| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I suspect part of the issue here relates to the unusual dynamic of running a 1-on-1 game with your husband, where you are also simultaneously running multiple DMPCs. It must be very hard to balance ensuring the 'true' PC gets enough spotlight without overly favouring his character.
Having said that, remember that as DM, you always have control over whether or not to include all of the listed loot, so you can consider whether to include everything else that pops up. If you feel your PCs are overly wealthy, maybe shave off some of the non-essential loot included in the module, until things even out a bit.
Also, while I see the out-of-character logic in your husband taking the lion's share as the only 'true' PC, I don't imagine all the GMPCs would feel the same. It would be entirely natural for them to take some issue with one of their party members taking extra loot, given they are all taking risks in the adventure.
a mithral longsword? WTF? mithral is useful in armour, but has no particular usefulness for weapon application (unless you're playing good old Rolemaster/MERP and it's actually Mithril/Ithilnaur)
a mithral longsword? WTF? mithral is useful in armour, but has no particular usefulness for weapon application (unless you're playing good old Rolemaster/MERP and it's actually Mithril/Ithilnaur)Lower weight and beats DR/silver is a particular usefulness.
Also, it does not suffer from the damage penalty associated with making a slashing or piercing weapon from Alchemical Silver.
Perhaps those benefits are pretty minor relative to the cost (which, on consideration, isn't factored into OP's valuation of the item -- should be worth 2,000gp more), but it does have some value. I also understand that in this case the item in question was part of the loot from a pre-written module.
Do you feel that the wealth has caused problems or afraid that it will? Nothing you mentioned seemed too overpowering for a character of that level.
If anything one player hoarding the wealth is weaker than spreading it out and you lowering the wealth will cripple the party even further.
Say you had 4 characters, one spending 16'000 to get +4 is not as good as all of the part getting a +2. Same would applied to cloaks of resistance and a +2 cloak vs 4 +1's.
This only gets worse the higher your level gets as items cost ever more for small increases.
21 ac at lv5 is kinda average AC.
If you average out the gold does it match WBL? If so I'd let it ride and see how it goes. Party wants to make a super player, I don't think 1 super with 3 supports is going to be better than 4 regular.
Plus he's a rogue/sorcerer, the barb will probably do better in combat for a while still.
APs have nearly a +1 level on WBL if the party loots and keeps everything. IMO, some of that is because they expect you to keep very little of what you find (they can't be stocked with EVERY combination of party needs), resulting in a 50% tax. My 10th level Giantslayer crew has about 85,000 GP, not counting artifacts. The 11th level Mummy's Mask crew is actually below WBL right now, but that's because they haven't been to a place they can sell their loot recently. Once they finish book 4, they'll be level 12 and easily be stocked with level 13 (nearly level 14) loot, again not counting artifacts.
In short, not a surprise.
EDIT: oops, sorry, misread that. Module, not AP, but I think modules do the same. Also, player, not party (the part I really missed). Imbalance is up to the players themselves, no? Our GS crew has 2 artifacts on one of the PCs, on top of a nearly equal spread of loot. Nobody cares... he's the one standing toe-to-toe with giants, so it's worthwhile.
|
Here is a link for character advancement.
Within, you will find wealth by level, exp needed to level, npc wealth, and heroic npc wealth all conveniently located on one simple chart.
Wealth by level is a guideline. It is ok to be substantially over or even under. However, over time you generally want to have these things even out. I've seen lower level players with the wealth appropriate for much higher or lower level pc's (anywhere from 2-4). Depending on the classes, levels, and general nature of the threats, you may never notice a difference. Sometimes you will. In this instance, his sword may prove useful some of the time but overall may not be much more effective than a simple +1 or +2 blade. I am unfamiliar with carrion crown but believe it is undead themed, so an aberration bane weapon seems likely to prove useful in only a scant few encounters whereas a holy weapon or undead bane weapon would be quite valuable. In my opinion, he could have a +2, Abberation Bane, Bleeding, Cold Iron weapon and it would make virtually no appreciable difference in the outcome of any encounter he could expect to have due to the nature of that campaign. As a result, it is likely hurting him more than helping him since he could be using something much more useful.
This supports my point about wealth not necessarily dictating power or capability. Sure, that sword may bleed out the humanoid necromancers if there are any. But it's sort of like him finding and trying to make use of a phylactery of negative channeling. Largely irrelevant (barring the humanoids).