D&D 5E Looting Monsters?

SovietDM · Jul 17, 2019

I did one adventure, as a beginner DM, where I let my players loot monsters that they kill of their weapons and armor, but they can only sell it for 1/4 of the original price. They still ended up getting too much money, so I stopped doing that, but I want know how other people do looting monsters, or if you do at all?

Hriston · Jul 17, 2019

I follow the Basic Rules guideline that weapons and armor used by monsters is generally in too poor a condition for resale.

the Jester · Jul 17, 2019

Hriston said:
I follow the Basic Rules guideline that weapons and armor used by monsters is generally in too poor a condition for resale.

This. With rare exceptions, the only time pcs loot gear off of monsters is if they want to use it themselves.

Hriston · Jul 17, 2019

the Jester said:
This. With rare exceptions, the only time pcs loot gear off of monsters is if they want to use it themselves.

They can pick up and use the weapons, sure, but if they bring them to market, weapon dealers will turn their noses up at “foul orc-make” or whatever. And I use the variant that requires found armor to be tailored to the individual for 10-40% of market value before it can be used.

ad_hoc · Jul 17, 2019

This is the sort of minutiae I'm not interested in, in this sort of game.

Doesn't feel very heroic to scavenge like that.

CleverNickName · Jul 17, 2019

We use the optional rules for encumbrance. Having the players track their carry weight really does cut down on the amount of battered junk getting hauled around to be sold.

Draegn · Jul 17, 2019

Technically there are four categories of looting that my players involve themselves in. First loot for themselves, which is the rare magic item, large amounts of coin or high value jewelry, art, etc... The second is loot to use as gifts to major NPCs. Third loot that they let their hirelings, henchmen, retainers and men at arms take for themselves. Lastly loot that they use as parts and materials to make something else.

ccs · Jul 17, 2019

Why would I stop the players from having their characters loot things?

Of course we also play with a vague nod to encumbrance.... we don't track it - unless it starts getting ridiculous. Then we'll do the rules & math.
But until then? If it seems reasonable, go for it. Carry all the battered junk you like around.

Now at some point this will become a transport problem for you to solve.

And on my end? I have the best deterrent of them all. I'm the DM. All the $ in the game comes from me. I play the merchants your characters will deal with in order to sell the junk. And my merchants aren't buying. Doesn't matter that the book says x can be sold for 1/2 value etc., the books not the DM, I am. And I say that the merchant tells you "Sorry, there's no market for crappy goblin swords." & refuses to buy them.

But if you persist - and I've had players do that - I'll have the merchants give you the grand run around. "Hey! Maybe Franco over on Water street." Franco then sends you to his cousin Bob. Etc Etcetc And eventually you run afoul of the Arms & Armour merchants guild, get arrested for selling without membership & fined at about 65% of the value the junk would've cost if it weren't junk. Oh, and it gets confiscated.
So you can go on a grand futile quest to sell random junk, or you can go on a real adventure. Either ways OK with me - afterall, it's all adding to the story....

But I'm not going to stop you from carrying looted junk around if that's your thing.

SovietDM · Jul 17, 2019

ad_hoc said:
This is the sort of minutiae I'm not interested in, in this sort of game.

Doesn't feel very heroic to scavenge like that.

That's not a problem with one of my players. His character is a Rogue Thief, and he doesn't believe in heroism, so he would like to steal all the useless junk he can get his hands on.

Shiroiken · Jul 17, 2019

The biggest issue with looting non-magical equipment is transportation. Even without using the Encumbrance variant, there are logistical issues with carrying a single extra suit of armor, let alone a dozen or two. Unless someone strong is willing to use both hands to carry a stack of them (thus being useless for a lot of exploration as well as some combat until they can drop the stuff), they need a cart or some other container to carry/drag it all in. In general I'm often willing to let PCs sell the equipment they find on fairly civilized opponents (including bandits and such) for 25%-50%, but I'm a stickler on how they get it home.