APL & EL: How do you modify for party magic items?

[Emirikol]

When it comes to lining up EL and APL, how do you best consider magical items into the equation? More magical items equals dramatically more power on the sides of the PC's but rarely does the DM do the same on the side of the monsters (is that why there always seems to be such an imbalance?) How do you correct for that?

jh

 

[jcfiala]

When it comes to lining up EL and APL, how do you best consider magical items into the equation? More magical items equals dramatically more power on the sides of the PC's but rarely does the DM do the same on the side of the monsters (is that why there always seems to be such an imbalance?) How do you correct for that?

Well, that depends on how powerful the magic items are. Assuming the PCs magic items aren't too much more than they should have for their level, and assuming no one item is more than a third or so of the expected gold value that level, they're probably safe. If they're higher in magic value or if an item is a large portion of the expected value, then you probably can go with adding a level of fighter or warrior or a hit die advance on the opposition to help even it out.