| Calybos1 |
We've got a 4-person party at level 4 preparing to face down the 'final boss' in the basement of the Dreaming Palace, and their gear is looking pretty darn weak. Here's the complete list:
*Two +1 to-hit melee weapons (no damage bonus, just +1 to hit)
*Silver weapon
*Everburning torch
*Bag of holding
*Assortment of scrolls and potions with irrelevant effects^
^The exception being a few healing potions, which were of course gobbled up in the very next fight if not immediately
And that's it. As I said--pretty darn weak for a level 4 party. On average, each PC has one level 2 permanent item and one level 1 useless--sorry, "consumable" item. That's all they've found. Where's the treasure in this AP?
Now, I'm not talking about gear purchased with gold. I know Agents of Edgewatch has an issue with gold being tied to graft and corruption, and for what it's worth this game group agrees that they're playing cops, not crooks. They don't confiscate the property of people they arrest (it's usually evidence anyway); they only 'loot' the lairs of unintelligent monsters. But that's a separate issue.
I'm asking about actual found (not purchased, found) treasure. The PCs have found a few level 1-2 items, and then.... nothing. No cloaks or rings or magic armor, no damage-boosting weapons or wands, nada. And they're level 4, about to face the end boss with the pitiful gear assortment you see listed above. If nothing else, their damage output is limited to d8+3/4 weapons (+1 with Bard Song!) and an Electric Arc cantrip. What's going on?
| Zapp |
Nothing is going on. As far as I could see on a quick glance, you're following the adventure's treasure distribution correctly.
Not sure how feasible it is in this particular module, but generally a level 4 party can easily pool the 65 gp that a Striking rune costs (usually given to the melee warrior with the biggest weapon die).
If they struggle in the upcoming fight, you need to be more generous than the adventure baseline. Also keep in mind a party consisting of three martial characters focused on DPS and one combat medic Cleric makes the low-level game run on at least one difficulty setting lower.
Good Luck!