I notice that the Curse of the Crimson Throne is intended to be an urban campaign for the first few adventures. How are you guys at Paizo planning on dealing with the wealth problem that fighting lots of NPCs seem to cause?
For those that may not understand what I am saying, when you fight classed humanoids, they generally have higher than normal wealth for their CR as they need the magic and equipment to make them a challenge. As a result, when you have a lot of battles involving classed humanoids the PC's can end up with higher wealth levels than normal. This in turn can make them stronger in combat. The DM can then run into problems trying to fix the problem.
There are a couple of solutions that I thought of, but these can have their own problems. You can up the difficulty of encounters, pitting the PC's against higher CR opponents. However, this increases the rate at which PC's advance in level, which the DM might not want.
You can reduce the amount of treasure that PC's get from the non-NPC fights. This could result in frustrated PC's as the fight a number of combats for little to no monetary reward.
You can reduce the amount of treasure and/or equipment that classed humanoids have on them. This can make them a bit of a walkover though as they often need equipment to provide an adequete challenge for the PC's.
Olaf the Stout
I don't think NPCs really "need" that much equipment at low levels (up to about 4 or so). But there are still a few options.
You could give the NPCs most of their "wealth" in potions / scrolls, that they consume before battling the PCs.
You could just equip the NPCs with minimal equipment, and lower their CR. (Eg 3rd Level Human Fighter is now a CR 2)
Just give them "pseudo" magic gear (tattoos etc) that act as Magic Items. (eg Instead of Gauntlets of Ogre Strength, a tattoo of Ogre Strength)
Just up their stats to compensate. (maybe 28 point buy instead of "elite" array)
Use Monstrous Humanoids (Bugbears etc). You could even use the stats for a Bugbear, but describe them as humans.
Any of those would work, and I suspect the Paizo guys will use a combination of all of them, depending on the situation.
You could always have the town guard show up after fights, taking posession of the bodies. Mind you, you shouldn't do this more than a couple of times though.
imo, this is the key. I cannot imagine any setting where city residents would simply allow corpse looting. At the least the guards would confiscate, and more than likely the next of kin as Zoot mentioned.
Don't the dead NPC's have surviving relatives? Shouldn't the deceased's belongings go to their next of kin? Perhaps it is a crime to loot the corpses?
I am personally hoping that Curse of the Crimson Throne is a little like Game of Thrones. More intrigue and roleplay with combat encounters fewer and farther between. When combat does occur, it would be nice if it was nonlethal. Fun adventures could include burglary (justified of course), espionage, abduction (for interrogation), sabotage and bodyguard work. None of these need to involve killing enemies and taking their stuff, and all of them could provide level appropriate rewards. In fact, if the political climate is setup properly, killing enemies in any of the example adventures above could have grave consequences (i.e. sidebars of 'punishment' encounters from factions seeking revenge, criminal charges, refusal of payment from patrons, etc).
I am personally hoping that Curse of the Crimson Throne is a little like Game of Thrones. More intrigue and roleplay with combat encounters fewer and farther between. When combat does occur, it would be nice if it was nonlethal. Fun adventures could include burglary (justified of course), espionage, abduction (for interrogation), sabotage and bodyguard work. None of these need to involve killing enemies and taking their stuff, and all of them could provide level appropriate rewards. In fact, if the political climate is setup properly, killing enemies in any of the example adventures above could have grave consequences (i.e. sidebars of 'punishment' encounters from factions seeking revenge, criminal charges, refusal of payment from patrons, etc).
That would have been incredibly awesome. I'm all for more non-combat encounters and XP awards for accomplishing goals.
I am personally hoping that Curse of the Crimson Throne is a little like Game of Thrones. More intrigue and roleplay with combat encounters fewer and farther between. When combat does occur, it would be nice if it was nonlethal. Fun adventures could include burglary (justified of course), espionage, abduction (for interrogation), sabotage and bodyguard work. None of these need to involve killing enemies and taking their stuff, and all of them could provide level appropriate rewards. In fact, if the political climate is setup properly, killing enemies in any of the example adventures above could have grave consequences (i.e. sidebars of 'punishment' encounters from factions seeking revenge, criminal charges, refusal of payment from patrons, etc).
The first installment definitely takes a few nods from Braavos, and even more from Camorr (and if you haven't yet read "The Lies of Locke Lamora" it's delicious).
And yes...intrigue abounds in Edge of Anarchy...I FINALLY finished the manuscript and sent it in last week...there is much urban madness and back-stabbery, and the PCs get hip deep in murky politics pretty quickly.
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The first installment definitely takes a few nods from Braavos, and even more from Camorr (and if you haven't yet read "The Lies of Locke Lamora" it's delicious).
And yes...intrigue abounds in Edge of Anarchy...I FINALLY finished the manuscript and sent it in last week...there is much urban madness and back-stabbery, and the PCs get hip deep in murky politics pretty quickly.
I'm 2/3 of the way through 'locke lamora' - this might make me go back to it and finish it in Dec
I, for one, relish opportunities to have players earn experience through engaging roleplaying instead of bottlenecked through combat only.
I'm 2/3 of the way through 'locke lamora' - this might make me go back to it and finish it in DecThe first installment definitely takes a few nods from Braavos, and even more from Camorr (and if you haven't yet read "The Lies of Locke Lamora" it's delicious).
And yes...intrigue abounds in Edge of Anarchy...I FINALLY finished the manuscript and sent it in last week...there is much urban madness and back-stabbery, and the PCs get hip deep in murky politics pretty quickly.
Lies is well worth the read, the sequel isn't as good, but still entertaining.