How to punish stealing PC's?

[Umbran]

Okay, I'm not for the "punishing" of the character so that they learn a lesson. Maiming or killing the charaacter may teach a lesson, but it makes for a lousy story. I'm for playing through the normal reaction of the dwarf.

So, what's the dwarf like, and what is the local law-enforcement like? The dwarf may feel that finding the offender, beating her to within an inch of her life and taking her stuff is retribution enough. Maybe he thinks of it as a practical joke, and actually finds it funny, and feels the party now deserves to have one played upon them. Or, maybe the dwarf likes turning theives over to the local law enforcers.

Lots of people default to "cut off the hand" justice, but in D&D that isn't necessarily permanent, and in any event it makes for poor story makes for poor story. There are ways to turn this into an adventure hook. The Geas/Quest spell is an obvious choice if it's available ("You can lose a hand, or you can do this task for the community"). But, even without the spell, such stuff is open...

The dwarf finds the offender, beats her and the rest of the party into unconsciousness. The party wakes up, bound. The dwarf says, "Okay, now that I've shown I can find you and beat the snot out of you whenever I want, we get to discuss how you're going to pay me back for the inconvenience you've caused me..."

Whatever you do, make it so the punishment actually extends your story, rather than cuts off a thread. They will likely still learn the lesson, but won't be quite so personally put out by it.

 

[Storm Raven]

I don't think you should punish the PC per se, it sounds like the character is set up specifically as a thief type.

Theft in game should have realistic consequences for the thirf. Just because they are a PC, or they are a "thief" doesn't mean that they should get a free pass on stealing stuff. We don't let professional car thieves off easy because that is "just what they do". If a PC intends to take up a life of crime, that PC should not be surprised when that life of crime causes them troubles.

I mean if you don't allow theft then what's the point of skills like Bluff and Pick Pockets?

First off, both of those skills can be used in more or less socially acceptable ways. Bluff has combat applications, and non-thieving uses. Pick Pockets can be used for slieght of hand tricks and so on.

Second, someone can use these abilities against their foes. Bluffing your way into the evil army's fortress, lifting the keys from the ogre jailer who is guarding the pricess you are trying to rescue and so on.

Third, NPCs can use these skills too, and use them in unscrupulous ways.

So, even if no PC ever uses these skills to rip off random NPC allies or even just passers-by, there are more than a few reasons to include them in your game.

Now of course that doesn't mean the dwarf won't want revenge, but doing it because a character stole and you're trying to "train" them not to steal is totally the wrong reason to go about it IMHO.

No, the thief should suffer the consequences because the dwarf should be trying to "train" the PC not to steal from him again. And if such training reasonably involves the PC taking a dirt nap, so be it. After all, from the dwarf's perspective, if the PC is dead, they can't steal again now can they?

 

[Leopold]

probably said above. What is the alignment of

a. the town
b. the dwarf

if the dwarf is lawful he would take the theif to the town and have her prosecuted for theft. Now you can have the town do whatever is within the law (read: your law) to her for theft. In some cases thieves when caught lost a hand, others hanged, some paid a fine etc. This is up to you.


I would have her brought out by the dwarf, thrown in jail, and publicly hanged the next day as an example. If the pc's rescue her they will become wanted criminals and recieve the same treatement.

Remember if you have ANY lawful players in your party that know about this and know the LAWS in a town they will understand and HAVE to comply as that IS the LAW!!!

 

[Codragon]

A 2nd level PC has managed to trick and steal from an 8th level NPC! That alone is a tremendous feat of skill and luck. Well, luck mostly. How'd he get drunk? Aren't dwarves known for their high CON and FORT saves? How'd he get to 8th level and earn these powerful items if he lost them so easily! I'm assuming this dwarf isn't a total dimwit, or else some 2nd level twerp would have stolen his axe a long time ago. I'm guessing the PC had some very high rolls and the dwarf had some very low ones...

If the PC continues to steal from folks 4 times her level, she's going to get caught sooner or later. HAS TO. Based on the odds.

