Book 3 City of Seven Spears. Question to DM's as a PC (WPL?)

[Sinto]

So basically we arrived and have done some amazing things in the first few days. Conquered the wild(market) district and made at least temporary peace with the war(old jimmy rustle as we call him) district.

Now we are nearing level 8 according to our DM. So how should the WPL be at this point? Me(unchained monk) and the party bard are severely under that for level 7 chars even let alone 8.

WPL level 7 = 23,500gp - 25%(assume consumables) = 17,625gp...

Well all together with my gear mostly found not bought I am sitting at around 8.5k total wealth and bought very few consumables despite contributing to the parts wands fund.

The bard with a few more items than me has cheaper ones and is sitting at around 8.2k total wealth...

Both of us combined in a party of 4 have less than 50% of a level 7 character???

We are managing to get by for sure my unchained monk is the main party tank/dpr(unintentionally btw its a grippli) and our bard defiantly feels constrained in her options during battle.

So my question really is.. Are we WAY WAY BEHIND? We haven't been handing the other party members items on an unequal bases. Infact me and the bard are the only original 2 party members left alive. Another player has died several times (REALLY BAD LUCK) and another left and was replaced by a different player. Should we talk to the DM about it or is this how it should be? If we should have more gold how would you go about fixing this?

[NobodysHome]

To answer your questions:

(1) Serpent's Skull is an extremely loot-poor AP. My group is in similar straits, though they have spent quite a bit of money on resurrections. Sounds similar to your group in that regard. Serpent's Skull does like to kill PCs.

(2) If you were to come to me as your GM and tell me you needed more money because you were below WBL, my immediate response would be, "So, which fight was too hard for you because you didn't have sufficient gear?"
It's a low-wealth AP, and the fights are designed as such. Adding unnecessary wealth would make the fights too easy. So your actual request should be re-interpreted as, "I am not having as much fun as I could be having, because I would like more gear. Are you willing, as a GM, to upgrade every encounter from here on out to match the wealth I would like to have?"

It is a far more fair question, and that is your GM's call, not mine.

In fairness, my group has lost so much money on resurrections that I am giving each of them (at 9th level right now) one 50,000 g.p. item of my choosing, not because of WBL, but for story flavor.

As a GM, I don't worry about gold, or WBL, or any other concrete numbers. I worry about whether my players are having fun, whether the fights are appropriately-balanced for them, and how much work I'm putting in to providing a fun experience for them.

If I suddenly had to upgrade every encounter to account for additional wealth on the part of the players, I would certainly consider it, but first I'd want to know whether it was really that the players weren't having fun, or it was just that they looked at a table and saw that some numbers didn't match up, and felt "cheated".

[Sinto]

@NobodysHome

Thanks I was more aiming to get an idea of "is this right where I am at?" I didn't feel like I HAVE to get something to make up for it was are scrapping by but I was worried something got messed up. Knowing it's a low WPL AP helps put my mind at ease honestly. I do still feel being just above 1/4th of the standard is an extreme tho.

As for fun I am the parties main DPR/Tank and every session almost have been left with less than 10hp after an encounter. If anything sometimes I feel I have the spotlight too much. But the party have ALL taken to buffing me one way or another.

We didn't spend money on resurrections either. One player who recently left the group had lost 8 characters by the start of the third book. Another player who had to leave for a few months has also rejoined and has been through a character already. Only me and the bard are original PC's but the 'new' members to the party are coming in at full WPL. So I had this skew in terms of figuring out where I should be comparatively.

I don't feel I must have that gold other wise I could easy of died off a dozen plus times and re-rolled. As I said it's just hard to tell where you should be at when half the party is full WPL.

[NobodysHome]

Well, you're right about where my group is, if that helps.

If you're dropping to less than 10 HP while fully-buffed, that's something to point out to the GM. I'd look into somehow 'dropping' an extra +2 AC item for you to reduce that damage a bit. And if the GM is letting new players in with full WBL while leaving you at 1/4 WBL, that is a serious no-no. For me, when a new PC comes in, I take the average of everyone else's wealth and that's where they start.

The *only* AP where I really felt WBL was a problem was Carrion Crown, and that was due to party make-up rather than wealth.

I played the fighter in an ultra low-wealth campaign.
"You got Dominated again?!?!? Why aren't you spending your feats on Iron Will and Improved Iron Will?!? Heck if I'm wasting a spell slot on Protection from Evil!"

"You're using a bow against that flying enemy? Why didn't you buy Boots of Flying last time we were in town? Heck if I'm wasting a spell slot on Fly."

Repeat ad nauseum.

Playing a fighter in a group that refuses to buff/protect you is No Fun, but it wasn't a wealth problem.

[Sinto]

Well getting +ac is another issue. For example we fought the giant dire gator and with it rolling a 35 to hit average that would be unreasonably high AC to have normally. Between mage armor, barkskin, being a dex monk I am sitting easily near 30ac. Like my character is not bad it's just the encounters the way they play out even if I avoid most attacks (such as when we accidentally killed most if not all the kech) yet I still took a large amount of damage due to the odds of 3 natural attacks on 30 enemies hitting.

Basically level 7 UC-Monk +12 to hit sitting at 26 ac with just mage armor on and not bark skin and without heroism or bardic song. Piranha strike for +9 dmg+2 heroism+2 bardic performance. Like I'm far from weak.

Like I know I am coming on here asking about WPL but I also know with any more power really I'd be too far ahead it feels like most encounters. I just wanted to verify I was where I should be even if I do feel bad that the bard is probably behind without equipment.