Hey guys and gals,
I'm in the middle of running my first campaign (Carrion Crown).
I'm staying very busy trying to stay on top of NPCs, locations, plunges and a lot of other things at the same time. I know that this is all normal GM stuff, but i was neglecting something that is crucial to the game: the PCs.
They've been helping me out a lot by keeping track of their characters, items, equipment, spells, and abilities. I didn't realize that they are all weak. The party is a rogue, cleric, inquisitor, and ranger. The rogue has the highest AC (19) and the best gear by best, I mean that he has a +1 rapier, a ring of protection, and his armor is masterwork.
They are all level 6 :-/
I didn't realize that they didn't have anything good.
Do you guys have any guidelines for when I should give them better items?
Do you have any recommendations for good gear to make them stronger?
Also, are there any items out there that were fun for your campaigns (ones that don't necessarily modify stats or effect combat)?
Other than useful items, I think that I'm going to give them a Migrus locker
The rogue has the highest AC (19) and the best gear by best, I mean that he has a +1 rapier, a ring of protection, and his armor is masterwork.
They are all level 6 :-/
The Wealth-by-Level chart says 6th level should have at least 16,000 gp and 7th level should have 23,500gp (which means each of your PCs should be between these two values.
The rogue you quote has about 5k worth of gear (unless you forgot to mention other stuff like potions, wands, or whatever) which means he's something like 11k-18k too low for his level.
This is not an absolute rule, but it is a good guideline. Monsters have CRs based on the assumption that the PCs have the right amount of wealth. Adventure Paths have encounters with monsters, bad guys, traps, etc., all based on the same assumption. If your PCs fall too far behind, then they might have a great deal of difficulty handling a simple encounter (well, it would be simple if they had proper gear).
Do you guys have any guidelines for when I should give them better items?
Find the Wealth-by-Level chart in the Core Rulebook. It's very close to page 400 if I recall, but I don't have my book here so you look up the page and find the chart.
Then use it. Again, it's not absolute, but it should act as a guideline to help you figure out if the PCs are overpowered, underpowered, or just about right.
It's not perfect. For example, your 6th level ranger should have between 16k and 23k gp of equipment, but if he has 8 +1 longbows, well, that would qualify but since he can only use one of them at any time, it's really like he only has one +1 longbow and a bunch of wasted gear. So it really means that each character should have the listed amount of (mostly) useful gear.
Also, if the rogue has 28,000 gp worth of stuff and the cleric has only 12,000, then the two of them balance out to both being just right (and maybe the players should roleplay their characters trying to be more fair about distribution - but maybe the problem is that you've been giving too much stuff that only the rogue can use and not enough stuff for the cleric to use).
Do you have any recommendations for good gear to make them stronger?
Everyone who fights needs a magic weapon and soon. Some monsters will require it for the group to be able to hit them. No spoiler since I don't know what's in that AP, but fighting incorporeal undead (for example) without magical weapons is suicide, and those are often found in many adventures at around 6th level, so I might guess there may be some soon in your AP.
Magical defenses are also important. AC, miss chance, etc.
Magical healing is extremely useful. Wands of Cure X Wounds for example.
Something for the casters to do when they're not casting, like wands of offensive abilities, useful melee/ranged weapons if they're the kind of caster who likes that stuff.
This is about the level that they should be wanting to improve their ability scores, so belts and headbands are very well received by players at this level.
Also, are there any items out there that were fun for your campaigns (ones that don't necessarily modify stats or effect combat)?
Really, the whole Wealth-by-Level concept is about handling encounters. Sure, you could easily give each PC 20,000 gp worth of stuff that doesn't "necessarily modify stats or effect combat" - just give each of them two Type IV Bags of Holding. Done. Now they're all set up perfectly according to the Wealth-by-Level chart. But that won't help them fight any battles, defeat any bad guys, or survive any traps. So they'll still be awfully underpowered at adventuring.
So, figure out the Wealth-by-Level stuff by giving them items that ARE necessarily applied to their ability scores and combat abilities. At least most of it, maybe 75% or so. Anything else is just interesting gravy. For example, at 6th level, maybe let them have 12k-15k of applicable (encounter) stuff and 4k-6k of extra (gravy) stuff.
Finally, this doesn't have to be perfect; it's just a guideline. If you're off a little bit, too much or too little, the game will still be fun for everyone.
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If you're running an AP, they should be relatively close to their needed wealth by level. I would think about what is going on that they're so far behind. Are they missing a lot of the treasures? ARe you changing these treasures or forgetting to hand out loot listed in the AP? Maybe they're not pursuing lucrative exploration becquase they're too interested in "what's next" to be thorough, and you'll need to adapt tothis play style by changing loot locations (more loot on enemies and BBEGs, less in hidden caches).
Looking at this might help you identify where the ultimate cause of this issue lies, and help you plan to avoid it better in the future.
To fix the issue you find yourself with now, do a good survey of your players' characters' current wealth and items. Are they hoarding wealth and not buying stuff? If so, why? ARe they not able to use the treasure given to them, so they're stuck with inappropriate teasure and no way to unload it / trade it for more useful fare?
Find out how much each character has, and find their greatest shortcomings, and make plans for how to rectify those shortcomings with gear.
Good luck!
I would caution you against getting too attached to the WBL guidelines.
The bottom line is that you need to balance your encounters so that the party is challenged when they need to be.
It sounds like you could add a few magic items to the mix, but lots of people like low-magic campaigns too.
I tend to just go with what is working. If the party is struggling a bit, they'll find more stuff or more gold. If they are waltzing through encounters, they'll find less stuff.
It all tends to balance out.
I would caution you against getting too attached to the WBL guidelines.
That's usually great advice and I fully support it most of the time, but the OP said it's his first campaign and described himself as a "noob". He is running an AP. It's difficult and awkward for a "noob" to modify an AP to match the PCs, especially if he doesn't have the experience to plan ahead, create balanced treasure rewards based on what the PCs will encounter in the future and how they will likely distribute it, etc.
On the other hand, it's fairly easy for a "noob" GM to modify the PCs (by giving out loot, or withholding it if they're above expectations) to get the PCs to conform to the AP he's running. Give him time to do this, work things out, acquire GM system mastery, and then try it your way in future campaigns.
Actually, I would double down on the advice I gave for a "noob" GM.
Habits are hard to break.