WotBS WotBS - Character Wealth Values?

[Cyclone Duke]

Hello!
I got the 3.5 WotBS all-in-one book some months ago. Loving it, it's the best campaign I've DMed (the one gripe I have that all the NPC stats are waaaay at the back of that gigantic book and I gotta flip over 700 pages back and forth!)
My group love it also. Very much looking forwards to taking it all the way to 20. Group is currently level 6 and in the Sunken Prison in Seaquen.

I have noticed an issue though for me as a DM - the group's wealth is far behind the typical curve for player characters from the DMG. For example, at level 7 a PC should have a total value of 19,000g, but each of my group's players are far behind this - even with Indomitability's Boon which has a given value.

I don't generate random treasure typically, and award the players loot specified in the encounters/NPC stat sheets from the campaign book. As EN world wrote this amazing campaign I am hoping you'd know the answer to my question -
Is the loot/wealth gain generated in the encounters intended to have characters behind the typical PC wealth curve?
Is the DM intended to suppliment the notated loot drops with additional generated treasure?

I could simply increase loot/gold drops or generate more magic items for the group to bring them up to the typical PC wealth for their level, but I don't want to trivialise the difficulty of encounters if they are balanced around the PCs only having as much wealth as the book gives (and my giving them more would make them more powerful than the encounters are designed for).

Thanks for any reply. Loving the book!

 

[RangerWickett]

Man, 3rd edition wealth by level is one of the things that gave me no end of trouble working on WotBS. Especially since NPCs were supposed to have treasure too, and a lot of our enemies are people, not monsters. When we started ZEITGEIST we decided to just be simple. The PCs work for an organization, and they get stipends that make sure they're receiving the appropriate amount of equipment. (Though they can cheat and hide stuff loot from their bosses if they want to be corrupt cops.)

For WotBS, it's been long enough that I honestly don't recall what my design mentality was for loot. But you could have Seaquen - when it sends the PCs on missions in adventures 4-9 - offer some funds to supplement what the party already has. It would require you to do a bit of an audit of what the PCs have, but that's ultimately the simplest solution.

 

[Cyclone Duke]

For WotBS, it's been long enough that I honestly don't recall what my design mentality was for loot. But you could have Seaquen - when it sends the PCs on missions in adventures 4-9 - offer some funds to supplement what the party already has. It would require you to do a bit of an audit of what the PCs have, but that's ultimately the simplest solution.

Was the plan - just wanted to doublecheck before bumping up my guys wealth that it wasn't intended to be strictly as-is! Thanks for the insight

 

[Mrpereira]

Like Cyclone I got the 3.5 edition som months ago and started running it recently. We are currently at the elven village in the fire forest. I have ended up typing a shorter version of the stats in a spread sheet, that I use while playing. The constant flipping was annoying. And it would have been nice with page references to the stat blocks - something I would advise for further revisions / editions.

My players have always been focused on getting the all coins they can, so they are walking somewhat encumbered with a lot of armours and weapons they plan on converting to gold. That means that so far they are doing ok, but I do believe that it might be worth it introducing some heroic awards or incentives for the heroes further on.
One idead I have is to have Seaquen offer them bonusses after they complete a mission to show their appreciation, but not as a payment for doing what they really ought to do anyway. Another thing I have considered doing is letting Seaquen offer magic items and services below market price. It would be within reason as they all have a common enemy and the players are a big asset. My biggest issue with this idea is how to balance it, so they dont tip over top.

 

[Cyclone Duke]

Another thing I have considered doing is letting Seaquen offer magic items and services below market price. It would be within reason as they all have a common enemy and the players are a big asset. My biggest issue with this idea is how to balance it, so they dont tip over top.

Check dungeon master's guide page 135 - character wealth by level.

 

[Morrus]

The constant flipping was annoying.

It's certainly a difficult layout choice that every publisher struggles with. If stat blocks are going to be used more than once, do you put them in a single location or do you repeat them in-place whenever they're needed? We went with the former option. Interestingly, in our individual ZEITGEIST adventures we have opted for the inline method. One thing we did play with during the 4E period was the "encounter" format, but I really don't like that way of doing it at all.

In the long run, for a bigger book like this, I think that the appendix method is a necessary evil. Repeating statblocks inline wherever needed would add so many pages to the book. I think having the PDF and maybe printing that appendix out separately helps a lot - it's what I did.

 

[Cyclone Duke]

Yes I've taken to cutting out MM and appendix stats and using them with a clipboard, a bit necessary simply due to the format as you said!

 

[Mrpereira]

What I meant was balancing the discounts, so that suddenly the players dont get too much - but it should be doable. I was even considering making the discount variable, as to let them know how well they did in the course of the adventures, but again, it might turn the balance

 

[Mrpereira]

I agree with you that the stat blocks in the end is the lesser of the evils. What I would have liked was a page reference, to where the individual stat was.

As I wrote, my work around is to have a short version at hand for whenever I need them in an encounter. Having them all grouped is nice for preparations.

And I would like to say it is a very nice touch, that you have made several versions of the npcs for different levels. It is a very nice touch and works perfectly in my game as these NPCS naturally get stronger during their travels.