invisibility

[Pielorinho]

ok, i got u ideas and thanx for your help, but i cant use all that without using Metagame options (nonroleplaying options), i mean, i cant have every merchant in a small Thorp have invisibility purge, or expensive detect ways......

about the dog, its not every merchant who are willing to leave a dog inside his store.... its bad for business......

Viewing u ideas gave me a few more..........

Just another question....... If the PCS got caught and arrested, the local militia has the power to take the ring from them, along with a hard punishment, right?

Any merchant that has 3-5K of jewelry around to steal is darn sure going to have some sort of security allowance. Another thought: that security might consist of a contract with the local Thieve's Guild. The merchant pays the Guild 100gp every year, and in return, the Guild protects the merchant from theft, going so far as to hunt down and punish anyone who steals from the merchant.

The dog idea is one to use if it becomes known that an invisible thief is operating in the area. (And if the thief strikes a number of nearby towns, word will spread to other nearby towns). It's cheap security.

As for whether the militia can arrest them -- that's up to you. If you want a harsh government in your world, the militia can torture the offending PC to death in a public execution, to deter anyone else from committing the same crime. They can hang the PC and then, at the PC's expense, raise him from the dead. They can throw him in a dungeon cell to rot. They can take all his gear and sell it to repay his victims (and to fleece their own pockets, of course), telling the thief never to show his face 'round these parts again. They can put a geas on the thief, such that he'll work for the merchants for awhile.

At the bare minimum, if he's caught his ring should be taken and he should be forced to repay his victims. If that's all that happens to him, he's getting off awful light.

Imagine a modern-day jewel-thief. Our legal system is a lot less harsh than any medieval one. But could you imagine the cops catching a jewl thief and saying, "Okay, we're going to take your getaway car and make you pay back your victims, and then we're going to let you go"? That's hardly a punishment at all.

I'd recommend turning this into an advventure. Give the theif enough clues that he knows he's being hunted; give him an opportunity to escape. Give him hints that the more often he tries this stunt, the closer his pursuers will get to him -- and that if they catch him, it's not going to go well for him.

Give him plenty of clues that this is a bad idea.

Daniel

 

[bret]

Put gems in cases. It is pretty obvious when a case is openned, a merchant shouldn't just leave gems sitting out where anyone can pick them up. Too easy to use slight-of-hand (Pock Pockets skill) to swipe them.

When you start talking about expenstive merchandise, Magic Mouth is a relatively cheap spell. Have it set off if an item ever leaves the store without a receipt.

For other stores, you could still use Magic Mouth on the display cases. If an item is removed by anyone not authorized, it sends out an alarm.

Sand gardens and bead curtains are great ways to spot invisible creatures.



As for your question on what is legal, that is totally up to the GM. It is very reasonable to say that for some crimes, all the material possessions of the criminal are seized.

 

[kreynolds]

...i cant use all that without using Metagame options (nonroleplaying options), i mean, i cant have every merchant in a small Thorp have invisibility purge, or expensive detect ways......

So...dirt, water, and mud is expensive?!

 

[Henry]

Bret, you just gave me the most darned cool idea. Modern day retail outlets use RFID scanners to detect theft now, right?

A merchant would have to pay comparatively little to pay a mage to put a magic mouth on the more choice pieces of merchandise. Give them orders that, if the item they are attached to leave the store without the proper trigger (e.g. whispering a special password, or if they are not rubbed thoroughly over a pad of oak wood), then sound off.

Just have all the adventurers wondering why the merchant is rubbing their merchandise over a pad before it gets bagged and leaves the store....

 

[Dash Dannigan]

ok, i got u ideas and thanx for your help, but i cant use all that without using Metagame options (nonroleplaying options), i mean, i cant have every merchant in a small Thorp have invisibility purge, or expensive detect ways......

As for most of the ideas so far presented these aren't metagaming, though they may appear so to the player if suddenly implemented. Most of these suggestions are realistically what these Jewel vendors what have already had in place, so I think you're missing the point my friend. Part of the reason you are having a problem with this is because you've allowed it to become a problem. A merchant peddling several thousand gp's in gems in his lovely store (keep in mind that an average joe schmoe-skilled too earns ~1 silver piece a week). Economically this store owner would have thousands to hundreds of gold to spend safe-guarding his wares. If a thief was able to walk in and grab a gem or two, like as not these would either be fake or some of the cheap baubles (10-15 gp). Gems worth as much as the thief is stealing would feed a D&D farm family for a couple of years...

Now, as for implementing these safeguards (which in all honesty should have been in there in the first place), I suggest you do so gradually. First off, trained dogs are not uncommon and would never be "bad for business". Start with a beaded doorway, next place will have a dog, the next place might have a low-level retired wizard as an owner and has a bat familiar and so on. These are not metagaming but a realistic fleshing out of the D&D world. If the thief wishes to continue with these "easy marks" then he should find that the values for these gems are proportional to the level of security, i.e. no security = cheapo glass look-a-likes manufactured by "garbo-gnome #4". If the thief then sets his aim for those expenisve gems of unrivaled quality and astronimical prices, then expect an unmatched security detail and safeguards (can we say mother-of-all traps? )

Hope this helps you out and that everyone's suggestions (once implemented gradually) will not only prevent this problem but also help you flesh the world out a little more in the eys of your players, hopefully providing a more immersive game playing experience (ahe, if you're into that, that is ). Happy playing.

edit- *smacking own forehead* you know what? If this is a tiny Thorp as you mention, then you will NOT find a gem worth thousands of gold pieces there. I mean what's the gold piece cap for a tiny village? 500gp? A 1000 gp fo a small town? Again, I'll have stress proportionality here, if the security isn't there, neither are the goods...

 

[grep]

People have given plenty of good ideas about how the merchants can defend their wares so far, so I won't give any more of those. But do remember that any merchant worth stealing from is going to have defenses against invisible thieves.

I really don't think you have a problem. If the PCs want to steal from jewel shops, then let them. But turn it around at them. Fight back. I've played several games where all the players were evil thieves, and it was pretty fun. Instead of posting notices in town about a reward for clearing out the local dungeon, advertise an art show, where many rare and *ahem* valuable pieces will be shown off.

If that's the way they want to play, then that's the way they want to play. Turn the game into "Reervoir Dogs" the RPG.