Preparing to go into the mayor's villa in part 2, the adventure says that the PCs should be partway through 4th level.
All my PCs are averaging right around 4k gp spread across gold and items. The core rulebook says that halfway through 4th level, the PCs should have around 8k gp in wealth.
Was I supposed to be tossing bags of cr appropriate gold on the corpses of the several dozen humanoids that they've killed, that the module has listed with no gold? Was there something else that I've missed?
That is a good question... Not one that I have an answer to I'm afraid. My players are just beginning to stirr things up in the Bastards lair, and I have been looking through the adventure both this and the next, and it's not exactly swimming in treasure and loot, unless you choose, as my players did, to strip dead armigers of chain and weapons, snatch the horses from the prison wagon + warhorses and so on... If you do have a wee bit downtime and you have hauled everything along that wasn't nailed down, maybe you can come out with a small surplus, but only just...
So all in all, I think I may add additional treasure along the way, just to keep them happy.... :-)
This can be a bit of a problem with BoE, considering the large "story XP" awards. On the other hand, the hellknights and bastards have quite a bit of gear, so it mostly evens out. One thing you can do to increase the available treasure is to reduce the story awards and expand the "More Heroics" on pg. 33 (especially the bandits and goblins). Also, Arael can provide potions at half price, which is a tremendous boon.
The start of tST is another high XP/low treasure stretch (although with a good performance, the PCs can make a decent amount). Expect to burn through some consumables during the "full" production of the play, though.
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My party was also behind on the cash curve until the end of the 2nd module.
They did manage to catch up after ransacking the mayor's vaults and the Knot.
They also left lots of loot in the various icky waters of the knot. For better or worse, they chose not to go into the waters and do a search.
This can be a bit of a problem with BoE, considering the large "story XP" awards. On the other hand, the hellknights and bastards have quite a bit of gear, so it mostly evens out.
I chose to eliminate the story XP awards in BoE and ran another module to give them XP along with the corresponding treasure.
Otherwise, I guess I'd recommend increasing the treasure they find when they do find it so they don't end up too far behind the curve.
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This can be a bit of a problem with BoE, considering the large "story XP" awards. On the other hand, the hellknights and bastards have quite a bit of gear, so it mostly evens out.I chose to eliminate the story XP awards in BoE and ran another module to give them XP along with the corresponding treasure.
Otherwise, I guess I'd recommend increasing the treasure they find when they do find it so they don't end up too far behind the curve.
I did the second. I threw in a couple more unusual encounters in the sewers and put in a dead thing or two with a bit more treasure. Nothing unbalancing (so far it's been two potions, a scroll with fear on it, a MW wood shield, and a MW Heavy pick). The group is just a little under the curve now since they left so much behind in the sewers (choosing to take virtually nothing off the corpses of their fallen foes).
The group is just a little under the curve now since they left so much behind in the sewers (choosing to take virtually nothing off the corpses of their fallen foes).
Same, aside from picking up ammo (a few arrows/bolts), my group only took Shanwen's full plate set to sell. They wanted to use it but were afraid to wear the clearly recognizable armor of a Hellknight Signifier that they just killed in public. :)
For the most part, I dont worry too much about treasure/loot recommendations. My group doesnt care how much loot they get either, even if they are behind the curve.
If us GMs see something lacking, most of us tend to make sure those items wind up in the PCs hands one way or another.
Creative Director
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Keeping an eye on your players' treasure is part of the GM's job. We try to make sure that there's a fair amount of treasure opportunities in the adventures, but some adventures end up short and others end up way over (Parts 3–5 of Council of Thieves get pretty generous). We also assume you have 4 players. If you have more than 4 players, you'll need to up the treasure since the PCs will be splitting the take by more than we anticipate.
So yeah... if your PCs are below what you feel they should be wealth-wise AND if the players themselves are complaining about the lack of wealth... throw in some extra treasure! And take that opportunity, in fact, to throw in treasure tailored to them, in fact. If you have a wizard, throw in more scrolls. If you have a fighter who uses tridents and nets, throw in some magic tridents and nets! Etc.
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If you have more than 4 players, you'll need to up the treasure since the PCs will be splitting the take by more than we anticipate.
Or is that already in the new DM book?
For us, yes we were way behind in parts 1-2 on treasure, but because of the lag in letting part 3 out we side adventured.
I thought there was finally some stuff in the knot.
I thought we did pretty good in the bastards lair.
But with lack of much else going on in either parts 1 or 2 besides that stuff. Yea the treasure lacked.
We just started part 3 and got loads of loot the first night. Gm says theres plent more where that came from.
I have a feeling that by the end of 3 you will be all caught up.
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As a player, I'm not too worried about a lack of treasure, I'm gearing up to be an item crafting Mad-Elf anyway, but...
I think the caveat is that if you're trying to stay within the boundaries of the morons you're running missions for, you find that the opportunities for loot aren't as plentiful as some people might say they are. The rescue scene was a good example, we couldn't very well wear, or even sell stolen Hellknight gear, and their hard cash/potion count is pretty low IIRC.
Of course, I think the counterargument is that said morons do offer financial support (at least they offered it to us), and, if you manage to avoid offing any of the mooks (like we did), you get some nifty story-mechanic brownie points, I don't know what the points do yet, but I know we got a few, so, no complaints as of yet.
In my game it's 3 players and the treasure awards have been small. Though in the fight to rescue Arael had a suit of Full Plate. So for treasure so far they should 3000 GP worth and they at about 2000 GP prior to going after the Bastards. By the end they should have enough treasure to be in between 3000 and 9000 GP. I seeded the Whitechin hooks and it's something they will tackle as well they might hunt a shadow beast or two for some extra gold. I figure by the time they go into part 2 they will be close to what they should have.
I came to the same conclusion, as i read through the first module (which i will be running soon). I was actually happy that the modules make the players work for there gear. Other modules tend to buff you up pretty fast. Being a City based campaign, with options to take time off between modules, You could encourage players to take crafting feats. If they are making there own gear all the time between books, they basically just bought everything for half price.
Again, just an OPINION.