Upkeep and Other Costs

Monetary upkeep

Character upkeep1) DMG 25 is due every month, starting 1 month after the character is used/played the first time. The cost cannot be paid early, since it must be based on character level. Make sure to have gold ready on the due date!

Failure to pay

A character who fails to pay upkeep cannot gain XP until payments resume.2) In the rules, it is nebulous as to what happens when a character can't pay upkeep. This feels like an appropriate ruling. A loan can be taken to pay for upkeep.

Multi-class and dual-class characters

Multi-class and dual-class characters pay upkeep as per their highest class level.

Infection checks

See Infection Checks.

Loans, converting coinage, and other costs

See loans, moneychangers, and selling treasure.

Inactive characters

A character who has not taken any game action for one month will not accumulate any additional upkeep or infection checks past the first month. If any action is taken during a month, full upkeep is owed. This includes travel, interaction with NPC contacts, casting spells, and anything else that is prohibited during bedrest. Loans, domain costs, and hireling/henchmen costs do not pause.Ex3) This is technically not a rules extension, since DMG 25 says costs can be reduced according to prevailing circumstances as long as doing so does not give rise to excess funds in the campaign. Here's why we use this rule: With 0 HP bedrest, training, and travel, characters are going to be unavailable for adventuring for strings of game days right from the start of the campaign. This means that wise players will activate additional characters from their stable so as to not need to wait around for the busy characters to adventure again. Time is perhaps the most valuable resource in AD&D. Activating other characters is good. But sometimes many are activated to fill in for a particularly large deficit of adventure-ready characters. Or one player might end up with a disproportionate number of activated characters because a certain class is needed and only one player has that class. Campaigns can also run into situations where some players are more forthcoming with activating new characters than other players. The stress of being on the hook for 3+ characters' upkeep is counterintuitive to the goal of character stables. DMs want to encourage the use of multiple characters, not add undue stress.

Player absence for personal well-being

If a player is returning from an absence they took for reasons of personal well-being, family, health, and so on, the DM should negate all upkeep, loans, domain costs, and any other such charges for that period. (Assuming the player lets the DM know upon their return – DMs do not have ESP medallions.) Without life, there is no gaming.