Managing PC Wealth     In Legends, the capabilities of a PC are not as directly correlated to their wealth as in some other systems, but wealth remains an important part of how they relate to the world at any tier. In general, the evolution of an adventuring party's finances will follow this process:

    -New and moderately experienced adventurers (15-300 XP Net Worth) are still rounding out their inventories and purchasing necessary equipment. Upgrades are significant, losses of equipment are quite painful, and a party must decide carefully how many consumable resources to spend on any given quest. Communal purchases (such as a party vehicle) are carefully considered, and not normally a large portion of the party's expenditures. Equipment upgrades are comparable in importance to Ability progression; purchases are a tool used to make one's Abilities effective.

    -Highly experienced adventurers (300-600 XP Net Worth) are approaching the end of their potential upgrades, except for those who specialize in devices. Losses of equipment are inconvenient, but possible to replace, especially if the party assists each other. The party may begin significant communal purchases (such a ship, base upgrades, or a better vehicle). Individual characters may begin saving for certain LP Elements or ambitious purchases; vehicle specialists often obtain personal vehicles at this stage. Ability progression has overtaken equipment upgrades in importance, but can still be sabotaged if one neglects one's inventory.

    -Extremely experienced adventurers (above 600 XP Net Worth) have essentially exhausted their options for personal equipment purchases. Coin is consumed by investments outside one's personal inventory; the party may gain a fleet of ships, one extremely powerful ship, or an advanced base. Anything not spent on this infrastructure is saved for LP Elements or emergencies. Personal equipment losses are easily replaced. Crew pay and vehicle volatite may be the largest "consumable" expenditures. Ability progression has completely eclipsed equipment upgrades when it comes to personal power, but the party's wealth is now a major part of the campaign's "background."

Expected Earnings & Net Worth    It is often necessary to know the average coin net worth of adventurers of a given experience level, both to keep quest rewards reasonable and to determine the wealth of replacement characters. The following chart provides a guideline (which can also be taken as a rough in-setting statistical average), and is not intended to be adhered to strictly; many characters are more or less wealthy than the average, depending on the quirks of the campaign and their individual history of pay and experience.
    For unlisted XP Net Worths, extrapolate between the given values; wealth increases are linear between any two closest values.

XP Net Worth3060180300450600800100013001600
Average coin net worth1502,50012,00032,00090,000220,000700,0001,700,0005,500,00013,000,000

    Sometimes, it may be useful to know the expected coin reward for a given amount of XP - for example, when determining the total value of loot that should be obtained from a quest. These numbers are typically easier for you to track; you always know how much loot and XP you're handing out, but you may not always have time to check the net worth of a player's inventory. Like the previous chart, this one should not be adhered to slavishly - it can simply assist in knowing if your overall trend of coin-per-XP is close to expectations.
    Note that the net worth chart gives numbers around 20% lower than would be expected from this chart; this is because some income is expected to be lost to consumable resources and equipment losses. Also note that the rate of coin to XP accelerates at the thresholds of XP minimum reward; this is because minimum reward results in some characters being paid for tasks that may not actually give them XP (do not include XP lost to minimum reward rules when considering this chart). Other increases are due to more-experienced characters being capable of higher-paying tasks.

XP Net Worth30-6060-180180-300300-450450-600600-800800-10001000-13001300-1600
Average coin per 1 XP801002005001,1003,0006,25016,00032,000

    Both of these charts pertain to characters (such as PCs) who gain their XP through high-paying enterprises such as adventuring. They do not apply to people of far different professions, such as ship crew.


