Greedy Players and the Lust for Treasure!

[Byronic]

Byronic: The players themselves are not greedy, they just play their characters as if they were greedy. It feels like their way of thinking is "Why should I give this sneaky guy this shiny dagger that I found but can't use?", when it should be "I can't use this dagger so lets just give it to this sneaky guy who will benefit from it more than anyone else". When I suggested that the ranger will just simply sell it to the rogue and get more GP than he'd get from selling it in a store, the rogue refused and then stole it from the ranger.

Well, if this is really bothering you or some of the players, then simply tell them to stop.

Meanwhile tell them three things:

Remind them that it's very easy to knock someone out in this game, simply state before rolling damage that you want to knock them unconscious. That's at least how it works according to RAW

Also remind them that a thief seldomly steals amongst his companions. This is simply common sense. After all, stealing stuff from people makes then rather pissed off. Do you really want to piss someone off that you rely on for mutual protection?

And finally, even evil people have friends. And what you people did counts as an evil act. If they need further explanation remind them that most people on earth, so most people they hang out with, see at school at such at unaligned. Unaligned does not mean "do as I please", perhaps you could read that into it in 3e but these days doing the stuff you're doing counts as Evil.

 

[chimpion]

Reading over all of this i'm surprised that noone has suggested a PARTY LOOT system in where all of the loot is put into one big pile and maintained by 1 person. Then all the gold is distributed equally amongst each other and if anyone wants any of the items that you have distributed they simply buy it from the party loot.

This way if you don't have to give out specific items for a character to make sure he gets it and everyone get's a fair share of the loot and can use it however they want at their convenience. This also has the advantage that any items that you give out as a reward ends up not being wanted by anyone it can just simply be sold for gold then split.

Since the characters have all kept track of the loot given, noone can steal or take anything without anyone else knowing and if the person in charge of the loot steals/loses (etc) without explanation then just simply dock them the outstanding amount from the party loot.

So in the end everyone gets what they want and gets a fair share.

As for someone stealing items from someone else that is called Role Playing and if it's appropriate for his character and backstory then it's his pre-rogative as long as he/she is prepared for any consequences. This can include being confronted by other members of the party and put in jail or the characters deity (etc) smiting the PC and so on.

Also if a thief steals from his party it's before acceptable. Just make sure you do it in secret if you succeed.

In the end if the party fails to divide up the treasure sufficiently since the above system works with majority then let them do as they will and have an encounter that will party wipe them. It's not your fault the PC are dumb, life is unfair and it sucks to be them if they die because they stole, sold, lied (etc) incessently.

E.G An example is if they were attacked in the night and lost in the fight but were able to run away but in their haste they left some supplies behind.
Other more ingenious but less obvious methods is to have some NPC characters depending on the circumstance be a rogue and steal from the thief himself. It's always amusing to find the rogue whose been stealing from someone else to get asked to make a perception check out of nowhere for apparently no reason with everyone else at the start of the new day. The party will just think it's a check for an ambush while in reality it's a check to notice if some of his belongings were stolen.

As for the situation in where one person is looting everyone's corpses ala the Ranger just have an encounter where the party dies just to his greediness or use one of the above suggestions. Avoid the "bolt of lightning falls from the sky dealing 5 dmg to the ranger" sorta thing. You can also suggest to the party they kick out the ranger from their party. Just because you may all be friends in real life doesn't mean it's the same in the game. I enjoy making intricate backstories for my characters who act according to their backstories.

edit: Remember you're the DM and you imagination is your only restriction. In the end people only learn to share when it's proven to be in their favour and more beneficial. After all the reason people steal from party loot (etc) is because of greed and they want to get ahead and become more powerful than everyone else. However if you prove that sharing creates more good than being greedy then it'll all stop and the best way to do this is to create party wipe situations which could've been avoided if the party was appropriately armed. While everyone becomes unhappy make sure they know that if they behaved appropriately then it would've been fine.

Also an amusing situation is if you swallow the greedy person whole and noone else can do anything about it because they lack the proper equipment. Nothing like karma

 

[Saeviomagy]

Just a point:

If you're instituting a system where characters have to buy their loot out of a pool, then the price for the loot should be the same as if they were selling it to an NPC. Otherwise they'll never be able to afford most of it.

