^{Originally published on Sidekickcast.com January 26, 2016}

While most fantasy fiction limits magic use to the main characters, fantasy RPGs have a whole economy built up around them. A default RPG setting assumes that the PCs are one of many heroes, which means towns are likely to hold retired spellcasters who might provide services or even sell magic items to younger heroes.

None of this magic economy really benefits the commonfolk, unfortunately. If a typical peasant makes only two silver pieces a day, he has to save up for a couple of months to even afford a simple cure light wounds spell, let alone something that could cure diseases or raise the dead.

The fantasy one-percenters, however, have a lot of fun options out there. Here are a few things somebody with lots of cash can accomplish in a typical fantasy RPG. I’m using Pathfinder 1st edition as the rules default here, but most of these options exist in similar games as well.

Journey Through Space for About 10,000 gp

Do you want to explore the final frontier? You can potentially teleport anywhere in the universe for about 10,000 gold pieces. This requires three things: a necklace of adaptation, a major city that has a high-level spellcaster, and the desire to walk on the moon (or whatever celestial body floats your boat).

The necklace of adaptation can be purchased for 9,000 gold. Since this is well under the 16,000 gold limit for items available in a metropolis, you have about a 75% chance per week of finding one on the open market. This creates a shell of air around you that basically serves as your own personal atmosphere – you are immune to poison gas, can travel safely underwater, and can survive in a vacuum.

From there, you need to find a spellcaster capable of casting greater teleport. Again, a typical metropolis should have such a magic-user willing to peddle his services for a mere 910 gold. This spell allows you to travel anywhere in the known universe with perfect accuracy.

Now, for greater teleport to work effectively, you need to have a reliable description of the area. If you don’t have that, don’t worry – for another 910 gold, you can have that wizard cast greater scrying, which allows magical spying on any creature at any distance. Even if the thing from outer space makes its saving throw, the wizard can scope out the surroundings well enough for the teleportation effect to work.

Congratulations – you are now a space traveler! Using the wealth by level guidelines found in Pathfinder’s Core Rulebook, you can accomplish this as early as 5^th level! Of course, in that case you’re probably vastly underequipped for the otherworldly horrors that certainly wait for you in those distant worlds. If you thought a trip through goblin-infested woods was hazardous, remember that the Great Old Ones sleep among the stars.

Make Friends with Druids to Live Forever

There are lots of ways to come back from the dead in a typical fantasy RPG, but there are also limits. Generally speaking, you can come back from a traumatic death with the right combination of diamonds and miracle-weaving clerics, but old age is harder to thwart. Even a true resurrection spell can’t bring back somebody whose time is up. However, a certain 4^th-level druid spell can.

The reincarnate spell is a 4^th-level druid spell that creates a new young body for you, so old age isn’t a factor. It requires 1,000 gp of material components, but is still way cheaper than the 5,000 gp diamond needed for a raise dead spell. You don’t have control over the body you are reborn into, so there is a chance you wind up coming back as a troglodyte or a kobold. But hey – if you’ve got the money, a druid you can trust, and a way to remove the negative levels you gain, just keep killing yourself and coming back until you find a form you like!

This trick doesn’t work as well in old-school games, though. Reincarnation is still an option there, but the tables are expanded to include non-humanoid options. So if you die and get reincarnated, you might wind up coming back as a snow owl or a badger instead of something with opposable thumbs.

Get Total Recall for 400 gp a Pop

Are you preparing for an important meeting with a major noble but you just can’t remember your talking points? Or maybe you just broke up with somebody and really want to believe that you dumped her and not the other way around? Good news! With the help of a 4^th-level bard spell, we can remember it for you wholesale!

Modify memory allows you to alter up to five minutes of one person’s memory. You can use it to erase a memory, cause the subject to recall the memory with perfect clarity, change the details of that memory, or even implant a new one.

Hiring a bard to cast this spell will run you 400 gp. The downside is that you only get to change those five minutes, but remember that one minor detail can change a whole lot about everything that comes later. I mean, just look at what happened when George Lucas cast modify memory to make us think that Greedo shot first.

There might not be much of a middle class in modern America, but at least we aren’t as bad as generic fantasy RPG settings. Over there, the peasantry manages to scrape together two lousy coins after a day of backbreaking work, while the super-rich can travel space and set up elaborate contingencies that will keep them alive until the heat death of the universe. If they’re really petty, they can even rob a commoner of his two silver pieces and then use modify memory to make the poor peasant think he donated his day’s wages to charity.

_{Images: Paizo, Inc.}