First off we are done with this one and going on to Rune Lords in a few weeks.
I was reading in a thread and someone said that all APs used Wealth by Level.
When we played Second Darkness, it was a rush to save the world. There was very little down time and the party agreed to how we handled this. By 14th or 15th level we had maybe +3 weapons.
Is this normal for this game?
Do other groups take it slowly?
I know that at a certain point in the game there is no turning back and there is no place to find treasure that the party can use. (and we had someone in the party with Craft Wondrous items)
I am just curious how others have handled the game and thus WBL.
Thanks.
Bump
(I know it's only been the week end. maybe I should post this in the normal forums? I thought it was best here)
There are a couple of instances where the elves reward the party with magic gear of their choosing. Did you take advantage of those?
When I ran the campaign, we only made it to the beginning of book 5 when one of the players moved away and we went on indefinite hiatus, but at that point we were right on track with WBL.
Edit to confirm we had a four-man party. But since the elves' rewards are per PC, the number of players wouldn't matter in those instances.
Disclaimer: I don't pay much attention to WBL, either as a player or as a GM, except insomuch as other people complain about it.
Second Darkness: We're in Book 2, we just hit 5th level, and my Life Oracle has total wealth of 2023 g.p., putting her at the bottom of the heap. The "richest" player is worth 10,100 g.p., and the average is about 4000 g.p. On the other hand, it's a 9-player group, so I'd expect WBL to be pretty low compared to average. In fact, that puts our total wealth at around 36,000 g.p., and the WBL table says that four 5th-level PCs should be at 42,000 g.p., so we're about right.
Carrion Crown: I was a fighter so I cared a lot more about WBL, and we finished with a 5-person party at 15th level at 120k apiece. So 600k, and "expected" would be around 960k. Carrion Crown is notorious for being well below WBL unless you loot every building and demand every penny from every NPC for the "honor" of helping them.
Rise of the Runelords: Books 1 and 2 start off pretty slow, with some well-hidden loot many parties miss in Book 1, but by the end of Book 2 parties are well above WBL and never look back.
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Long story short: The AP is designed for WBL for 4 PCs. If you have more PCs, your PCs are going to end up below WBL, but that makes it easier for the GM to adjust encounters accordingly, so I feel it's perfectly OK for the GM to skip upping treasure.
Your opinions may vary.
And since we're only in Book 2, my opinions may be flat-out wrong with regards to the later books.
And in terms of "only" +3 weapons, in both Carrion Crown and Rise of the Runelords, my front-line fighters (a fighter in CC and a barbarian in RotRL) had only +1 weapons and armor in the final fights. They spent their money on cloaks of resistance, belts of physical perfection, rings of protection, rings of freedom of movement, and amulets of natural armor. That "+n" in front of a weapon isn't nearly that important at higher levels, especially for 2HW melee characters. Both characters did fine, and contributed greatly in the final battles.
There are a couple of instances where the elves reward the party with magic gear of their choosing. Did you take advantage of those?
When I ran the campaign, we only made it to the beginning of book 5 when one of the players moved away and we went on indefinite hiatus, but at that point we were right on track with WBL.
Edit to confirm we had a four-man party. But since the elves' rewards are per PC, the number of players wouldn't matter in those instances.
We did get the stuff from the Elves, but from what I remember, the GM gave us things we could use. Instead of the other way around. Not a big issue.
Our Group has 7 players (including the two GMs).
The Rune Lords game has me as a Bladebound Magus. I won't have to worry about what some call the most important item in the game for the rest of it. It's kind of like playing the Monk all over again. I don't have to worry about the weapon of choice for the next game.
That is why I was wonder about WBL.
Since we charged right through Second Darkness, it is all too likely we missed many things. I think it was the first book when we went to that Island where that meteor hit and found those blue creatures and later the tower that tipped over and fell off the cliff. Basically, we found our way to the end before we were supposed to and fought the local BBEG.
So I am sure we missed lots of things. This makes sense now.
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Bear in mind the AP was written for 3.5 rather than Pathfinder, so the amount of gear given away may be based on a very different WBL chart.
There are also a few spots in the AP where the PCs can have downtime - end of Part 1 and 2, halfway through part 5, end of part 5. Once you hit part 6, it's all go, but my group were using planeshift to head off to Nirvana for trading.