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I understand that there is an expected character wealth per level. Makes total sense to me for game balance. Now I also understand that adventure paths are designed to keep 4 characters at that expected wealth per level goal. I also understand that adventure paths are designed with 4 characters in mind and average skilled players.
My question is this, should the expected character wealth per level be lower if your are running an adventure path with more than 4 characters to keep the balance?
Example:
I have 5 characters running through a given adventure path and they are at level 4. Should their expected wealth at 6,000 gold at level 4 or should it be 4,800 gold? Would this keep the adventure balanced or would I need to add treasure to make sure all 5 characters are at 6,000 gold at 4th level?
Math is 6,000 x 4 = 24,000 / 5 = 4,800
I've played several APs, and I think none of them have the supposed wealth by level, they're usually far below that. So first of all, if you're worried that you're not giving your players enough gold, that's okay.
Second of all, if you're playing with more players than assumed, they'll just have to make do and split the loot. The fifth party member is already an increase in power (normally, a party of 4 can survive an encounter with CR equal to their level easily. With a fifth player, that becomes level+1), adding more gold only further increases the supposed power level of the adventure versus the actual power level. On the one hand it seems fair to give out more loot (there's more people, so in theory more people could benefit from that extra +1 weapon), but all power balance goes out the window. And that leads to a vicious circle: your players are more powerful, so you add more mooks to each fight. But those mooks have gear, so there's more money to distribute, and your players get more powerful, and so on.
TL;DR: Keep loot as it is. More loot, while seemingly fair for the players, only leads to an arms race and/or power inflation. Now the challenge becomes who can use which loot the most. Money management doesn't seem like a fun thing, but in my experience it's better than roflstomping every encounter in the adventure.
WBL is just a tool for keeping the players 'power' in line with what is expected so that game balance is maintained where expected.
If you are modifying the encounters to be as challenging for 5 players as they would for 4, then you should be modifying the treasure to be a remunerative for 5 players as for 4.
If you aren't modifying the encounters, you probably shouldn't modify the treasure (and in theory, they will advance slower as they get less XP anyway, so the WBL should actually remain about what it would have been.)
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Quentin and Dave, thanks for the answers. You are pretty much confirming what I was thinking, though maybe I expressed it poorly.
I thought as much to keep the treasure the same and if they seem to be getting over powered, slow down the experience gains, more so than increasing the challenge ratings.
We use the guidelines printed in the adventure path for level progression as opposed to awarding experience points. Telling them to level up can easily control their power level as well. If they are owning the fights, don't level them as soon. If fights that should be easy are challenging them too much, tell them to level.
My group has gone through at least 4 APs. Ever time the DM had to inject lots of gold to stay at WBL.
What? Below? Granted, I only have Curse of the Crimson Throne, Mummy's Mask, Giantslayer, Hell's Rebels, Hell's Vengeance, Strange Aeons, Ironfang Invasion, and Ruins of Azlant, but they all have waaaay more than WBL for a 4-player party. Giantslayer has my guys nearly 2 levels above as we prepare to hit the final book. MM was behind into the 4th book, but pushed them way ahead in the final dungeon.
Anyway, to the point: in the future, I modify encounters slightly for a larger party, but keep wealth about the the same as what is there originally, throwing in a bit on some of the mooks I add, but not even close to a full share. Wealth is what is killing my GS campaign: about 280k GP each at 15th level with several hundred K unsold and 3 artifacts (a 4th is pending and they have access to a 5th).
According to devs, IIRC, they tend to work it so that you'll be on-track if you sell everything and take the (mostly) 50% hit.
I have run multiple AP's and tracked partly wealth with spreadsheets, every single one of them my pc's have been at or above WBL without me adding loot and I normally have a 5 pc party.
I would not reduce pc wealth to compensate for a larger party, it has an uneven effect on PC power and so will hurt some players more than others and may reduce their ability to contribute and so have fun. Instead the best way to compensate for an extra PC is to increase the threat level of encounters by increasing the number of mooks or adding a couple (or completely rebuild every encounter to match your powergaming pc's as I do but I enjoy that)
What? Below? Granted, I only have Curse of the Crimson Throne, Mummy's Mask, Giantslayer, Hell's Rebels, Hell's Vengeance, Strange Aeons, Ironfang Invasion, and Ruins of Azlant, but they all have waaaay more than WBL for a 4-player party. Giantslayer has my guys nearly 2 levels above as we prepare to hit the final book. MM was behind into the 4th book, but pushed them way ahead in the final dungeon.
Ah, fair enough. I've played/GMed a lot of earlier APs, those did seem to fall behind quite a bit. Jade Regent was a scramble for useful items in the first two books (then we quit). Hell's Rebels was indeed more generous with its gold, I imagine the more recent APs have corrected that.