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<blockquote data-quote="S'mon" data-source="post: 5845316" data-attributes="member: 463">I first noticed the ruggedness back in 2009 in regards wealth-by-level &amp; magic items.&nbsp; The 4e DMG is highly prescriptive with the treasure packets you are supposed to 'award' the PCs.&nbsp; There is repeated advice in the DMG and adventures warning the DM: if the PCs miss treasure, you better stick it in later! You would think that any significant deviation from standard wealth-per-level would be as deleterious as in 3e, where too little wealth &amp; magic items left Fighters helpless, too much easily broke the CR system.But... the actual PHB magic/wealth system is such that a x5 increase in wealth equates to just +1 on attacks &amp; defenses.&nbsp; +1 is not a big deal in 4e. This gives a huge playground within which to work: you can have huge piles of gold and gems, or long lean periods, that have very little effect on game play.&nbsp; To have a significant effect on party capability they need to be +2 ahead or -2 behind the curve, ie 25 times as much or 1/25 as much wealth as the system expects.&nbsp; And that's without considering the DMG2 Inherent Bonuses system - which I always use, mostly to ensure that PCs stripped of gear are still effective.4e has a lot of redundancies/back-ups like that which ensure great robustness in play.&nbsp; Another is the way healing resources are widely distributed - having a Cleric is no longer vital, indeed at a pinch you can do without any Leader class!&nbsp; But this is never called out in the DMing advice, which is written as if the system were still like 3e.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="S'mon, post: 5845316, member: 463"] I first noticed the ruggedness back in 2009 in regards wealth-by-level & magic items. The 4e DMG is highly prescriptive with the treasure packets you are supposed to 'award' the PCs. There is repeated advice in the DMG and adventures warning the DM: if the PCs miss treasure, you better stick it in later! You would think that any significant deviation from standard wealth-per-level would be as deleterious as in 3e, where too little wealth & magic items left Fighters helpless, too much easily broke the CR system. [U]But[/U]... the actual PHB magic/wealth system is such that a x5 increase in wealth equates to just +1 on attacks & defenses. +1 is not a big deal in 4e. This gives a huge playground within which to work: you can have huge piles of gold and gems, or long lean periods, that have [U]very little effect[/U] on game play. To have a significant effect on party capability they need to be +2 ahead or -2 behind the curve, ie 25 times as much or 1/25 as much wealth as the system expects. And that's without considering the DMG2 Inherent Bonuses system - which I always use, mostly to ensure that PCs stripped of gear are still effective. 4e has a lot of redundancies/back-ups like that which ensure great robustness in play. Another is the way healing resources are widely distributed - having a Cleric is no longer vital, indeed at a pinch you can do without any Leader class! But this is never called out in the DMing advice, which is written as if the system were still like 3e. [/QUOTE]

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