Looting bodies. Eww.

[BelXiror]

Reminds me of Forensics.

You know, the guys who turn up, loot the body looking for ID, then cart them away and cut them up looking for what killed them, if it isn't already obvious.

Stomachs of Steel.

 

[Felix]

The party removed the torn leather armor worn by some poor dead evil woman.

"If the DM decides..." that's the key point. A DM can make sure the players get their treasure in a number of ways, looting is only one of them. My only point is it is only part of D&D is one makes it that way.

RangerWickett reacted to his party taking leather armor off a former enemy. Wether or not that armor was magical, it made it harder for the party to kill her. The armor still has some value, eh? Especailly if it's better than what one party member has at the moment. So they take it, as part of the reward for surviving the evil woman.

Sure, the DM can decide to only send monsters or loin-clothed stone wielders at the party, but eventually some folks the party fights will be wearing things to make them more powerful. The DMG has tables with NPCs statted out with appropriate magical stuff that will maintain their CR. When it does that, it's clear they're wearing their wealth. And if they're wearing the value of their treasure, and the DMG expects the PCs to get that much wealth from overcoming the challenge, then it's clear that the DMG expects the PCs to loot the corpse.

It might not be said, but it certainly is expected. Neither the players nor the DM "make it that way;" that's how it's handed to them.

Except, of course, in Rokugan, where an alternate system of wealth accumulation is provided.

 

[alsih2o]

No it isn't. No where in the books does it tell PCs to loot the boidies of the dead.

Just beacuse it isn't in the books doesn't mean it isn't "...part of d+d..".

You are setting an artificial standard. You KNOW it is a part of d+d, yes?

 

[Crothian]

It might not be said, but it certainly is expected. Neither the players nor the DM "make it that way;" that's how it's handed to them.

I don't think its handed to them that way. I think people assume and since killing people and taking their stuff is the easiest way to do that's what they do. And everything in your game is thay because the DM and players make it so. The people playing are in charge and have the power.

 

[ssampier]

No it isn't. No where in the books does it tell PCs to loot the boidies of the dead.

By that reasoning, if the book did not state that you should have fun gaming session, you wouldn't? D&D has a lot of what I call "underlying assumptions" that while not implicitly stated anywhere in the books, they can be logically assumed.

Unless you create a in-game religious taboo* that forbids looting bodies and reward PCs some other way, it is logical to assume characters would strip the body of valuables. Why not?

*Players always have an option which religion their characters worship so they could easily skirt this requirement anyway.

 

[Crothian]

By that reasoning, if the book did not state that you should have fun gaming session, you wouldn't? D&D has a lot of what I call "underlying assumptions" that while not implicitly stated anywhere in the books, they can be logically assumed.

What the games says verse what happens in a game session are two different things. We all know that. And not all RPGs say that you should have fun. But people do anyone. Just like looting, people do it but the books don't tell you to. What other underlying assumptions are there? These books are written for people new to the hobby as well as who have been in for years. They are written for an international audience as well. If these unwriutten assumptions are intended, then they messed yup becasue no everyone will make the same assumptions.

Unless you create a in-game religious taboo* that forbids looting bodies and reward PCs some other way, it is logical to assume characters would strip the body of valuables. Why not?

*Players always have an option which religion their characters worship so they could easily skirt this requirement anyway.

Why is it logical to assume looting? Everyone is doing that, and I'm just asking why. Just becasue its fantasy and that's what people did in the old days? Didn't see much looting in Tolkien or other traditional fantasy. In Medival days there were laws against it and people who did where looked down on as criminals.

I never assumed that looting the dead was needed. I know people do it, but I run a game where the players don't. I imagine I'm the exception to the rule in that regard.

But I digress, looting is only a part of D&D in you place it there because it sure isn't there as I read the books. Creative DMs can easily have other ways to reward the players, and many people on these boards probalby have. But looting is the easiest and most direct way. I won't argue that.

 

[Orius]

It also isn't only a matter of western/professional militaries being better paid & equiped. There is also an institutionalized stigma against mishandling enemy dead. There are still plenty of folks who would rob the dead blind if they thought they could get away with it.

I think it probably goes back to the Western idea of the "rules" of warfare. There's a lot of things that modern Westernized armies won't do because it's either stigmatized, or specifically against Geneva conventions. However, look at wars fought in various developing nations even today, and both sides routines commit what we would consider atrocities.

 

[dontpunkme]

My former character a wild elf rogue-assassin (who was just a little disturbed in the head) used to have a collection of ears from all of his victims. And when it came to looting bodies he was simply amazing (Sleight of hand natural 20+15=35= looks like noone noticed that this tome of intelligence +4 happened to disappear into his glove of storing). On the other hand my aasimar paladin never looted corpses (sucks real bad when you lose out on a good item). Even worse was my weak-stomached bookish wizard who had to take a fortitude save because the idea of picking through the icky mess that was an orc until the barbarian cleaved him in two with his flamberge. I think its all dependent on the type of character that is doing the looting. Some people (usually warrior classes) aren't as repulsed by the idea of death as other people (see academic types). Other characters may have a moral aversion to it, while others might see it as natural (to the victors go the spoils)

 

[Sejs]

I work in a funeral home.


The dead arn't bad at all once you get used to them.

 

[Gez]

A wise (?) man once said that dead people are much less frightening than still living ones.