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My investigation into Summoning spells uncovered some interesting info - at least for me. The suggestion is that all summoned creatures should be extra-planar, and thus these should be of type outsider, elemental or templated. This explains why the summon tables are chock full of all those celestial or fiendish versions of creatures. This might be old news to many of you, but it wasn't something I was aware of previously.

I'm considering making most of the monsters into Fiendish versions which will possibly add +1 to their CR rating. A few of the neutral aligned creatures could be made into Anarchic versions purely for variety. Note that the Anarchic template may not be open content as it appears in Manual of the Planes. It may take me a bit of time to work thru all of these, but here's a quick list of what I'm considering:

1d4+1 of: Fiendish Choker, Anarchic Grick, Fiendish Skum, Fiendish Slime Crawler
1d3 of: Fiendish Ettercap, Anarchic Rustmonster
1 of: Fiendish Carrion Crawler, Anarchic Otyugh

In deciding between Fiendish & Anarchic versions, I used Anarchic on neutral alignments, with the exception of the crawlers since the module text already mentioned the fiendish variety of that.
Feel free to use this list, and substitute Fiendish for Anarchic versions if you don't have access to the Manual of the Planes.

Note - I took thegrandoracle's earlier reply under consideration and moved the rustmonster back a level to allow for multiple summons of it. (The templated version is a CR4 which is the same as the templated ettercap.) Having up to 3 anarchic rustmonsters show up out of nowhere should definitely strike some fear into the party. If party equipment does wind up getting rusted, there will be some replacement gear available here and there - though not necessarily equal to what they've lost.

Danger: Long post ahead!

Before delving into this next post, I want to explain my rationale for doing this. Whenever I use a published adventure, one of the aspects that I keep a very close eye on is the treasure rewarded. Past experience has shown that not all adventures are written under the same assumptions in terms of rewards and wealth. I've seen treasure levels get out of hand before with disastrous results. If the party becomes too well equipped for their level, the challenge and threat can quickly go out of the game. To counteract this, it is tempting for the DM to toss a few tougher foes at the party (or for the party to seek out and engage them for that matter), but as any experienced DM or player will likely attest, the danger in doing this is that it can lead to multiple deaths or even the dreaded TPK. At the other extreme, if you reward too little treasure, it is possible for characters to fall too far behind and make normal challenges too difficult. However, from experience it seems to take quite a drop to reach that point. Thus, I much prefer to keep the treasure level balanced, perhaps just a bit below the norm just to avoid the escalation trap. What follows is a fairly in depth examination using one area in Aberrations as an example. It assumes that the party is extremely thorough and will takes 20's to search all areas once they have cleared out the monsters. You can argue whether this assumption is valid for each adventure, but for this analysis it works. The numbers and calculations highlight the work that I take to ensure balance. If you are concerned with wealth you're awarding in your campaign, feel free to use ideas presented here for your own campaign.

As any DM should do when using a published adventure, I started by reading thru the adventure from beginning to end. My first observation of the mines area - it's pretty thick down there with threats! My second observation - there's A LOT of treasure to be found here. At this point, it looked like there could be a reward issue for my campaign, but I wasn't sure. To determine that, I started by going back thru the mine areas and tallied up the encounters (ELs) found there. This does not include the encounters around the outside of the mine which have their own reward area. Here's the list from in the mines along with the DMG recommendation of treasure per EL, subtotals and total:

EL2 x 1 (@600 gp) = 600 gp
EL3 x 1 (@900 gp) = 900 gp
EL4 x 4 (@1200 gp) = 4800 gp
EL5 x 1 (@1600 gp) = 1600 gp
EL6 x 1 (@2000 gp) = 2000 gp
EL7 x 3 (@2600 gp) = 7800 gp
EL8 x 3 (@3400 gp) = 10200 gp
EL9 x 2 (@4500 gp) = 9000 gp
DMG Recommend Total = 36900 gp

