Burial Rights for Adventurers

[nsruf]

The cleric was saying last rights, ...

I rest may case

Also, robbing the dead guy blind isn't "rights", it's "dibs"...

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

Your typical man in the street wouldn't I agree, but adventurers are a different breed and they spend their days in situations that regular commoners would never dream of getting into. They need the equipment their deceased companion was carrying.

Well, if you were in the army, and one of your teammates died, would you bury him with all his stuff, or divy up the ammo/gear among the rest of the people first?

I can definitely see the point there, and if it's usable 'life or death' equipment or some super-McGuffin the party needs to use then it makes sense to me. In fact it'd be daft not to take those things... The army examples fit with that side of 'corpse stripping' and make good sense to me.

I was thinking more where the PCs strip a corpse of everything, including all the things they don't need right now, then sell it at 'ye olde magyk shoppe' or trade it with a friendly wizard, etc... That's the scenario that causes me problems.

It can definitely fit in with some of the 'gritty and persecuted' style adventures and would feel just right in an evil campaign. However, for me, it really ruins the feeling 'high valour and honour' type of adventuring?

 

[Vurt]

Well, in climbing circles, there is the half-joke "If you die, we split your gear."

But mostly that's because the gear is so specialized, it would be a shame to waste it (not unlike D&D adventuring). And it would be nice to keep something of a friend to remember them by, potentially even saving your own carcass with it.

Cheers,
Vurt

 

[el-remmen]

I loved how in Fellowship of the Ring (film version), you see Aragorn strapping on Boromir's bracers after he dies - and the ranger/king wears them for the rest of the three films.

Personally, I see all of this as a consequence of context and last wishes - and good role-players will make their decisions based on that.

Whether it be, "Frig him! He's dead. He don't need that stuff anymore!" or "We shall bury him with his weapons and armors and most beloved things to help him in his journey to the afterlife."

When you play with people you trust (which is the only way to play) then you don't waste time questioning their motives.

Then again, it is easy for me to say since I only run low magic games - so even if a person dies there are only one, maybe two things to be split up among the group and perhaps a masterwork item as well.

 

[Wippit Guud]

It becomes so much easier when they die due to a disintegrate.

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

It becomes so much easier when they die due to a disintegrate.

And so much more eco-friendly. Those magic swords take ages to bio-degrade.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I played in one game with a guy whose character borrowed several magic items from my rogue. Later in the adventure, the rogue was killed. The guy's reaction was, "Great! Now I can keep his stuff." When I pointed out that the rogue was going to be raised, his response was that once he died, all the rogue's possessions were fair game - he refused to return anything.

Needless to say, that was the last time I gamed with that particular player.

As far as I recall, all rogues carry some kind of disease (which they are largely immune to): If you touch their stuff, you can catch it. It manifests as stabbing pain in the back, followed by profuse bleeding (followed by death)

 

[Numion]

That's a really silly offer to make if you don't trust your players - there's not really much to stop them from taking B and deciding that the 'new guy' doesn't get diddly, making him decidedly ineffective.

Uh, that decision is made at the beginning of the campaign, and the same decision applies to all players / PCs. This is fair to all, since players really can't know who's character will bite the dust.

 

[Saeviomagy]

That Wizardry CRPG was 15 years ago, d00d.

Que? Didn't the wizardry games force you to carry the corpse of a dead character around until you either rezzed them or replaced them?

So you never, in fact, buried them at all?

Uh, that decision is made at the beginning of the campaign, and the same decision applies to all players / PCs. This is fair to all, since players really can't know who's character will bite the dust.

It makes it a little odd when the PC's are forced to discard perfectly good gear regardless of the individual character personality due to a rules decided at the beginning of the campaign.

Or vice versa when the paladin says "no, we must strip all the loot from the corpse, or our next new recruit won't have any stuff".

And then add to the fact that the new guy is likely to get hand-me-downs.

 

[Numion]

It makes it a little odd when the PC's are forced to discard perfectly good gear regardless of the individual character personality due to a rules decided at the beginning of the campaign.

That's kinda the point. A set of good stuff is buried so that the new PC can come in to play with a set good stuff tailored to his class and choices, without bringing in more equipment than a group of that level should have. It's a choice to keep things balanced. Of course if the corpse happened to carry something important to the quest / campaign, that is transferrable.

Or vice versa when the paladin says "no, we must strip all the loot from the corpse, or our next new recruit won't have any stuff".

Of course the Paladin wouldn't say anything like that. In-game the Paladin would see that the body is buried with it's belongings, or that they are sent to the dead PCs relatives, or something like that. In meta-game, the stuff is never seen again in any case.

And then add to the fact that the new guy is likely to get hand-me-downs.

With our way the new guy comes into play with equipment normal to his class & level. The party is free to give him "hand-me-downs", but the new PC wouldn't really need them.

Hobviously my way seems completely wrong to you, but all kinds of rules can work given my first rule: don't play with wankers (courtesy of .. um, was it hong?). My players don't try to undermine this so-called testament rule, because they're quite happy to bring in new PCs with approppriate equipment. (Instead of getting hand-me-downs from the other PCs, which consist of the dead wizards stuff even if the new PC is a rogue).

And really, none of my players like it when someone adds insult to injury when they 10 secs after beloved PCs death start calling dibs on the equipment.