Wealth By Level Question

[incarnate236]

I'm currently returning to a Rise of the Runelords campaign after missing about a level of play. I'm behind one which is fine, however, after doing a quick head count it looks like either the module or the DM is significantly under wealth by level for all characters.

As a lvl 6 sorcerer for instance I currently possess only a lesser rod of extend (3000 gp) and two wands for cl1 spells (750 gp although they were not found full). I have spent some money on potions and have about 3500 in cash at present. Does this seem like a decent allotment for that level or am I right in thinking something is going wrong here?

I do believe the Paladin in our group may be somewhat closer to WBL but he seems to be the only one. Has anybody had an experience with WBL issues in these modules? I am beginning to be concerned that our combat difficulties are largely due to the lack of disposable gold for things like Rings of Protection and Cloaks of Resistance.

Last time I asked this question of the DM, around Lvl 3 or so, he suggested letting us get the deed to Thistletop (in module castle) was sufficient wealth. Although it appears to be worth only about 8000.

[Spore]

Can't tell you about the campaign but I can tell you that it is hard for DMs to conjure up meaningful quest rewards without blowing WBL below 8th level out of the water. For Vecna's sake a ring of invisibility which could be considered a valuable trinket and slightly useful item costs 20.000. This eats up half of the WBL of a 9th level character.

There are simply not many options for magical items to hand out at the moment. Sure, you can throw a magical weapon, Cloaks of Resistance and Belts/Headbands of Increase important Attribute x around but that's boring and does add NOTHING to the actual game. You do the same things, just a tad bit better.

A Fighter with Winged Boots has great fun, a Rogue with an Invisibility ring can create epic tales. A Wizard with a Manual of Golem creation can create his servant. A paladin with a medaillon of thoughts can test the acolytes of his faith and pierces even the most resisting criminal. These items add to the game instead of upping mandatory numbers.

[Geddy2112]

If that is truely all you have sans the clothes on your back and ~10gp worth of misc. adventuring gear, then you only have about half of WBL. Adding in the property and assuming your party is 4 (8000/4)members puts you around 10k, still a reasonable bit below. If your more than about a quarter below or above you are going to have a hard time. When you hit level 7 you can take a crafting feat and significantly increase your gold, but I would try talking to your DM. Perhaps you are soon going to get a LOT of gold, or you have lucrative quests in the future so the pacing is a bit off. You are still a full casting arcane user, so if your decently optimized you should be ok.

[Scheming Wizard]

Well according to 3.5 wealth per level table every 6th level character should have 13,000 gold.

Pathfinder says every 6th level character should have 16,000 gold.

It isn't really an issue if the DM is using lower cr monsters, but you might have trouble if he isn't using weaker monsters and you don't have enough gold.

Your DM might be using the NPC wealth per level table on accident as that has 6th level characters get 5,600 gold at their level.

[RedMage125]

I am currently in a RotR game, and we felt a little behind WBL until about level 6 or 7. Around that point you get some rewards that put you back on track.

Intentionally vague to avoid spoilers.

[Kudaku]

RotRL has a fairly big WBL spike that arrives relatively late in the second book, so it's not entirely unreasonable that you're a little behind. 4500 GP sounds very low though. Most APs are written with 1.5-2x the normal amount of wealth since the writer assumes that the players won't find all the loot. Is it possible your party has missed anything?