Ok, so far I've handled treasure pretty much like this:
- Once an enemy NPC is defeated and my players loot it, they get what it was wearing, swinging and what else is noted in it's combat gear section etc.
- If they find treasure chest etc they get that.
That's more or less it.
Now some monsters in the PRD have Treasure of "Standard" or something.
For example Encounter F "Lost Lake" in the "Hungry Storm" as an example pitches the players against one Qallupilluk and 4 Freshwater Merrows.
So far I pretty much assumed that the treasure they find in the area (like in this case in the lake) accounts for the treasure of those creatures, and completely ignored that line.
But does it, or have I been shorting my players all this time?
No. That sounds about right. I'd say that if they have treasure then it's listed at some point (for instance, the goblin warriors in RotR don't have any coinage or the like, but the Warchanters and Commandos will have potions and some coinage). Besides, these modules tend to be swimming in treasure. Trust me, when I design my own modules and the like, I'm far stingier with gold and magic.
Random encounters and such are not supposed to give treasure in APs. The adventure has about 120% WBL ( if we expect everything to be sold at 50% for items and 100% for gems/art ) for four characters in it, to account for groups missing some stuff. If you have a non-standard group size, you need to adjust the loot somewhat if you want to keep within WBL.
Published modules and adventure paths already account for the normal monster treasure ("standard", etc) by placing additional treasure elsewhere in the module. That could mean some NPCs have more than they normally would, but more often there's chests, valuable furniture, weapons/armor on racks/stands, and the like in suitable locations (usually in/near the encounter area of the monster in question).
In other words; there's no need to add anything to the listed treasure.
That's an ongoing problem. A melee character whose sword upgrades itself doesn't need to ever spend money on a weapon, and additionally gets air walk, cold resistance and other powers. So what are they going to spend money on? Probably getting a ridiculously high AC.
And the Amatatsu Seal confuses the WBL situation even more.
Well Suishen will never be more than a +2 weapon.
Sure Flaming Burst is nice, so is eventually the Oni Bane, but it might not be what the player would have done.
So while it's free, the weapon isn't too optimized either.
Are your PC's dying because they are under equipped for the encounters they face? If not then you are doing just fine. Wealth while an important part of the the game in some regards is also very fluid. As long as you don't have players who can't afford magic weapons in encounters where they can't hit without them I wouldn't agonize over it too much.