What do I do about no treasure encounters?

Question

With the theme of my campaign I chose a number of monsters from the lowest CR to about CR 5 to fight against my players. After finishing a couple of other preparations I reread the monsters that I chose and noticed that majority of the foes had no treasure on them the few that have treasure only have incidental treasure. Those with standard treasure are CR 4 and above.

I think consecutive encounters with little to no treasure may annoy or even anger my players. I want to stick with the monsters I chose so what would be a good way for them to get wealth? Should I just go with "Oh,the monsters dropped 250GP." even though the monsters aren't supposed to have money on them?

Answer 1

They don't have to be no treasure

There's ways to do things like this without inexplicably giving the monsters wealth. Here's a few:

Location, Location, Location

In the module Ruins of Myth Drannor for 3.0 there's a small dungeon sequence in which almost none of the enemies have treasure. Thankfully, the dungeon itself is full of valuables! Consider having the monsters guarding, or perhaps maintaining lairs, near non-gold valuables that can be converted to wealth - such as, for example, gems, paintings, rare materials (such as ironwood), expensive tools, etc.

Supply and Demand

Maybe the creatures themselves can be valuable! A gourmet chef nearby has a bounty on the beasts - he's experimenting with a new recipe. Maybe the local military wants someone to turn in hides, ears, etc as proof that they're fighting an infestation and will pay well to do so. A local wizard wants live specimens for his experiments, or other things of that nature.

Increased Wealth Later

Do these creatures serve a master? Perhaps he's trained them to bring valuables to him and as a result has higher wealth than his CR might suggest. Your players could even encounter some of the creatures en route, still carrying valuables that they can loot. Alternately, grateful townspeople could offer them rewards or discounts on their goods that could simulate higher wealth through lower prices. Monster Manual V explicitly notes in several of its monster entries (under the Treasure heading) that while the creature in question does not care for wealth or hoard any, they serve masters which are more wealthy and successful as a result of commanding such dread beasts.

Answer 2

I can think of a few ways to grant the players profit from monsters which are listed without any treasure:

• Other adventurers, unlucky travellers or the like have fallen victim to the monster and their stuff is lying around together with their remains.
• An old and strangely detailed drawing on the wall in the dead monsters lair looks like it could possibly be a treasure map.
• Eleven zombie eyes, dried and ground to powder, is a valuable spell component for enhancing animate dead spells. Or you can cut tobacco with this powder and get a dreadful high.
• The local sheriff office hands out a profitable bounty upon inspecting the proof that monster x is dead.
• The local lord has promised land and/or title to those who can rid the his area of that thing which has been eating livestock up near the forest.
• The goblin falls to his knees pleading that if you spare his life, he'll take you to a vast treasure...!