Can any of the other DMs who have managed to make their way through the AP give me any advice on "wealth bottlenecks"? I'm talking about points where PCs are unable to have "gear appropriate to level" due to either a lack of material wealth, or an inability to change the material wealth they have into gear. I noticed Demonskar Legacy being rather sparse on raw GP equivalent loot; most of the loot was functional, but likely already possessed by most PCs at that point (Ring of Protection +2, Amulet of Mighty Fists +1, etc).
Any other bottlenecks coming up? I could see Occipitus being problematic if I wasn't using the Delvesdeep version. I can always alter loot to compensate, either value or actual item wise, but I prefer to know in advance. Something happened along the way, because even with a few gifts from NPCs, my PCs were all 10,000gp or more short of the listed gear benchmark at the end of Demonskar Legacy. That seemed a bit excessive.
I'm just starting chapter 10 with my characters. They amassed tons of magic items, worth a small fortune, but I was having problems justifying them being able to sell all that in Cauldron, as it's not that big a town.
The players ended up using a Greater Teleport spell to travel to the nearest Large city, where they were able to sell/buy/swap there goods.
As I said in the other thread, my party was feeling pretty poor and underpowered during Occipitus. Now, if anything, they're loaded for bear and we're on the tail end of Lords of Oblivion.
I think from here on out they're pretty rich.
At 11th level, my group was very under wealth guidelines and I made an adjustment. From that point forward, however, there wasn't any issue.
|
Can any of the other DMs who have managed to make their way through the AP give me any advice on "wealth bottlenecks"? I'm talking about points where PCs are unable to have "gear appropriate to level" due to either a lack of material wealth, or an inability to change the material wealth they have into gear. I noticed Demonskar Legacy being rather sparse on raw GP equivalent loot; most of the loot was functional, but likely already possessed by most PCs at that point (Ring of Protection +2, Amulet of Mighty Fists +1, etc).
Any other bottlenecks coming up? I could see Occipitus being problematic if I wasn't using the Delvesdeep version. I can always alter loot to compensate, either value or actual item wise, but I prefer to know in advance. Something happened along the way, because even with a few gifts from NPCs, my PCs were all 10,000gp or more short of the listed gear benchmark at the end of Demonskar Legacy. That seemed a bit excessive.
See my recent post in this thread that gives my perspective on things.
That being said - i agree with one poster who said to make sure they have all they need before going to Redgorge and find the rest in Vaprak's Voice - since they'll be away from their "comfort zone" for a whole chapter and a half!
Robert
I had Kaurophan offer to take them to a large planar city prior to moving on to Occipitus. He was reluctant but said that because time moves differently on other planes they should still have time should they choose to do so. Of course, my party passed this up and just went directly to occipitus... then got mad that the place of healing and equiping were just a cathedral and plain of cysts... lol.
Sean Mahoney
I have been fairly stingy in terms of wealth. Interestingly, it led the PCs (sometimes I felt it was the players) to argue about how to spend it.
As most other DMs have probably long figured out, good players make wonderful use of even a little magic, and putting the best magic items in the hands of poor players is almost a sacrilege.
My players are now 14-15th level, and I've allowed the less experienced players to have a +3 weapon. The others are fine with plus +2 or lower. No resistance cloak has more than +3, no ability enhancement more than +2. And my players still almost never die (3 deaths in almost 3 years).
Don't be too quick to load them up with magic; I think it's better to help them maximize the use of their abilities. Having said that, you know what's best for your campaign. My Skie is a marvelous negotiator who likes the PCs (though our gnome just won't give in to her amorous flirtations). She can ask for as much or as little as the DM wants to deprive the party of in return for certain items. It's a border town--who knows how easy or difficult it was for Skie to get her hands on the item.
Also, since I find the PCs level up so "quickly" in Cauldron time, Skie usually needs days or even weeks to get her hands on certain items (or find out they are unavailable)... that is, until the PC has reached a level I feel is appropriate for that kind of item!
I think my PC's are a little behind the wealth curve. They seem to be ahead of the XP curve though, which kind of offsets things a little.
At the moment they have nearly finished Flood Season and there is only 1 PC that has a magical weapon, the Rogue with a +1 Rapier. The Fighter and the Hexblade could have gotten +1 weapons by now but both opted to improve other areas like their armour first.
I don't understand what's going on with the XP though. I have 5 players in my group and despite me reducing XP awards for a number of sessions they still seem to have more XP than the hardcover expects them too. I would have thought that the extra player would have meant that they would be behind in XP but that doesn't seem to be the case.
I know that the hardcover says it is designed for 6 PC's but I thought that it was just due to the percieved difficulty of the AP. The magazines were written for 4 PC's and I didn't think there was much change between the magazines and the hardcover XP-wise, apart from the extra adventure. Sure, Drakthar's Way adds more XP in but I don't think it is that much. Anyone else having similar issues?
Olaf the Stout
|
In my campaign Koryston Pike and her father were able to order magic items for the members of the group from Sasserine, the items arrived usually after the next adventure, but they were taylored items for the different characters. Plus the group pawned many of their magic items and the other loot at Skie's. Seeing the Stormblades marker move above theirs was usually a big motivation to clear out a dungeon completely. They even organized a deal with the town guard to sell them the armor and weapons to their armory. The blacksmiths of the town were not happy to see that deal happening, but were also working for the group for special armor, weapons and shields.