But since we've established the theft was successful....

For future theft deterrents, we need to know a bit more about the dwarf and the campaign. If the dwarf has some evil bent, you'd bet he'd be going after the PCs, and her possesions and her party. If you want to avoid fatalaties, have him hire out the thieves' guild to get his items back, and to nonlethally punish the PCs, perhaps stealing some of their items.

 

[kengar]

It's not a question of the thief not stealing. It's a question of being STUPID about it. If the thief went out of their way to rob a higher level adventurer (possibly because she knew he had more loot), then she should be aware of the risks. As DM, I might caution the player, trying to warn them that the "mark" seems formidable (magic weapons, etc. should be a good clue); but if they persist, let the dice fall where they may.

If a 2nd level party went up against -for instance- a young adult black dragon, the disparity in power would be roughly the same. I would warn them that dragons are not to taken lightly. If they were killed because they insisted on that course of action, I would tell them flat out that they were in over their heads and shouldn't have done that.

a careless thief = a dead thief

IMHO

 

[Roland Delacroix]

I had a similar problem with a disruptive PC that attacked a few town guards when he got mad at them. They beat him up, sent him to court, and he is now serving a 7 year sentence in prison. I gave the option for a jail break but the other characters decided that they were heros, not outlaws.

He rolled up a new PC and hasn't been a problem since.

A game without consequences isn't much of a game.

 

[Leopold]

Just have a large italian PC with rippling muscles charge into the pc's barracks in blue plated ankheg armor shouting " I AM THE LAWWW!!!""

 

[WillieW]

You have to rescue the adventure by making another adventure out of the problem.

Sure the Dwarf is mad at being robbed. Why is he hiring a wizard to scry on the characters? Obviously, one or more of the items the thief stole is more important than at first glance. Is there a map in a secret compartment? Was the dwarf on a quest of his own when he foolishly got legless and woke up potless? Is he unsure of exactly WHO the adventurer is... Obviously she COULDN'T be the harmless rogue-about-town he "mistook" her for. He must be careful until he can find out who she is, or who hired her...

The solution to the dwarf's problems will be the hook for the next (or a future) adventure into which the player characters can be drawn later. Political intrigue... scandal.... treasure hunt... the scope is there for the DM to sit back later and say "I meant that to happen" to the rousing applause and possible carrying around the room at shoulder height by the adoring players.

It could happen.

 

[Jeremy]

Is this general behavior encouraged, tolerated, disliked, or unknown to the rest of the party.

A good response might be to get a dirt cheap wooden shield, pick up a nice heavy stick, have the wizard cast mage armor on the dwarf and have the dwarf come knocking at the parties door.

The dwarf then explains what the thief did and waits outside while the party decides how to remedy the situation.

Some groups may force the thief to give the stuff back, some groups may buff and try to take the dwarf (and receive a sound drubbing).

If they try to escape, the dwarf can report them to the authorities then start hunting them for his stuff and then turn them in as criminals (after collecting a few tokens as payback).

Either way, you can use it as a good party RP situation before turning it into combat. That way, if they get into it, they chose to get into it and they have to face the consequences.

 

[Squire James]

I don't see why your PC's have Holy Halos (tm) over them that prevent them from being killed for doing something that would get anyone else killed. I have the same reaction to this as:

1. "A PC in my campaign just annoyed an Ancient Black Dragon? I don't want to kill her, what do I do?"

2. "A PC in my campaign just decided to fall on her sword! I don't want to kill her, what do I do?"

That being said, I recommend that the dwarf put up a Wanted poster. 500 gp reward for the return of each item, 500 gp reward for the PC's death (low enough that the PC's can't actually make a profit by killing her and raising her!). Make it difficult to pawn off the items (for more than 500 gp at least). If you want to be a pansy and let the PC keep her Holy Halo, you can still have the law harass her and eventually force her out of big towns.

"The farmer in Hommlet offers you 200 gp for that purty axe. Sorry, but that's the gp limit here..."