How do the Wealth Guidelines affect your style of play?

[Drowbane]

I've played under DMs who strictly followed the Wealth Guidelines as closely as they could... and DMs who have ignored them completely.

And to be honest, the previous tended to run alot more smoothly. Nothing like being 5th lvl with nothing to help boost your AC... or to hit... or dmg... or saves... Combat becomes ridiculously brutal. Getting stomped by CR 2s is just sad.

As a DM, I tend to roll treasure ahead of time unless there is an Item I wish the party to have... sometimes I roll "bad" (read: average) and the party doesn't get anything too fancy... and other times I roll hot and the party gets something slightly too good.

Example: back in 2e, the party found a few Objects of Art, some trinkets and two magic rings. Well, the Human Thief and the Elven Ranger (?) ended up with the Rings. The thief ended up with a Ring of Invis, while the Elf cursed his luck as his didn't seem to do ANYTHING (ring of Infravision... on an elf... mwahahhaha). In hindsight, I should've tossed a minor Cursed affect on that damn Ring of Invis... damn thief (rogue now ) uses it constantly...

 

[Altalazar]

I pretty much completely ignore them. I have gamed for a very long time and I have a sense of what is an appropriate amount of treasure, though I don't slavishly stick to any formula of my own. As I said in the other thread, I think it can be interesting to have wealth that would be considered far outside the guidelines if it is done right. The real world doesn't keep everyone at the wealth level they are supposed to be able to handle - often with interesting results. Why not the game world, too?

By the same token, not all encounters are balanced perfectly and coincidentally to match the party. Some are easier, some are best left to roleplaying or avoiding, though I try not to make too many of those. It makes players approach things much more realistically and cautiously.

 

[The Thayan Menace]

Impoverished PCs

I completly ignore the wealth guidelines, to the point that my players would be considered flat broke by most standards.

Have your players ever complained about this?