Luxuries

Let's begin with an example to give you a sense of what this is all about:


 * Example: Raistlin's luxury is "researching immortality" and he is now heavy in debt with a shadowy cabal of necromancers: 500 gold. Since 500 gp roughly corresponds to what a 8th level item costs, we'll say a 500 gp luxury like this could trigger an 8th level assassin sent by the cabal, or introduce the team to an 8th level adventure, or any other development appropriate for one or more 8th level characters.

The core motivation for the changes is to make temptation a key theme of the campaign. It simply is interesting if one character skims off the top while another is trying to stay on the straight road. It is also a common trope of stories involving detectives and criminals.

For this to work, we can't use the default assumption of Pathfinder 2, namely that in order to survive you must be greedy and loot all gold you see, and also to be willing to spend most of it on upgrading your magic weapons. What we want is instead the choice to accept bribes, steal seized assets etc to be an actual real choice. You must be able to choose to do it just as easily as to not do it, otherwise it isn't a choice, just the illusion of choice.

So gold can't purchase magic items. (If it could, it would be unreasonable to expect you to spend gold on anything else) Don't worry, the campaign gives you the gear you need through three other mechanisms: Contraband, Crafting and Requisitioning! But gold needs to do something worthwhile, so it doesn't feel worthless. My answer is Luxuries. That is, you "invest" your gold in Luxuries and get rewarded with story progress and adventures personalized to your character.

Definition
By luxuries we mean any character backstory development(s) you like but focused on weaknesses, vices or excesses: displays of material wealth, greasing wheels, getting investigations off your back, a luxurious home, sustaining a drug habit, getting into bar fights, maintaining an expensive mistress, and so on.

Examples
Think of luxuries as a way for you to tell the GM what themes you want for the stories focused on your character.


 * So one example suitable for a 1st level character could be "Alcoholism 15 gp". You have spent 15 gp on booze, and everything around it. 15 gp is appropriate for level 1 encounters and challenges. As you continue adventuring, you might spend another 15 gp on your chosen Luxury. Since your total now is 30 gp, this signals you are ready for level 2 challenges. One such challenge could be that you're hitting on somebody else's wife, taking her out to drinks, and now the furious level 2 husband shows up to beat the crap out of you.


 * A second example is "Alchemy experiments 90 gp", where you're driven by intense curiosity in creating new mixtures. However your partner - the actual alchemist - Yamina suddenly disappears. Turns out she accidentally infused herself with aberrant matter and panicked and went into hiding. You can track her down by the trail of corpses but what will you do then? She's adamant all her kills were accidental! Will you help her find a cure, or arrange for her to leave the city (which could be expensive), or at least re-base her in somebody else's watch district? Alternatively, you might put your own life on the line by trying to kill her, but then you need to also make any witnesses disappear. And finally, if you arrest her, can you trust her to not reveal your own involvement...?


 * To take an example suitable for a character who doesn't consider herself greedy or selfish: "The orphanage 50 gp". That is, a luxury that isn't a personal weakness in itself, but might give you one. For example, this could lead to you getting blackmailed: "secure the release of Olaf the Black or I'll burn down the orphanage!" to give you motivation to become compromised without being a "bad person". Of course, this doesn't mean your character needs to be pure of heart, and this doesn't mean you're playing in a classical fantasy do-gooder campaign. The same luxury might instead result in confrontation with the local Calistria temple, trying to recruit "your" orphans as sacred temple prostitutes. How you handle of these developments is up to you, all that "50 gp" means is that the challenge is suitable for 3rd level.

You are encouraged to help the GM inventing key details about the luxuries you choose.

As noted below you don't have to worry about choosing the "wrong" luxury. I don't intend to saddle drug addicts with game penalties. Luxuries drives the narrative, and there is no wrong choice. However, luxuries that represent recreational activities (drinking, gambling, etc) are the easiest ones to play, simply because it is easy to to see you indulging in them in order to gain more Hero Points.

How you "build" luxuries
You simply spend your money.

If you first spend 15 gp on "alcoholism" and then spend another 15 gp on the same luxury, write down "alcoholism 30 gp".

Important note: I don't care whether the luxury is an investment or an expenditure. Obviously "luxurious party villa 1000 gp" is something you could sell while "frequent visitor to Green Moon, Elf enclave opium den 1000 gp" isn't. But this isn't about making profit. So whether the number has a plus sign or a minus sign doesn't matter. Write 1000 gp or -1000 gp however you like. See the talk page and the discussion around "luxury points" for more on this.

Limitations
None really.

You can have more than one luxury. One reason is simply for variety. Another is to avoid a single luxury to become too dangerous. Do try to maintain only luxuries you really want to spawn adventures, since that's what they're for.


 * "Blood sports 4000 gp" might be too much for a level 10 hero. In that case "blood sports 2500 gp" and "gambling addiction 1500 gp" might feel more practical. Instead of a level 14 gladiator coming your way, you might face a level 13 gladiator in cahoots with a level 11 loan shark.

You can "retrain" luxuries. Meaning that if you tire of your current luxury, "reinvest" that gold in another. Instead of "blackmailing city officials 100 gp" you might change this to "gambling debts 100 gp" or vice versa. A good time to be doing changes is during Retraining (i.e. between levels). Do be sure to remind the GM when you change luxuries this way, and please allow the GM some time to come up with a good story for your new luxury.

In-game Effects
The chief reason for luxuries is to let you roleplay temptation and corruption. That is, give you a reason to play a character greedy for something (whether fame, riches, or just feeling something).

The next most important effect is to be rewarded with personalized motivations and stories.


 * Instead of just saving some random girl, your alcoholism might have driven your wife Ginny (a NPCs you created in order to claim free feats) to leave you. But now they're taken Ginny and the children hostage at the dumpy lodging house where they live, and you need to come get them, all while you're tormented with guilt since it was "your fault" they left the safety of your home.

The third significant game effect revolves around Hero points (Mayra). Basically you're encouraged to always desire to indulge in your Luxuries simply because that's how you gain more Hero Points during a scenario. This makes the campaign support the trope where the hero suddenly breaks of his mission to instead visit a booze shop or brothel.

It is worthwhile to note the absence of one possible effect: no penalties. Luxuries aren't intended to penalize player characters. You don't get Stupified or Clumsy conditions for drinking on the job, for example. The campaign is expected to end well before an addiction or disease prevents you from doing your job as a cop. This means you get to choose any Luxury you want without having to worry about in-game penalties.