No PvP vs. Stealing loot

[Ralif Redhammer]

Yep. While I don't think most players would care about that 75gp ring the rogue randomly decided to pick pocket from the snooty noble, grabbing a ring of protection from a felled opponent before anyone else can call dibs or even discuss it is taking an unfair share. That's definitely not playing well with others. The "it's what my character would do" generally shreds like paper in those situations.

As a DM, these days I'd generally intervene with a few words about treasure division. When I was younger, I'd probably have ensured something terrible happened to the offending PC in short order.

PvP is not only about combat, it's going against other players. I do not believe that players who decided to rule against attacking each other with merrily accept being robbed, they are both hostile acts which cause a player's loss, and can easily lead to erosion of trust, dominance (one PC will always be better that the others at doing that) and vengeance.

 

[BrokenTwin]

I was torn on voting for the When the rogue is taking the risk alone, anything is okay (looting while scouting, etc.) option. On one hand, I agree with the idea that if a player takes on additional risk towards their character, there should be additional reward. On the other hand, I find standing by that opinion encourages negative behaviors in my thief players, where they deliberately leave the group behind to race forward and take loot for themselves.

 

[Jd Smith1]

You really expect me to believe that people who've played together for 20 years are suddenly going to quit your game if there's even minor forms of PvP (stealing loot)?
In 20 years you could get married, get divorced, raise kids, earn assorted degrees & complete some careers. And yet you keep showing up to play make believe elves with each other & would throw that away when rogues do rogue things, etc.....
Sure.

I didn't expect you to believe (because I was not aware you existed, and am still not convinced that you do) because this is not about you.

 

[iserith]

It's considered gross among people with whom I play so people don't do it. We put that in the PVP column, so the target determines the outcome. The exception is a sort of "nod toward thievery" where the rogue "steals" something, but it ends up back in the party fund by some entertaining and convoluted means later on. This effectively just becomes flavor.

 

[billd91]

The second option - missed loot/wouldn't get - is one of those options I think a lot of people might divide up. Missed loot isn't very different from taking loot without sharing. It's something the thief has found and not revealed and could be substantial. The random pick pocket is a bit different and less likely to net much loot - mostly pocket change on your typical PC scale.

 

[hawkeyefan]

I recently had this come up. The party rogue grabbed an item that he saw and pocketed it without the other characters seeing. The players just laughed.

If it's a problem at any given table, or if the participants think it will be, then I'd simply say that it's not allowed. Best to avoid any possible conflicts among the players.

 

[Fenris-77]

Two words - table contract. Whatever is cool or not should be set up before the game starts.

 

[The Green Hermit]

I was torn on voting for the When the rogue is taking the risk alone, anything is okay (looting while scouting, etc.) option. On one hand, I agree with the idea that if a player takes on additional risk towards their character, there should be additional reward. On the other hand, I find standing by that opinion encourages negative behaviors in my thief players, where they deliberately leave the group behind to race forward and take loot for themselves.

In which case, said rogue is far from help when bad things happen. shrug

I don't allow PvP, largely because my group mainly consists of teens, and some of them wouldn't react well/would take it too far. However, we also don't do the party loot thing -- although there are times when nobody needs anything or something just can't be evenly divided so we wait until getting back to town and selling it to divvy up the money -- with the person carting it getting a bigger slice of the pie, if carting space is an issue.

 

[Lanefan]

Voted for a few options, and also for "other" as there's no choice for "anything goes".

You do what you gonna do. Consequences* will do what they gonna do. Life goes on. Keep it in character.

Besides, odds are that sooner or later the thief's gonna die anyway just through the normal run of play, and we can loot it then.

* - picking up and flipping over the party thief every now and then and then shaking vigourously to see what unexpected things fall out is almost a time-honoured tradition around here.

Reminds me of a character I played ages ago where for some reason the party decided I was the expendable trap finder and monster bait. I was a Gnome, thus easily pick-up-and-throwable, so SOP became open the door, throw the Gnome in, close the door and wait either until they heard shredding or I walked back out.

For a while I absolutely cleaned up - figuring that if they're gonna put all the risk on me I'm gonna make it worth my while, I'd skim off about 1/3 of whatever was in the room then walk out and give the all-clear.

Then they threw me in a room that had a monster in it. End of Gnome.

 

[ccs]

I didn't expect you to believe (because I was not aware you existed, and am still not convinced that you do) because this is not about you.

1) Congrats! You've learned something new today: My existence.
2) Everything is about me. You just don't realize it because I don't generally make it known.
Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.