Given the dangers faced, this is value that the DMG suggests rewarding the characters for those encounters. Once you have this value, it's simple to apply any scaling factors you may wish to use for your campaign. For scaling factors, here are some values to consider (low magic/grim & gritty: 0.2 to 0.7, avg campaign: .7 to 1.3, high magic: 1.3 to 2.0). My campaign has a lower magic feel, which is why I'm using .7 From this it's a simple matter to scale the target treasure awarded:

DMG Recommended Total x DM Scaling Factor = Scaled reward
36900 gp x .7 = 25830 gp

At this point, I've done the work to find what treasure level I should likely be considering as a reward for this collection of encounters. The next step is comparing that value to what's actually listed. It's pretty likely that I'll need to adjust the published amounts downward since I'm using a scaling factor below 1.0. Could other DM's who might be using a standard 1.0 factor be inclined to reduce things as well? To answer that, we must head back into the mine encounters...

As I pointed out in a previous post, the treasure on Mildridge alone is worth over 34000 gp. Were she the only encounter with any treasure in the entire complex (a lumped sum kind of treasure method), that reward looks to be pretty much in line with the suggested reward amount determined above (36900 gp). However, there are several other items of value spread thru the mines. Here's a quick list of some of those valuable items:

+3 wood shield (9153 gp)
+2 full plate (5650 gp)
Two +2 chain shirts (4250 gp each)
+1 full plate (2650 gp)
+1 halfspear (2301 gp)
+1 long sword (2315 gp)
+1 buckler (1165 gp)
+1 studded leather (1175 gp)
Over 4300 gp in coins
And several other potions and scrolls

Together, these comprise over 37K gp worth of treasure. Combined with Mildridge's equipment, that's over 71K gp worth of loot. That seems fairly high to me. Besides that, there are several nuggets of mithril ore scattered in a few locations worth about 3K gold as well as the large vein of mithril worth another 20K gp. I am not counting those as party treasure since my group is supposed to be returning that ore to the fellow that hired them. However, other DMs may wish to consider that as part of the treasure, pushing the total reward here to around 94K gp.

The comparison process is done at this point, and as a DM, you can go thru and modify the treasure to fit within the recommended limit found earlier. But just to prove this makes sense, let's go one step further and see what the potential impact of this treasure could be on the PCs. With a standard party size of 4 characters, the 71K gp total would equate to a potential reward of over 17K gp per character (or over 23K per character with the 94K value). Consider that against the chart for recommended wealth for PCs from the DMG. FYI, the numbers in quotes are the 70% targets I use for this campaign listed here purely for comparison purposes:

Level 5 - 9000 gp (6300 gp)
Level 6 - 13000 gp (9100 gp)
Level 7 - 19000 gp (13300 gp)
Level 8 - 27000 gp (18900 gp)
Level 9 - 36000 gp (25200 gp)

The adventure is written for parties of 5th to 8th level. I fully expect that with the number and strength of the encounters here that parties of any of those levels are likely to level up as a result of encounters in the mines. In fact, there may even be enough experience here for a 5th level party of 4 to reach 7th level. The amount of gold that the DMG suggests gaining between these levels is on the order of 4K to 10K per character. Tossing that number back into the equation for a 4 character party ( number of party members x individual reward = total reward ), it would make sense then that the amount of treasure available here should be somewhere between 16K to 40K gp total. The EL reward recommendation previously calculated (36900 gp) falls into that range. Thus, I suggest that this recommended 36900 gp reward is indeed adequate if you want to keep PC's wealth on track per the DMG recommendations. If we were to leave everything unchanged, the characters would be gaining approximately twice this amount (or more if you count the mithril), pushing them well above the recommended treasure for their level. BTW, for larger parties, the exp will drop proportionately just like the treasure is divided, so party size isn't really a factor for determining this reward. It's just easier to conceptualize the numbers when you use it.

