D&D 5E Looting during combat wtf ?

[Necrofina]

Hey guys, little new to DnD, about 6 months in and I need some advice. I play a warlock ( only caster in group ) and try to maximize my dmg and spare my party members from aoe attacks, as well as ‘spare the dying’ cantrip and my owl familiar as a healing potion deliverer. But even though I play for the group I’ve noticed lately the others are looting the fallen and chests while others are still in combat or unconscious…
Should I get greedy, start being careless with Fireballs n aoe’s … begin ‘searching the room’ while melee pc’s occupy the monsters?

One of our players also dm’s our other campaign and we rotate week to week.

 

[Musing Mage]

Your reaction to events is entirely your prerogative.

If your Warlock is the type to get offended by it, then call them out in character at the table. If you don't care, then so be it, let it slide.

This, of course, assumes reasonable players who get that you are role playing, and their actions are likewise deliberate character choices.

Some people get touchy about the whole PvP thing, so you need to make sure everyone is on the same page if you decide they deserve some well earned fireballs up their collective arses.

 

[Ovinomancer]

Hey guys, little new to DnD, about 6 months in and I need some advice. I play a warlock ( only caster in group ) and try to maximize my dmg and spare my party members from aoe attacks, as well as ‘spare the dying’ cantrip and my owl familiar as a healing potion deliverer. But even though I play for the group I’ve noticed lately the others are looting the fallen and chests while others are still in combat or unconscious…
Should I get greedy, start being careless with Fireballs n aoe’s … begin ‘searching the room’ while melee pc’s occupy the monsters?

One of our players also dm’s our other campaign and we rotate week to week.

This is one of those things where you shouldn't be dealing with an out of game problem with in game means. And this is out of game because it's behavior at the table you feel is breaking the (probably unspoken) social contract of play. I'd highly recommend you bring it up in discussion, and ask why this is happening and state that it bothers you. If the other players don't care, you kind of have an answer as to whether or not you should be playing at this table with these players. Usually, though the reasons may be something that can be easily worked out.

As a curiosity, what's the treasure sharing agreement for your group? Do you have one? If so, does discovering loot get you some extra share? Usually, behavior like this is incentivized in some way, and it can be as simple as fixing the incentive.

 

[Ancalagon]

Wow. if someone is looting bodies, they have to kneel down to examine said body... sound like they are begging for an attack with advantage by a foe. Curious the GM doesn't seize that opportunity.

 

[Stormonu]

I've not seen that sort of behavior unless the threat to the group is relatively low. And the group is somehow dysfunctional.

I wouldn't advocate adding to the chaos by outright attacking others in the group, but if they're going to use their actions when revived to help themselves instead of the group, I believe I would have a frank discussion about doling out uses of spare the dying on them.

 

[Maxperson]

I've not seen that sort of behavior unless the threat to the group is relatively low. And the group is somehow dysfunctional.

I wouldn't advocate adding to the chaos by outright attacking others in the group, but if they're going to use their actions when revived to help themselves instead of the group, I believe I would have a frank discussion about doling out uses of spare the dying on them.

The only time I've ever looted during a fight was during 1e/2e when I didn't have a magic weapon or any other way to hurt the monsters, was not in any danger, and had some obvious loot like a chest or something. I would try to get it open in the hopes that the might be a magic weapon inside.

 

[Tonguez]

Yeah looting corpses during combat is either a unexperienced GM not reacting to distracted characters or indulging a dysfunctional player - either way bring it up with the GM to see what their thoughts are and then raise with the group.

 

[TerraDave]

As noted above, unless its actually part of the encounter (find the key, the weapon, etc) its way tacky. And as noted, it should lead to some serious character harm. Maybe a TPK? Its that tacky.

 

[Rune]

I've not seen that sort of behavior unless the threat to the group is relatively low. And the group is somehow dysfunctional.

I wouldn't advocate adding to the chaos by outright attacking others in the group, but if they're going to use their actions when revived to help themselves instead of the group, I believe I would have a frank discussion about doling out uses of spare the dying on them.

Spare the dying won’t let them take actions, though. It only stabilizes them (leaving them unconscious). The only way to get them back on their feet in combat is to actually heal them.

(This does mean characters who have been stabilized with spare the dead are still vulnerable to coup de grâce attacks. Although, if the DM isn’t targeting PCs while they’re looting, they probably aren’t being targeted while unconscious, either.)

My suggestion to @Necrofina:

Don’t worry about it. Instead, learn from it and, when you’re the one in the DM’s seat, make sure the PCs’ opponents won’t let themselves be ignored.

 

[Amros]

But even though I play for the group I’ve noticed lately the others are looting the fallen and chests while others are still in combat or unconscious… Should I get greedy, start being careless with Fireballs n aoe’s …

Clearly, this is upsetting you in some degree, or at least is not fun to you. But this is a problem you can only solve talking with the players, not with the characters, or taking actions in-game. So when it happens, stop the game and present your concerns.

This kind of issues can be avoided (or greatly mitigated) with a proper 'Session Zero', where you all set the boundaries and the social contract you agree upon. Even TCoE came with a section about Session Zero. It's not perfect, but a good starting point.

Not to late to do it now, I think.