I got done with Second Darkness a couple of weeks ago and I have constantly heard Wealth by level. Yet I am sure my GM doesn't follow it.
I am not sure how to determine how to figure out how or if he followed it. I took my completed character and added up all items on the character sheet (magic, gold, etc) and came up with a number that didn't meet the WBL on the chart.
I know we charged through the game and had few points to stop. It was agreed by all that this was a game that had a story that needed to be completed in a specific amount of time.
The reason for the question is I want to know what others who have completed this AP have to say about WBL (was it used, etc)
Why am I posting here instead of the Second Darkness area? Because I have gotten no response and I thought maybe I would get a better one here.
Thought I would get all kinds of cheerful answers, but All's Quiet On the Western Front... ;)
Yeah it's not that your GM didn't follow WBL it's that the adventure tells him exactly what treasure to give you and when and AP's tend to be under treasured slightly to increase challenge. Also it's very possible you didn't find a bunch of it. I am running Rise of the Runelords and there are at least five big treasure drops my players haven't found.
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I've actually just told my party in Rise of the Runelords to adjust themselves to WBL 10 since they just hit it and I was feeling like they were behind the curve.
Worst. Mistake. Ever. Where they were once walking through encounters, they are now skipping - nay - flying (literally, celestial armour and flying boots everywhere!). I think the APs actually work better if the PCs are behind the curve then when they are on it.
I agree
Second Darkness was written for 3.5 which used a different WBL chart. Also, WBL is a guideline for GM's who are designing encounters and scenarios for the group. In an AP, that work is done for the GM. As long as the AP stays consistent with itself about encounter difficulty vs gear rewards then it can vary greatly without major repercussion.
Our party in Council of Thieves is at 5th level. We have 2 magic items for the whole party: a wayfinder and a CLW wand.
Our party in Council of Thieves is at 5th level. We have 2 magic items for the whole party: a wayfinder and a CLW wand.
You must almost have actively avoided some of the bad guys to end up so low on magic items; there should be a magical weapon and a magical armor by the time the party reaches level 3, and several more of each around the time you reach level 5 (either before or shortly after) :)
Generally speaking the AP's have the right amount of treasure. if you find it all you should be over WBL. Although i think there were some dry periods in RotRl.. until we got to one of the main story points then there was no issues..
basically if your really low on treasure its likely your missing stuff.
Outside of rolling new characters above 1st level, I don't use WBL. My Rise of the Runelords party has been playing smart and working hard to get extra cash in their hands, and I would not have denied them their just rewards, even if I had bothered to track if they were above or below their suggested WBL.
I'm not the first one to notice if my party is undergeared, they are. And usually my players don't play suicidal characters. When they realize their opposition has risen above what they can realistically hope to confront, they will take steps to increase their own power and quality of equipment.
If they are overgeared, who cares? Even if I somehow believed that the story hinged on a certain encounter being really challenging, I'm the GM. My possibilities are endless and at my fingertips whenever I need them.
This all stems from my 1st, 2nd and 6th point about being a gamemaster. WBL assumes your players will not take the matter of gear into their own hands.
So far I've decided that I'll only stop my players from generating wealth on their own initiative if they do so with some of the easily exploitable tactics that have been put together such as spamming Wish-granting simulacra. This is not because I don't want them to have the cash, but because I feel like it will reach a point where it hurts the setting, and the narrative of the story. Not that I think any of my players would ever try such tricks.
-Nearyn
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I've actually just told my party in Rise of the Runelords to adjust themselves to WBL 10 since they just hit it and I was feeling like they were behind the curve.
Worst. Mistake. Ever. Where they were once walking through encounters, they are now skipping - nay - flying (literally, celestial armour and flying boots everywhere!). I think the APs actually work better if the PCs are behind the curve then when they are on it.
This is my experience. I keep my players a little behind but keep up just enough so they cant turn the game into easy mode.
Second Darkness was written for 3.5 and 3.5 had a different WBL.
PF APs have usually close to 150%-200% WBL (assuming the party finds everything).
Our party in Council of Thieves is at 5th level. We have 2 magic items for the whole party: a wayfinder and a CLW wand.You must almost have actively avoided some of the bad guys to end up so low on magic items; there should be a magical weapon and a magical armor by the time the party reaches level 3, and several more of each around the time you reach level 5 (either before or shortly after) :)
Yeah, we kind of did. Our GM accidentally gave 4 rogues & a spellcaster a surprise round on us for being around the corner, and all our post-battle healing couldn't get us up and running, so we had to leave the thieves' building early. Now that we're done with the play, we're heading back there.