Help! My PCs Are Too Poor!    First, how far below the expected net worth is your players' party? If it's not a significant difference, it's likely not worth worrying too much over; these are just imprecise averages, as discussed above.
    Assuming the difference is more substantial: As with all balance issues, problems and solutions should be identified via in-setting realism, not strict adherence to a gaming chart. If your players have been engaging in fairly standard adventuring activity (such as ruin diving or beast hunts) and are still drastically under-moneyed, you likely have a mistake to correct. But if the PCs have been purposely choosing low-paying jobs, giving away their riches to charity, wantonly wasting launcher ammunition, or otherwise compromising their coin, that's their choice. You should not rob them of proper agency and consequences by contriving a "correction" to their wealth. Instead, you might look into other forms of compensation, if appropriate. For example, if they lack funds due to charitable contributions or volunteer jobs, they might gain a positive reputation or beneficial connections.
    If you do decide you have a problem to fix, the fix is fortunately very easy. You control the world; simply offer the party more lucrative jobs or fortunate finds. It's also possible that the players don't actually know that their PCs are poorer than most comparable adventurers; offer this knowledge, either in-character or out-of-character, and make sure higher-paying opportunities are noticed.

Help! My PCs Are Too Rich!    Assuming the excessive net worth of your party is truly excessive, this can be a harder problem to fix than the too-poor party. Players are likely to notice and resent a sudden and jarring lack of paying jobs, or a series of unfortunate losses. Again, realism is your friend: How would the world likely react to a party perceived as too well-off for their experience level? Gossiping masses might bump their reputation type to Impersonal or even Comical. Bandits, pirates, or rival parties might be drawn to their riches in a less-than-friendly fashion. Charities might accost the party with their donation boxes. Employers savvy about observing adventurers' equipment might mistake the party as being more experienced than they are, leading to a series of too-difficult jobs.
    If the excess is less drastic, or if the issue was a result of a GMing mistake rather than party choices, a gentler touch will likely fix it. Simply offer the party some compelling jobs that don't necessarily pay as well as previous ones; allow the party to gain experience until their XP Net Worth is a more even match with their inventory.

Character Death & Party Wealth    Character death can disrupt whatever finely-tuned balance you've managed to achieve in the party's net worth. Rare is the PC who has arranged for their equipment and coin to be inherited by someone outside the party, and rarely is there any means of compelling a party to deliver it even if they did. Thus the fallen PC's inventory is almost always picked up by the other characters, increasing the party's relative riches. Simply reducing the wealth of the player's incoming replacement character can feel unfair and contrived, and is not recommended; surviving PCs rarely have any in-character reason to give the old PC's riches to the new one, and the loss of specialized equipment can feel like a tremendous loss to the player who is already dealing with the travails of introducing a new character.
    To deal with this problem, first consider that there may not be a problem at all. A PC death (or worse, a string of them) can be devastating to the party's morale, job prospects, and reputation. The discouragement may be felt out-of-character as well. A bit of financial recovery can soften the blow, especially for low-tier parties.
    When PC death really does result in a wealth issue, the general tips above for a too-rich party can apply. But the death of an adventurer presents additional in-character possibilities for interesting consequences. The question of inheritance tax is already a contentious issue in Lur-Asko politics, and it is well-known that adventurers typically evade even the possibility of such taxation. What may become of the party who is perceived as owing their wealth to the deaths of their friends? Do litigious relatives of the fallen see an opportunity for gain? Do local governments or even the Opened Hand see the situation as ripe for political exploitation? These consequences are particularly warranted for high-tier characters, who may be leaving behind wealth of truly enormous proportions (from a commoner's perspective).
    Likewise worth mentioning for high-tier parties is the fate of group property. Does the sudden reduction in group crew leadership result in the loss of a ship or a base, or at least difficulties in management? Do similarly wealthy rivals see an opportunity to act, in either physical or social conflict? Answering these questions creatively is a much more interesting solution than any "instant" fix.
    In the event that a PC did make in-character arrangements for someone outside the party to inherit their wealth, it can be a good idea to reward their player. If the surviving PCs participate in distributing the wealth to the fallen PC's loved ones or other beneficiaries, this can make for great roleplaying worthy of DP rewards; simply allow the replacement PC to gain such a reward as well.
    In the unfortunate opposite event that players are recklessly sacrificing their characters because they've become aware of the effect on the party's wealth: such an issue is a much larger problem. It's a significant misunderstanding of the game and a serious breach of the rule against metagaming (see Roleplaying), and it merits immediate discussion with the group. A character remarking to his friends that he'd like his sword to be put to good use if he falls in the coming battle is a great in-character roleplaying moment; a group consciously gaming the system out-of-character is not.