I've been pondering WBL stuff in Paizo adventures. I've been running Carrion Crown, which has a reputation for being low on the wealth, and dropped a few presents in. There have been a few midway PCs brought in at various points. We are now going to be starting book 3. They are level 7, and their personal loot levels look to be about 23,000, the recommended WBL.
But that's JUST their personal loot levels. Party items like the Ivory Goat Figurines of Wondrous Power or consumables weren't be calculated in there. Now I'm going to have at least 1 new PC, maybe 2, and a PC returning after taking a detour through the Carrion Hill Module. I'm contemplating just letting the last one have all the loot from Carrion Hill, which should put them about on level if unoptimized.
I'm curious how people handle bringing in replacement or new PCs midway through these adventures, and how strictly they use the WBL guidelines. Just handing a 7th level PC 23,000 gold to spend as they will can lead to more streamlined purchases than accruing stuff through adventuring. Especially if they aren't getting stuff in the form of potions which get used up along the way and such. There's also the issue of a dead PCs equipment either getting distributed among survivors or sold for profit. It feels like the amount of WBL matters less than how it is spent, and that may be hard to wrestle control from a player on.
Dead gear goes to the PCs next of kin...The quickest way to get an imbalance is have PCs die, loot divided up between survivors and the new PC comes in with WBL gear.
As long as PCs aren't being roflstomped or roflstomping and everyone is having fun don't worry.
It is always easier to add gear than to take it away.
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Spacelard,
^-^
You are just being ridiculous here. It is evident that he was actually a favored minion of the BBEG who managed to infiltrate our group. As such, his equipment is ours to loot by longstanding precedent. We will certainly not fall for your clever protestations that you intend to take all that loot to his "rightful heirs", in fact, I am beginning to believe that you, yourself, may be a minion.....
WBL breeds stupid stuff as much as anything else and really only has value in a "canned" game. Any decent GM can deal with wealth and balance issues, and any decent players will have no problem with the GM doing so to keep the game fun.
Spacelard,
^-^
You are just being ridiculous here. It is evident that he was actually a favored minion of the BBEG who managed to infiltrate our group. As such, his equipment is ours to loot by longstanding precedent. We will certainly not fall for your clever protestations that you intend to take all that loot to his "rightful heirs", in fact, I am beginning to believe that you, yourself, may be a minion.....WBL breeds stupid stuff as much as anything else and really only has value in a "canned" game. Any decent GM can deal with wealth and balance issues, and any decent players will have no problem with the GM doing so to keep the game fun.
HA! You caught me out!
It is almost like I've seen a wizard PC die and the player roll another new wizard PC with WBL gear with obvious gaps in said gear and then claim all the old equipment of the deceased...
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LOL, seen that stuff multiple times. I even knew one person who actually ran a communal group of adventurers so that if one died his gear was still owned by the group, backed by a high level wizard. This wasn't even the worst of his cheese.
More recently a sleazeball willed all his stuff (mostly stolen from the party) to his cohort who he then tried to take on as a cohort of his next character. He thought he was being subtle too, sigh.
How do y'all handle these guidelines?
"For a balanced approach, PCs that are built after 1st level should spend no more than 25% of their wealth on weapons, 25% on armor and protective devices, 25% on other magic items, 15% on disposable items like potions, scrolls, and wands, and 10% on ordinary gear and coins. Different character types might spend their wealth differently than these percentages suggest; for example, arcane casters might spend very little on weapons but a great deal more on other magic items and disposable items."
Is this something you enforce when people build new characters? I can't for the life of me figure out how a character can carry a couple thousand gold of mundane gear, much less how why they'd want to. And a lot of leftover gold raises the question of why they wouldn't just spend it.
15% on disposable items also seems like a lot, considering you don't know what you're gonna need. I almost feel like it would make more sense to shave 15% of the starting WBL off and just assume party disposable needs will be covered by what they find or buy in the adventure.
As the pirates say, these are more guidelines, and your percentages will vary as you get to higher levels. Now, as you get to higher levels a lot of your normal gear will start to be masterwork for that little extra advantage, so hitting a couple thousand gold becomes surprisingly easy. As to disposables, well, players have been known to ask the GM for suggestions, and healing potions and such are always a valuable emergency back-up.