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pc wealth by level rule...more of a guidline
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<blockquote data-quote="Iconic Maps" data-source="post: 6308051" data-attributes="member: 6776688"><p>I think the questions has to be, how important is CR balance in your campaign? If it is an important factor in the way that you design encounters, then the wealth-by-level chart ought to be more ore less adhered to, since it is an important determining factor in the party's CR vis-a-vis that of an encounter they are facing. On the other hand, if this form of game balance is not a high priority then you can safely ignore the chart. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Speaking from my own experience, I used to stick pretty close to the WBL chart when I played 3.5e and Pathfinder. However after having had some experience with older styles of play I find that game balance is no longer a high priority for me. In fact, sometimes it's not desirable at all. Where the notion of balance is useful is in thinking through planning out encounters that are part of a larger linear story arc (such as one of Paizo's adventure paths). Since you want the narrative as a whole to present interesting (but not in general deadly) challenges to the party it pacing becomes important. You want to offer your party a healthy dose of easy to moderately challenging encounters, a few more challenging ones along the way for variety, but save your most challenging encounters for the key moments of the narrative. To do this well requires attending to issues that might imbalance these encounters. On the one hand you want to avoid TPKs where possible since they will kill a narrative arc straight away. On the other hand you also want to avoid removing any real suspense from the game. Attending to the wealth by level chart is one among many ways of attempting to mitigate either of these two pitfalls.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Where balance does not work so well however is in a sand-box form of game-play in which the PCs are in direct control of shaping the narrative. This is especially true of conventions such as the classic dungeon or hex crawl. It is typical of such conventions that the further down the dungeon (or into the wilderness) you go, the deadlier and more rewarding the encounters become. The PCs are in the driver's seat here. If they want to play it safe they can keep to the upper dungeon levels for the first few levels, though this will mean that the rewards will be slimmer. If they wish to take more risks they can delve deeper. If through luck or ingenuity a low level party manages to make off with a dragon's horde then more power to them. Let them enjoy their justly earned rewards. </p><p></p><p></p><p>So again it all comes down to what sort of game you wish to play.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Cheers,</p><p>-Tad</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Iconic Maps, post: 6308051, member: 6776688"] I think the questions has to be, how important is CR balance in your campaign? If it is an important factor in the way that you design encounters, then the wealth-by-level chart ought to be more ore less adhered to, since it is an important determining factor in the party's CR vis-a-vis that of an encounter they are facing. On the other hand, if this form of game balance is not a high priority then you can safely ignore the chart. Speaking from my own experience, I used to stick pretty close to the WBL chart when I played 3.5e and Pathfinder. However after having had some experience with older styles of play I find that game balance is no longer a high priority for me. In fact, sometimes it's not desirable at all. Where the notion of balance is useful is in thinking through planning out encounters that are part of a larger linear story arc (such as one of Paizo's adventure paths). Since you want the narrative as a whole to present interesting (but not in general deadly) challenges to the party it pacing becomes important. You want to offer your party a healthy dose of easy to moderately challenging encounters, a few more challenging ones along the way for variety, but save your most challenging encounters for the key moments of the narrative. To do this well requires attending to issues that might imbalance these encounters. On the one hand you want to avoid TPKs where possible since they will kill a narrative arc straight away. On the other hand you also want to avoid removing any real suspense from the game. Attending to the wealth by level chart is one among many ways of attempting to mitigate either of these two pitfalls. Where balance does not work so well however is in a sand-box form of game-play in which the PCs are in direct control of shaping the narrative. This is especially true of conventions such as the classic dungeon or hex crawl. It is typical of such conventions that the further down the dungeon (or into the wilderness) you go, the deadlier and more rewarding the encounters become. The PCs are in the driver's seat here. If they want to play it safe they can keep to the upper dungeon levels for the first few levels, though this will mean that the rewards will be slimmer. If they wish to take more risks they can delve deeper. If through luck or ingenuity a low level party manages to make off with a dragon's horde then more power to them. Let them enjoy their justly earned rewards. So again it all comes down to what sort of game you wish to play. Cheers, -Tad [/QUOTE]
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