 

[Krensus]

For loot in my games, I let my players keep track of their own wish lists and when an encounter has treasure, I say that it is "amorphous mercurial steel" of level X. In essence, it is an Xth level item, but I'll let them decide what it is because of who will get it. The main drawback is that the monsters don't get to use the items, but frankly, I think the encounters are hard enough without extra advantage to the enemies.

I just recently started this because the players brought up to me that they didn't like the original loot system where they all rolled a d20 when an item dropped and then I told them the level of the item they could choose. Once a player got something, they couldn't get another item until all other players had recieved an item. I modeled it after my loot system in WoW, but it ended up having the same problem; people would just pass on the stuff from the first encounters so they'd have a better shot at items in the last encounter.

Now I think it takes a little longer, but really that gives me a little breather to organize the next encounter in my mind and remind myself of what these next monsters do.

 

[mattdm]

It sounds like the players are having a little bit of trouble finding an in-game reason for their characters to act as a real team. So, I think I'd start with an out-of-game discussion about that with the whole group.

Identify the problem together (there may be some who see a different problem, so listen to what they have to say too), and then brainstorm possible solutions. Have the players try to come up with reasons their characters might come to trust and rely on each other. Then, as a DM, work to make the appropriate situations come up in game.

Presumably everyone wants to have fun, and for many players, role-playing the sort of squabbling you're describing is fun. It's thinking about "how would my character act in this situation?" and playing it out, even if it does take half an hour away from killin' monsters and taking their stuff.

But usually, a lack of inter-party cohesion is only enjoyable for a little while, and people are eventually ready to move to the next stage. Some people might get tired of it a lot sooner than others (like, "right away"), so it's valuable to have a little out-of-game communication to make sure everyone is having a good time.

 

[Dragonblade]

Players stealing from each other is something that used to plague our games of 1e and 2e when I was in high school. Whole sessions and campaigns would end in a free for all battle royale where the party would all turn on each other.

It was ridiculous and it was frustrating as a DM to see your story and work go to waste because half the party is dead and the other half fleeing with their ill-gotten gains.

We eventually had to institute an out of game rule that no stealing of party member possessions would be allowed, and no secretly pocketing treasure while other party members weren't around either. The DM just simply didn't allow it. If you weren't mature enough to play nice, then there is the door. Don't let it hit you on the way out.

We had many long and much more satisfying games once we implemented this rule. And only once did a player actually leave a game because he wasn't allowed to steal from the party. And good riddance I say. The game was much more enjoyable when that PC left.

 

[kouk]

You can still insert story into an otherwise featureless Dungeon Crawl.

The PCs can come across bodies wearing the same outfit/insignia, indicating a group or army.

They can come across a note indicating reports of a large monstrous horde building nearby.

They can stumble upon the remains of eaten carcasses, indicating a group of monsters in the vicinity.

If they feel like there are hostile groups out to get them, they may feel more amenable to forming a friendly group.

 

[LostSoul]

We are all 21 years old.

In that case...

1. How do you deal with player characters taking too much time dividing their treasure?

Crack open a beer and make "suggestions" (jokes).

2. How do you deal with player characters stealing from each other?

Crack open a beer and have them make checks.

3. How do you deal with player characters killing each other over treasure?

Crack open a beer and let them go at it.

If one character survived the combat while the other characters are at negative HP, and that character wants to loot the room alone, do the other players still have to roll Death Saving Throws? What if they want to roll just in case they got a 20 before he takes all the loot?

Crack open a beer and make fun of everyone.


The serious answer is that your group looks like they want to play crazy backstabbers. If that's true, enjoy it with them. Don't take the game seriously at all; make situations where the PCs will get into trouble with each other. Make lots and lots of jokes and take it easy.

If that's no good, then you'll have to talk with them about expectations for the game.

 

[chimpion]

Just a point:

If you're instituting a system where characters have to buy their loot out of a pool, then the price for the loot should be the same as if they were selling it to an NPC. Otherwise they'll never be able to afford most of it.

I thought that was implied. Of course it's not gonna be the full cost. The system of party loot is meant to be beneficial for all after all.

 

[Regicide]

Just be glad your players haven't figured out that magic shops have an infinite number of copies of every possible purchasable item your characters can get.

P1: "Do you have a sword of greater brutal head chopping?"
SK: "Yep! It's 50000GP, should I wrap it up?"
P1: "Nope, just checking. Do you have a shield of complete and total stoppingness?"
SK: "Yep! It's..."
*repeat for a while*
P1: "Thank you, I must be going now, oh, and by the way, what time do you close at tonight?"