So I was looking at Cityscape last night, specifically the section on traditional prices within a city. Be it from eating out to paying the rent the book had a solid system for all of them and this got me thinking to how your standard npc might go about attempting to get rich (without climbing down into dungeons or fighting dragons...). Partially this was sprung from my own campaign setting which takes a closer look at the role of economics in D&D, but from here let me present my sample squad of rich npcs.
Ribeye Jones: Male Middle-Aged Human Urban Adept 1; CR 1/2; Medium Humanoid (human); HD 1d6+0; hp 6; Init +0; Spd 30 ft.; AC 10, touch 10, flat-footed 10; Base Atk +0; Grp +0; Atk -2 melee (1d6+0/x2, 10ft.; club); SQ Domain (Commerce); AL LN; SV Fort +0, Ref +0, Will +3; Str 10, Dex 10, Con 10, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 12.
Skills and Feats: Appraise +5 (4 ranks +1 int), Craft (Culinary) +5 (4 ranks +1 int), Knowledge (Local) +5 (4 ranks +1 int), Profession (Restaurant Owner) +21 (4 ranks +1 wis +3 skill focus +2 masterwork tool +10 commerce domain +1 specialized) and Read/Write/Speak (Common and Elven); Favored in House, Mercantile Background and Skill Focus (Profession: Restaurant Owner).
Traits and Flaws: Specialized (Profession: Restaurant Owner); Non-combatant
Spells per Day: 3 0-level spells per day; 2 1st-level spells per day
Spells Typically Prepared: 0-level: Mending, Purify Food & Drink and Read Magic; 1st-level: Charm Person and Comprehend Languages.
Equipment: Business Ledger (Masterwork Tool for Profession; $50 gp)
Variants: Urban Adept
Ribeye Jones is your standard business man within any larger city. He has only one real goal, profit, and at a very base level he does it well without the assistance of spells or magical trinkets. He earns his living through pure work, a capitalistic dream machine. Working Monday through Friday, he allows himself two days or rest. And what is Ribeye Jones able to afford, or in another way, how lucrative a life does he live?
Average Earnings per Week: +21 + taking ten = 31 / 2 = 15 x 2 = 30 gp
Well going off this standard prices listed in Cityscape and breaking down Ribeye Jones' income to a weekly approach he affords such an existence.
Weekly Income ($30 gp; $20 gp spent - $10 gp left)
Living: A large apartment ($7.5 gp)
Food: Two common meals and a fancy meal every night ($7 gp & 21 cp)
Entertainment: Once per week he attends the Opera! (1 gp)
Service: A butler (expert 1) (4.2 gp)
So all together he's paying around $20 gp per week which leaves him $10 gp over to invest into further projects. For example it will take him about 15 months to pay off the loan from the bank for his low-scale restaurant (which he'll than own), after wards he'll save up & finally pay-off the loan for his average-scale restaurant in 12 years. So as he can see Ribeye Jones isn't without needs, he still depends on loans & such, but for all intents in purposes he isn't living an awful existence.
Reginald Comberbatch the Third: Male Middle-Aged Human Aristocrat 1/Adept 1; CR 1; Medium Humanoid (human); HD 1d8+0/1d6+0; hp 12; Init +0; Spd 30 ft.; AC 10, touch 10, flat-footed 10; Base Atk +0; Grp +0; Atk -2 melee (1d6+/x2, 10ft.; club); SQ Domain (Commerce); AL LN; SV Fort +0, Ref +0, Will +5; Str 10, Dex 10, Con 10, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 12.
Skills and Feats: Appraise +5 (4 ranks +1 int), Craft (Wordsmithing) +10 (4 ranks +1 int +2 masterwork tool +3 skill focus), Diplomacy +8 (4 ranks +1 cha +2 masterwork tool), Knowledge (Local) +5 (4 ranks +1 int), Knowledge (Nobility & Royalty) +5 (4 ranks +1 int), Perform (Oratory) +10 (4 ranks +1 cha +3 skill focus +2 masterwork tool), Profession (Theatrical Director) +21 (4 ranks +1 wis +10 commerce bonus +1 specialized +3 skill focus +2 masterwork tool) and Read/Write/Speak (Common and Elven); Favored (Performer's Guild), Skill Focus (Craft: Wordsmithing), Skill Focus (Perform: Oratory) and Skill Focus (Profession: Theatrical Director).
Traits and Flaws: Specialized (Profession: Theatrical Director); Noncombatant and Shaky
Spells per Day: 3 0-level spells per day; 2 1st-level spells per day
Spells Typically Prepared: 0-level: Mending, Purify Food & Drink and Read Magic; 1st-level: Charm Person and Comprehend Languages.
EquipmentVariants: Urban Adept
Reginald Comberbatch the Third is excessively rich, beyond his needs, and is the next step up, he is going to be doing far better than Ribeye Jones and for all reasons he should. Reginald is a celebrity, the equivalent of our George Clooney, and in any large city he lives with great ease. Through membership in the performer's guild (Cityscape pg. 90), which entitles him to gaining double his income from any performance or profession check (as long as they relate to performing/the arts), he pulls in a nice income. He works five days a week directing theatrical productions and in those evenings he performs at stage houses.
Average Earnings per Week: $550 gp
Craft (Wordsmithing): 20 (which means an Epic) = $500 gp; +10 + taking ten
Perform: 20 = 2 gp per day = 10 gp per week x2 = 20 gp per week; +10 + taking ten
Profession: 31 = 15 gp per week x2 = 30 gp per week; +21 + taking ten
Weekly Income ($550 gp; $191 spent - $359 gp left)
Living: Noble Villa ($25 gp)
Food: Three fancy meals every day with a fancy bottle of wine for five of those nights ($71 gp)
Entertainment: Twice per week he attends the Opera! & afterward a night of fancy drinking (64 gp)
Service: Three Butlers (Expert 1) (13 gp)
As seen Reginald is living the life, perhaps even better than most adventures by all measures of comparison (after all he isn't hunted down by any Blackguards or Hydras...)
So hopefully through this exercise I have shown that your next character should stop adventuring all together and go into the wild world of stable work!