Wealth Levels for PCs

[behemoth]

I need some more advice. :)

I have been advancing the CR of most of the encounters of AoW so far (we are currently in the middle of A Gathering of Winds) due to the fact that we started with 6 PCs and at one point had a cohort as well). I admit I goofed on a quite a few of the CR advancements, but I feel I am getting better at it.

The one thing I know I failed to do was increase the treasure levels as well. It really hasn't hurt the party when it comes to their ability to deal damage, but I know a couple of them have mentioned in passing that they haven't really got any cool magic items/treasure.

I know there is a chart in the DMG detailing the approximate wealth of a PC by level. How do I audit the characters to see where they are in comparison? they may have spent money on potions, scrolls, etc so I am unsure if I should not worry about that and simply total up the worth of any magic items, treasure they have at this moment and use that as a comparison?

Then, assuming that there is a discrepancy, should I simply start adding in random items, etc to exisitng creatures/chests?

And going forward, if the Scaling the adventure states that I should increase the treasure accordingly, where do I find guidelines/help in doing that?

Thanks

[ghettowedge]

To audit the characters' wealth just add up their current values, don't worry about any items that have already been expended.

For future encounters just upgrade the the value of treasure to the new EL as shown on p.51 of the DMG.

[ghettowedge]

Oops, and if their is a discrepency between current wealth and expected wealth, it's simple to just throw in some more treasure.

[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Worth pointing out that giving them more wealth makes them even more powerful which in turn will help them lay the smackdown on your advanced enemies. They should even come out a little more powerful then expected as advanced monsters usually are not as tough as their CR would indicate. Many powers that a monster has don't really scale up with the advance in CR. One notices this a fair amount when one looks at Animals and Vermin which are the exception to the above and scale up very nicely (mainly because they have very few abilities - they just do physical attacks).

[Hojas]

A gathering of winds also has some nice goodies for the players at the end as well :)

[David Roulston]

I have eight players in my campaign, so I've had some of the same CR balancing issues you've had. (Do I want twice as many wolves in the Whispering Cairn, or do I advance them?)

I was about halfway through WC when I realized that, like you, while I was dealing with the CR issue, I had neglectd to bump up the treasure hall.

Because I wasn't very far into the campign, I did a complete audit of my players' wealth, and I was surprised that they were fairly close to the guidlines in the DMG--although I suspect that this was due to having used the "Abandoned Mine Office" scenario to start the campign.

Since then, I have found that for my eight players I generally just double the cash and magic items. However, I enjoy getting a little creative with the additonal allotement of cash, and having to add additional magic items (always of the same power level/cost) allows me to select items that better suit the make up of the party.

With your 6 players, I would suggest that you bump up the cash by a third, add another magic item for every second magic item the party discovers.