Character progression

[HumbleGamer]

I was reading the thread CHOOSING BETWEEN INVESTIGATOR AND ALCHEMIST? and my attention got caught by this part

Captain Morgan wrote:

So unless you're regularly behind on your rune grind it shouldn't make a huge difference.

I admit me and my group are probably part of those who tend to be way behind their current level. We finished AoA book 3 with just a +2 weapon ( the one we found in book 2 ), which is a lvl 10 item.

But thinking about it, we were far behind in terms of consumables, armor runes, magic items, and so on ( checking the chart meant to help with the equipment for a new character of higher level I saw we were far behind compared to it too.

As for us, we didn't dedicate any time to downtime activities.
That was our fault. No excuses.

Anyway, what about you?

Is you party behind in terms of progression or do you find yourself with enough gold to purchase what's needed when you level up?

If you find yourself behind, do you slow down to make the golds needed to empower your equipment?

Does your DM give additional loot to make your characters more rewarded ( rather than let them get the stuff they need by expending time crafting or working )?

Did you try out ABP? How's the feeling compared to the normal rules ( I was wondering trying ABP if there's not much work to do with the loot table within the AP book )?

Guess it's all!
If you like, share your own experience!

[Delmont91]

I tend to run my groups a little over geared. I make sure they get lots of consumables in loot, a good amount of useful items and gold. A new character coming in the middle of my.campaign will probably be behind 2 to 3 items and one of those will likely be above parry.

I start handing math fixes 2 levels early so by the time the part is the right level they already have 2 to 3 of them for a 5 person party.

It's more fun to be generous than stingy and a lot of these items make sense to nebin enemy hands or collections.

[Themetricsystem]

1) I generally tend to over reward in terms of treasure,(NOT permanent MAGIC items) coin, and consumables. Uncommon equipment though, if the party is in a city that is more than +2 on their level then I'll typically give a free pass for them to hunt at least one thing down per shopping trip. It seems to make a pretty big difference versus how I handled it before by using just the strict guidelines and treasure described in the early modules and APs that were released.

2) The party also tends to spend more downtime in games than during the first year or so of PF2s existence though I think this is most likely just them adapting and learning to balance encounter/exploration/downtime better with the general time economy of adventures than anything that I've actively done.

3) Yes, as described in answer #1, it's not MUCH but it is about 10-20% more in terms of coin and non-magical treasure.

4) Scratch the previously removed/edited answer, I mistook two optional rule systems for one another and don't have anything of significant input on this.

[aobst128]

Me and my group have been using ABP for a while. It's very convenient. Don't need to worry about keeping all your gear up to snuff and can work on more character focused endeavors. Cleans up to loot tables and leaves room for more unique items to shine.

[fanatic66]

I started a campaign using ABP and like it so far. No need having to worry about making sure everyone is getting the expected +1s. Instead I can worry about rewarding the party with more interesting magic items.

[Thewms]

In the games I run, I use a variant of ABP where there bonuses you gain are considered Item Bonuses instead of Potency Bonuses, and weapon runes and existing items with Item Bonuses are not removed. This way I can still give out a +2 weapon ahead of the curve as a cool piece of loot that they can just sell later and I don't have to worry about stacking Potency/Item Bonuses.

Additionally, I allow my players to redistribute ABP bonuses to skills on level up to account for items they have found or purchased since last level.

This makes loot a breeze as a GM. I was a big fan of ABP in 1E and it is a welcome change in 2E, even more so with the changes mentioned above. I highly suggest every group give it a try at some point.

Edit: The above change to ABP also means that you don't have to alter existing loot in pre-written adventures which is great for lazy GMs like me. :)