Equipment for higher lvl characters?

[On Puget Sound]

It looks simple enough. Compare it to a character who had actually played through the levels:

A party of 5, over 5 levels, should have found:
1 level 9
2 level 8
3 level 7
4 level 6
4 level 5
3 level 4
2 level 3
1 level 2

That's 20 items, or 4 per character. Counting from the best and giving your character every 5th item (let's assume he's bad at gambling) would give you
1 7th, 1 6th, 1 4th, 1 2nd.
Assuming more average luck in treasure-splitting (items 3, 8, 13, 18), you might have
1 8th, 1 6th, 1 5th, 1 3rd


The quick method gives
1 6th, 1 5th, 1 4th, 1 4th (in gold)

That looks close enough to work. You'll be a bit below the party average if joining a played-from-1st group, but not badly behind.

 

[Jhaelen]

That looks close enough to work. You'll be a bit below the party average if joining a played-from-1st group, but not badly behind.

Yup. Using the DMG method for npcs you always get only three items, but you get more cash than would have if you advanced to that level by adventuring.

I've used a level 6 party for comparison. Of the five party members, you'll get this:
char 1: L+3, L-1, L-1
char 2 & 3: L+2, L, L-1
char 4: L+1, L+1, L-1
char 5: L+1, L, L

There's also two items of L-2 and one of L-3, but I've assumed they've been cashed in.
So, they'll have additional cash to buy an item of L-1 each, leaving a small rest* for each player.

This is true for every level starting at level 6.

*: the rest is about 1/2 the tier difference:
Every five levels you reach a new tier. Tier one has 160gp difference; so 1/2 = 80gp. Tier two has five times that amount (i.e. 800gp -> 400gp), etc.

 

[Tarril Wolfeye]

It looks simple enough. Compare it to a character who had actually played through the levels:

A party of 5, over 5 levels, should have found:
1 level 9
2 level 8
3 level 7
4 level 6
4 level 5
3 level 4
2 level 3
1 level 2

That's 20 items, or 4 per character. Counting from the best and giving your character every 5th item (let's assume he's bad at gambling) would give you
1 7th, 1 6th, 1 4th, 1 2nd.
Assuming more average luck in treasure-splitting (items 3, 8, 13, 18), you might have
1 8th, 1 6th, 1 5th, 1 3rd


The quick method gives
1 6th, 1 5th, 1 4th, 1 4th (in gold)

That looks close enough to work. You'll be a bit below the party average if joining a played-from-1st group, but not badly behind.

Almost correct. If the party got 5 levels under their belt, they're 6th level, which means:
Quick method:
1 7th, 1 6th, 1 5th, 1 5th (in gold)

Close enough? It's even better than your unlucky one.

You forgot the money the party gets: 720+1040+1355+1680+2000 (if not a single healing potion). Divide by 5 gets you 1359 gp. A 5th level item costs 1000 gp. So this is slightly better than the quick method (if you never sell a magic item)