Both sets of calculations indicate that the total treasure available in the mine is approximately 2x the recommended dose. In my view, this simply means the adventure is written assuming a "high magic" flavor campaign style. There's nothing wrong with that at all. It isn't a problem so long as the DM is aware of it, and they can take proper steps to deal with it in advance if they feel it is necessary. Unfortunately, the only way to determine reward level is to go thru the initial steps above, or to rely entirely on your gut. Note that in my case, the listed rewards are closer to 3x of my intended reward level, but I had no way of knowing that for sure until going thru this work.

The final step is doing the adjustments to the treasure to bring it into line for your campaign. In cases where there are monetary items, the adjustment is usually quite simple. Find the ratio between your intended treasure level and the actual written one, and adjust the treasures by that ratio. In cases where magic is involved, it takes a few more minutes of work. Some items, like wands or ammunition, scale very easily by adding or reducing ammo or charges. Other items are more complicated due to exponential pricing (pluses on weapons, armor, stat boost items) or unique prices. In those cases, you need to do a bit more work, sometimes even making wholesale changes. Whenever I can, I try to keep the flavor of the item similar. This is also your chance as DM to slip in campaign specific items or add some flavor. So this part of the work is often a lot of fun for the DM.

One other factor that is important to discuss is the effect of how magic translates to gold in your campaign. In my campaign, characters can usually sell magical items for 50% of list price. Any treasure I award as magic which is not likely to be used by the party is going to get sold at half price. At this point, most of the characters (but not all) have +1 armor and weapons or better. Thus, almost any +1 armor or weapon I hand out will wind up getting sold. On the other hand, nearly any ring, wand or misc item is going to be kept for sure.

Don't feel that you have to get to the nearest gold piece in terms of value, either. I tend to use the numbers as guidelines and try to stay within about 10% of them. I'm probably going to change up the rewards available thru the mines to be worth something between 24K to 28K gp total.

The changes I am planning to bring the treasure in line for my scaling factor are as follows:
Area 2-4: Nerf full plate to +1, remove the 2300 gp in pool.
Area 2-10a: Nerf Chain shirt to +1
Area 2-12a (Mildridge): Nerf Ring of Protection to +1, Remove +3 bracers. Reduce charges on summoning wand (20 to 15), number of arrows (20 to 10) and change ring of charming to a wand.
Area 2-12c: Nerf Wood shield to +2 and Chain shirt to +1

(Note - not a bunch of changes, just a few key ones)

These changes result in the reduction of about 35K gp dropping the reward value to around 36K. Of all the items available, it's likely that the party will sell the following (Two +1 full plate, two +1 chain shirt, +1 buckler, +1 long sword, and +1 studded leather) which reduces the value by another 6200 gp or so. Combined, these changes drop the treasure value down to around 30K. That is still just a bit high, but some of the value is stored in charges of the wands that Mildridge will undoubtedly use against the party. Another thing to consider is that party equipment could be destroyed by the Gray Ooze or by summoned Rust Monsters. Some of the extra armor I listed may wind up getting used as replacements instead of being sold. Between Mildridge's use of charges and the replacement factor, it's feasible that this 30K treasure will wind up down in the range of 24K to 28K as I intend. The quicker the party can deal with Mildridge, the more likely they are to wind up on the high side of that range.

All of the above is work that I often expect to do for any published adventure that I use for my campaigns. Any DM that is concerned about treasure levels affecting his/her campaign may find such work helps to ensure balance. But if you don't want to do that much work, you don't have to. The basic rule of thumb here is this: If the rewards don't seem right for your campaign, change them.

I'd like to finish by saying that I'm in no way trying to fault the writer for the rewards presented in Aberrations. It is a great adventure with an intriguing story, innovative set-ups and interesting foes. Those are important parts of any adventure I buy. A DM should not assume that every published adventure is going to follow their own preferred rewards level. In fact, if you use a scaling factor, you should assume just the opposite. While it may help some DM's avoid wealth problems in some campaigns when authors keep treasure in line with the recommend values found in the DMG, authors should not let that handicap them into a mode of never trying to hand out any cool items. Rather, be creative, and write it the way that makes sense to you. We DM's shouldn't expect to be spoonfed everything.

