie Cheapo). They tend to borrow things, then "forget" to return them.

Then, of course, there are the Feds. A made guy that would buy many large ticket items will attract the attention of the Feds. His finances may be closely examined. Does he have enough legitimate businesses to explain his piles of cash, if not, that could be a real problem. It's not easy doin' business when you got cars followin' you day and night. Cabiche?

Mr. D.

You just need a Babe around to keep the freeloaders away! Of course, Babes ain't cheap...

<Angelita hints that Todd needs to go settle up with her hairdresser>



So you and Paulie just get to argue it out if you get the retroactive add...

Oh, what about the cummulative schemes per week question?

The Good Earner feat is not cumulative to schemes. It's just +1 per scheme.

Mr. D.

Um, not quite what we were asking...

To rephrase:

Once you have 10 wealth, you have to get +11 wealth in a lump sum to go to 11 wealth. Do you have to get all +11 wealth in one week from one scheme, or can it be an aggregate of several schemes, as long as all the money is earned in one week?

Thankfully except for a little that got me started, the rest is legit. And I dont buy lots of thing, though the few i do buy are of the blacker nature. Needless to say those are a bit more descreet. Good to know though that it is a strait add.

Ah, now I get it! You can add all your schemes for the week, but your GM must determine which, if any, are "straight adds". At minimum, you should be able to add them all up in the most beneficial way. In other words, if you had a group of schemes that paid the following: 4, 6, 7 and 5. You would want to start with the 7 and the other schemes, at minimum, should increase the 7 to 8, 9 and then 10. Now, let's say your GM determines that the "5" is a straight add, then you'd start with the 7, the 4 and 6 increase the wealth score by 1 each, bringing it to 9. The 5 would then be a straight add to 14.

It all depends upon your GM and your schemes. Certain schemes, like the Hub Cap recycling scheme, probably won't increased, but certainly the DVD bootleg operation might expand. Your GM might require you to expand it each level, add employees, extra expenses and extra rolls. Each scheme is also going to take up time, so a PC can only have so many.

At some point, at higher levels, the PC's will need to either sell off schemes, expand them or pass them onto underlings, reducing the workload and payoff, but virtually assuring income that is risk free.

Another way to do it is to take a weekly scheme that is not increasing your character's wealth and combine it into a monthly payment that does. Then you can return to a weekly payment should your Wealth drop below 10. Eventually, these monthly payments could be combined into a quarterly payment if the PC's Wealth goes over, say, 20 and yearly if it goes over 30.

Sounds like I might need to expand the scheme rules for the next book.

Mr. D.

Lol, yep! We need more schemes and scheme mechanics!

So either I need to get more schemes or figure out how to expand the DVD scheme to pay enough per week so my share will give me 1 wealth/month...

I wrote up a nice chain letter scheme, I'll post it over in the New Scheme thread...