My group just hit level 6 and have already replaced two members that died to the sycthe tree. They've cleared most everything north of the lizard camp (minus the island) but their wealth is still pretty low for their level. I've looked ahead and there doesn't seem to be much left to give them a boost, so are they supposed to be taking money from the coffers to make up for it? (they're already over a year into their kingdom with a rough start behind them)
From what I found kingmaker starts out loot light balances itself midway through and seems to give above average near the end. That having been said, kingmaker also falls behind on xp from time to time so you can always add in your own side quests. You can also use a number of pathfinder's modules fit the setting.
I do not have my books with me, so I am going off what I remember here.
Another thing I did, though it doesn't help as much until their kingdom grows larger. I give them a monthly wage of the generate income role. For example on normal taxation a generate income role succeeds and generates 10 BP each council member (including npcs) gains 10 gold.
Thanks for the feedback. I think I'm definitely going to be adding some additional loot/gold to their upcoming adventures. It does sort of stink that they have to request magic gear from Restov still since they don't have any buildings that can produce it and none of them are crafters. These I need to start handing specific gear out to fill item slots.
They didnt create buildings or recruit workers using the downtime system?
By the second month of game time, we already had a forge and a lodging for 10 people, two groups of laborers to run the tasks of building and crafting, and had cut a few deals with oleg to bring stuff to us from the capital once in a while.
By the end of the first year, we will have a "Guild Hall" (advanced inn with room for 20 people), a magic repository, forge, barracks, stables for 16 horses and a greenhouse for cultivating plants and wild birds.
Well, the first building they built was their keep and then picked a few not so good options after that before they were bankrupt. It took them most of a year before they got to the point where they only needed a 5 to pass a stability check and make money. Their current kingdom wealth (max item value) is only a couple thousand gold.
Pennywit is right, it adds a lot of of work for both players and the GM, who has to double check if we are not cheating.
But after explaining everything we plan to do beforehand, using skype, outside the game sessions, and knowing ahead what we were going to build, he just checked the GP values and the session went smooth.
Last session we scheduled about 4 buildings (we have 4 laborer teams, 2 ours, 2 owned by a npc), which will be built during the next month. We used the first half hour calculating the income from our already built forge, planned the next 30 ingame days, and went adventuring. At the end of the session, we came back to town, sold loot, ordered some gear, checked what was built and calculated all the money that we had to pay for the capital generated.
The downtime system does add extra work, but knowing that you are building the very first few buildings in a new kingdom is satisfying, and the two systems dont interfere with each other (just imagine them as different companies).
We are not kingdom building yet though, as we havent finished book 1.
But by the end of the year, our personal guild village will be producing about 360 gp a month, not to mention the possible capital.
PS: We hardly had money to buy any gear until level 3 though.
If that helps, we printed a golarion calendar to keep track of downtime and time to build stuff:
Golarion Calendar
The vast amount of downtime in Kingmaker basically assumes that the players will be able to craft any given magical item they want, boosting their WBL significantly. Similarly, there's always time to craft a suit of adamantine full plate or mithral chain, so those can theoretically be acquired at a much lower price too. The tricky part is balance, because if the wealth handed out is enough for a group with no crafters, then a group with all crafters will gain for more wealth than they ought to have and they'll be able to deck themselves out in equipment that makes combat trivial, especially towards the end of the game. What's the fun in finding an artifact that's less powerful than the items you've already crafted for yourself?