Treebore,

I'm actually not scaling down the experience awarded for the encounters...just the treasure awarded. The intended effect is that the wealth the characters wind up with is somewhat below what the DMG suggests for their level. Were I to also scale back the experience awarded, I would need to scale back the treasure even further to reach this desired effect.

Sounds like you've found the same thing that I have - with less powerful equipment, it forces characters to resort to non-combat methods more often to solve their problems. My party still tends to fight it out more than they probably should, but they at least consider negotiating or fleeing a lot more than in the previous campaign where wealth had gotten out of hand.

FYI, the wealth creep in that previous campaign happened in small spurts over the span of several modules, but by the end it had reached painful levels. By that point, I think many of the PCs had exceeded the recommended wealth level by around a factor of 2. As a result, the party could mow thru encounters that were 1 to 2 EL's above them with barely a scratch. It often took EL's 3 or 4 levels above their estimated party level using the EL calculator from Enworld - www.enworld.org/cc/fiend_...ulator.htm to even draw blood. They were able to plow thru demons, devils, dragons and just about anything else that I threw at them without much difficulty. (I had plans in place to remove some of that wealth, but they hadn't reached the point in the adventure yet.) So even in situations where they should have been overwhelmed and been forced to flee or try something else, their items allowed them to fight and win instead. Their wealth made them TOO confident.

The problem was that the party wasn't nearly as strong as they seemed to be. They were about 10th level, but they were acting like (and probably feeling like) they were about 13th level or higher. Eventually they faced an encounter that exposed their weakness which lead to a most unfortunate TPK. It wasn't even one I thought up, but just a random encounter out of the module I was using. Let's just say many of the players now have a deep fear of Frost Worms.

P.S. I recommend using extreme caution if you throw a Frost Worm at a party. Under the right conditions, they can dishout 35d6 of damage in a hurry (breath + death). Characters with low hit points or bad reflex saves will likely die if they get too close to one of these. That doesn't even factor in their mind affecting ability. These babies definitely earn their CR-rating.

With this campaign's slant toward fewer arcane casters, there aren't nearly as many fireballs or lightning bolts tossed around that have a shot at blowing up items. Sure, there are divine spells that can do it too, but it seems to usually be the wizards, sorcerers and monsters with breath weapons that wind up with the most item destruction potential.

With equiped items only having to make a save when the holder rolls a 1, it's pretty infrequent for items to get destroyed. Since this campaign started, they've only faced a couple of attacks that had the chance to affect items and nobody has rolled a 1 yet. My party doesn't have a lot of spare items to carry around either. They tend to sell the extras almost immediately and then only carry the stuff they use. They usually don't drop items very often, though it sometimes happens during a critical weapon switch in the heat of battle. I think they are more concerned that some rogue or invisible character might slip in and steal the unguarded item which may explain why they hold onto their gear so tightly.

That extra treasure to cover "expenses" does make some sense. However, given enough time, it seems that most parties will have more or less expenses than the estimated amount, and the DM will need to step in at some point to make an adjustment.

Though I try to be somewhat pro-active in this area, I often need to be equally re-active. An example of being pro-active is placing a raise dead scroll or stone to flesh scroll in a prior adventure, just in case. These are items that a party will almost never sell. On the re-active side of things, if a character dies, I'll sometimes create a side-quest involving his church/mentor/family/etc which will allow for them to be raised at a greatly reduced rate (perhaps even free), but it requires the party along with that raised character to go on a difficult or dangerous mission w/o any other payment besides what they find along the way.

On the topic of PCs turned NPCs or the reverse for that matter, I haven't done that for a long while. I was involved in a lengthy 1e campaign where we "retired" our characters (PC->NPC) and then ran some of our henchmen instead (NPC->PC). It didn't last long after that due to scheduling problems, but it was an interesting idea. I have used recurring NPCs across multiple campaigns in the same universe, but lately it seems that each of my campaigns is happening in a different world, so that hasn't been quite as viable.