[thirdkingdom]

There is one houserule I use that deserves its own post: the XP reserve. This is a concept I have borrowed from the Adventurer, Conqueror, King System (ACKS) another quite lovely retro-clone. The basic premise is that life, especially at low levels, is often short but the loot is often great. And since gold equals XP, characters often have much more gold than they know what to do with it.

Therefore, a character may spend their loot on frivolous, trivial things and gain a reserve of XP equal to 90% of their expenditure towards a new character (in the event their current character dies). So, assume a character decides to spend 1,000 gold building a statue of themselves at the site of a victory they have achieved. Said character would gain 900 XP towards their reserve. If the character is killed thereafter, a new character the player creates would start with 900 XP.

The expenditures can be really for anything that doesn't help the PC in game. One player in a game I am currently in spent a bunch of gold having murals of the parties exploits painted around a city. Another simply donates a certain amount to the "orphans and widows" fund. My character has invested in a spicy ethnic restaurant. Basically, be creative.