So I'm actually not sure how to do this so here goes.
I'm running 2 APs(Mummy's Mask and Skulls&Shackles) and something I haven't really sat down and done is... replacing some items. With items that give only AC, Resistances or Ability scores, I need some ideas for early treasure.
And too often do the first couple books supply a Ring of Protection or Braces of Natural Armor. Should I just switch them around for the same cost or look for more personal items for the group?
Tips?
Keep in mind that if you are using ABP you get ½ the normal wealthy by level because you don’t need many of the items. I am not familiar with the AP as always write my own adventures, but I imagine you can simply ignore the items that are no longer relevant. If doing so puts the characters below the recommended wealthy add a little non-magical treasure.
Keep in mind that if you are using ABP you get ½ the normal wealthy by level because you don’t need many of the items. I am not familiar with the AP as always write my own adventures, but I imagine you can simply ignore the items that are no longer relevant. If doing so puts the characters below the recommended wealthy add a little non-magical treasure.
I'm not quite sure they ARE at half normal wealth if only because I'm bad at handing out treasure. Or other instances.
For example, in Mummy's they actually passed up a good section of tomb loot out of respect for the dead. And in Shackles, book 1 isn't swimming in good lootable moments till the end of book 1.
WBL only counts for actual wealth picked up, not loot ignored. The books also don't do an amazing job with loot. I remember be the end of book 2 or 3 my party was so far down in WBL the GM just gave us custom magic items to make up for it.
If you aren't sure, just ask for a character audit. Ask players to leave their sheets or at least their item sheets and count it up, or if you trust your players, ask them for the info.
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APs generally have 150% to 200% WBL treasure because the developers assume the characters may skip areas.
For ABP, those items still work for baddies as normal (because I'm lazy and don't want to redo stat blocks) and they mysteriously disappear when defeated. The PCs never find those specific items when looting. This generally helps keeping the PCs at 50% WBL with looting only non-ABP items.
However, just like in a normal treasure campaign, as the GM, you will need to keep track of the treasure value the characters acquire, and adjust the available loot accordingly. It's never going to be spot on perfect. PCs are going to be PCs with those characters either searching and looting EVERYTHING... or... just following the flow and skipping some areas.
My group uses Automatic Bonus Progression, including when we play Adventure Paths. However we have a built in correction mechanism, every time you level you audit your items that you have must readjust yourself to have half wealth by level (due to ABP).
This is to account for the fact that you could pickup some very valuable item that could push you over, or one player hogging, or even be given all the good loot by others. But more often it helps to remind you to purchase new magic items. In general unless someone wants an item that we "find" no one bothers to track loot or calculate values or anything. Just when you level up you have a new pool of money to purchase things. Honestly it removes a lot of the burdensome part of the game. Some people don't care for this level of immersion breaking, but it works very well for our group who is more concerned about adventuring than making lists of things we have no intention of keeping to add up to see how much we each individual gets while the GM tries to make sure we don't get to far ahead or behind a certain target. And if that occasionally means that some enemies don't drop any interesting loot, so be it.
Put a different way; The PCs just killed off an enemy that by Book, should have had a ring of protection and an armlet of natural armor.
Do I give them different items, not count them or just cough up 2k gold somewhere?
One could just keep potions/scrolls, magical weapons with weapon qualities (Flaming, keen, etc.), and campaign essential items (Suishen and the imperial seal from JR).
One exception might be very specific wondrous items such as bags of holding, decanters of endless water, and the like.
Put a different way; The PCs just killed off an enemy that by Book, should have had a ring of protection and an armlet of natural armor.
Do I give them different items, not count them or just cough up 2k gold somewhere?
You treat them as non existant for loot purposes. The NPCs aren't wearing rings/amulets when the PCs loot them. Likewise, A +2 dagger would be lootet as a non-magical masterwork dagger. A +1 flaming dagger would be a flaming dagger (with no enhancement bonus), if a PC wants to attune it, they have to lower their weapon attunement bonus by 1.
Put a different way; The PCs just killed off an enemy that by Book, should have had a ring of protection and an armlet of natural armor.
Do I give them different items, not count them or just cough up 2k gold somewhere?
You do not count them and you do not give extra gold per ABP