Slow Advancement Saved My Campaign

[Reynard]

My current Pathfinder campaign was a 3.5 campaign to begin with. It was going pretty well before I decided to switch over. My group consists of a bunch of old hands who cut their teeth on 1E but like 3.x, plus one complete noob (she's great fun to have at the table and a natural!). But one problem I was having is that the PCs were levelling way to fast, like once every couple sessions (I tend to throw tougher things at the party because we have regular but shorter sessions). It was becoming difficult to challenge them without levelling them so quickly, and neither I nor they were getting used to or really exploring what any given level had to offer.

I switched over to Pathfinder when the PCs reached 9th level and decided to use the slow advancement track. Because it was in the book, they accepted it a lot easier I think (it helped that they remembered the old AD&D days where levelling took a very long time). It has been great ever since. I can challenge them and reward them appropriately -- even generously -- but we're still 9th level. I am able to pick great 9th level adventures and/or create cool 9th level challenges, and they get to try out their abilities in various combos and work toward mastering the powers/spells/etc they have. And the XP rewards are big enough numbers that even though it will take a while to get to 10th, they feel accomplished when XP is given out.

It's awesome. I want to thank Paizo for this one little thing they added to the game. It saved mine and made PF our group's go to game.

The only snag is this: since I am using some published 9th level scenarios, just to alleviate my workload (what with the job and kids and wife and all), I am worried they are going to be way too "rich" for their level by the time they reach 10th. Thoughts?

(On the upside, since I am a dice fall where they may, RBGM, they do tend to have to spend some of that cash to get raised, un-petrified and the like on a regular basis. ;) )

[Ramarren]

There are no end of ways to encourage your players to spend some of that money on non-personal items. Do any of your players have a title, or a home? Rewarding them with an estate that is desperately run down can be a money sink that still produces good feelings as they see it get better and better.

As the estate grows, (non-Leadership based) retainers and staff will be needed, and a little pride can go a long way when they arrive at court with an honor guard in rusty chainmail while others in the kingdom are attended by warriors in burnished, masterwork arms and armor.

In other words, give them something to spend money on that makes them more a part of the world (and gets them invested in it)...things that they'll *want* to spend money on, but that don't necessarily add to their 'adventuring' effectiveness.

[Mynameisjake]

There's a chart (somewhere) in the core rules that shows what the difference should be between rewards on the various "speeds" of advancement. You will have to take the time, unfortunately, to adjust the treasure found after each encounter.

Or, you could do what I do, and just explain to your players that the WBL guidelines are there for game balance and that they are limited to those numbers when they level up. Excess treasure has to be spent on "non-combat" things like tithes, lands, businesses, investments, etc.

Hope this helps.