How to punish stealing PC's?

[Dieter]

If this situation were to happen in my campaign, the thief would have a new enemy to deal with. And since he was robbed blind and rendered nearly defenseless (his is 8th afterall), I would have the offending character running for their lives being completely (and justly) paranoid of every hill then come over and every alleyway they walk past.

You know what they say about paybacks...

 

[Tortoise]

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.

I'm with Umbran on this one. I think it's the perfect opportunity to swindle the party into some adventures.

How about having the dwarf arrange for their beat-down/capture. When they awaken they're tied up, the dwarf sitting in a chair grinning at them.

"So you like to steal do ya? Heh, well here's your choice. You steal something for me and you get back (insert valuables). You don't steal something for me, I keep this payment for my troubles in recovering my property from you. Your friends won't get back their (insert valuables) either and now they'll know you're to blame. So, do we have a deal? Good, then here's what you're to fetch for me ... "

 

[clark411]

Firstly, I don't believe any character action should be so directly "corrected" or "discouraged" simply because the DM doesn't want PC's messing with NPC's. That's what NPCs are there for- to be interacted with. If I were running that game, the player would have been given experience for doing that (well, if it was in character) simply because what she was doing was taking a very real risk. There was no stupidity involved, unless in the game her character knew she was tricking an 8th level person, and that she herself was only 2nd level. I'm surprised there's talk of punishing someone for *Not* metagaming.

Now that I've said that, I totally agree that the dwarf would want his things back and teach the character a lesson / exact vengance for the humiliation etc. I figure that a dwarf would be really direct, and beat the character to within an inch of her life. If other PC's become involved, he'd beat them too.

 

[Gizzard]

Another story angle: Have the PCs been bragging about their score? Do they work out of a big city and did they ID the +3 Axe there? Did the Dwarf report the theft to the local authorities?

If so, its possible that the thiefs activities have come to the attention of the local Thieves Guild. The Guild will not want independents operating on its turf; it will make a visit to the thief and make her an "offer she cant refuse." The best part of this, in story terms, is that it offers her access to an older wiser, perspective on thievery -- "Oh, now this Axe is a nice score. Where did you get it? From a Dwarf?! From a f*#*$ Dwarf?! And he knows who you are!? Honey, a Dwarf will hunt you to the ends of the earth if you steal from him; he'll hunt you to the ends of the Planes if you steal his Axe. Some items just arent worth the trouble - and this is one of them. Take it back and bring me something I can fence."

Regardless of what happens with the Dwarf, a journeyman Rogue bumbling around stirring up trouble is exactly what the Thieves Guild does *not* want to see. Sooner or later, she will come to their attention.

 

[Xar]

Hmm I see lotsa good ideas here...

Now, some more background: it is a Planescape campaign, and the PC's are in Sigil, a Damn Big City at the Center of Everything. As for the rogue, she was disguised all the time. The dwarf got drunk, well simply because he had too much ale. Then they went over to his place, as he 'wanted to show his stamp collection'. He had some interesting 'toys' in his closet, and the rogue agreed to 'play a game'. So the dwarf got tied up and the rest is history.

Of course they knew the axe is magical, as it glows with a pink radiance. But even in a big city like Sigil it is not easy to sell a magic weapon worth 18000gp, so the rogue is forced to tag it along for a while. As for turning the PC's over to the law, the Mercykillers aren't very friendly to criminals, so it would mean the end of the PC. The main problem is that if it takes too long, the PC's will eventually find a buyer for the weapon, and I cant handle all that money in the party (just stealing all the money is just cliched). And the infinite planes are just a step away, so dissappering is easy.

Oh, the dwarf is Lawfull Neutral.

 

[Conaill]

The dwarf (plus helpers) captures the entire party, strips them of all their equipment and clothes, and leaves them behind somewhere bound and gagged. This has the advantage of solidifying the solidarity within the rest of the party (shared hardships etc.), and encourages the other party members to "police" the actions of the rogue in the future.

In addition, I think a nice "THIEF" Arcane Mark in dwarven on the forehead of the thief would be approriate (wears off in a bout a month or so).

 

[reapersaurus]

As for the rogue, she was disguised all the time. The dwarf got drunk, well simply because he had too much ale.

So 2 questions:
1) The dwarf can only track down the axe, not the thief, right?
So when the dwarf comes to get the axe, they can claim that they just 'found' the axe, or got it cheap from the actual robber.

2) What did the player do wrong?
Sounds like she role-played the situation pretty well.
If the only thing this dwarf has preventing people from robbing him blind are the mages he knows, and that it's hard to easily liquidate his possessions, that's not a very good reason not to steal.

 

[Psychotic Jim]

Of course they knew the axe is magical, as it glows with a pink radiance. But even in a big city like Sigil it is not easy to sell a magic weapon worth 18000gp, so the rogue is forced to tag it along for a while. As for turning the PC's over to the law, the Mercykillers aren't very friendly to criminals, so it would mean the end of the PC. The main problem is that if it takes too long, the PC's will eventually find a buyer for the weapon, and I cant handle all that money in the party (just stealing all the money is just cliched). And the infinite planes are just a step away, so dissappering is easy.

Oh, the dwarf is Lawfull Neutral.

Ah, Sigil. The one place where poetic justice is truly possible. Some ideas:
1. Have you already detirmined the abilities of the axe? Maybe it is an intelligent axe with a really grating, annoying, whiny voice and personality. It is grateful to the rogue for "liberating" it from teh abusive, drunkard, dwarfish lout that used to own it. The axe might even fall in love with the rogue and decide that it cannot simply be sold away. If it is sold despite its great protesting and whining, it somehow always finds its way back to the rogue, and whoever bought it is none too happy as being ripped off.

2. The Fated noticies how this young greenhorn roguish individual has gotten a boatload of cash all of a sudden. Audit time! Where did you get all that money from? It is time to pay some taxes.

3. Just because the dwarf is LN does not mean he cannot be creative in his revenge. How powerful is the dwarf's spellcasting allies? Can they cast polymorph? Perhaps they cast a few polymorph spells or curse spells on the rogue to turn her into a form more suitable to her true nature, or that make her experience things differently, like making her into a succubus or giving her a girdle of gender. Of course, one she finds out about the dwarf's plans, there may be nothing stopping her from using the same tactic from all the gold she gets from selling the axe, like hiring a wizard to turn the dwarf into a mule.

 

[Seaver]

Have the party ambushed by the dwarf and his own crew. Have the dwarf's party beat the PCs into unconciousness. Play the combat out so that the PCs don't immediately feel railroaded, even though the thief did steal from an 8th level NPC.

Maybe throw in a sleep spell or two to put the party out and if they do wake up or anything the only thing they should see is a fist before they black out again.


Later the party finds itself tied in a large bundle swinging by their feet, upsidedown while hanging from a lampost in the middle of town, bound, gagged, and stripped to their underwear. They are surrounded by a crowd of laughing townspeople and some of the local militia can be seen in the back chuckling behind their hands.

Twenty feet away or so they can see that their equipment has been tossed in a heap. Next to the heap is an open crate filled with rotten apples and a sign sticking out of it which faces the opposite way.

One little boy seems to be slowly reading the sign. Slowly his mouth curls into a mischieveous grin as he finishes reading. He reaches into the crate and lets an apple fly hitting one of the PCs with a juicy, yet solid smack. He then reaches into the pile and and takes an item and runs off into the crowd with his prize.

Quickly more people join in pelting the characters with rotten apples and quickly clear out the pile of equipment.

Finally the characters are cut down and let free to the accompaniment of hoots, jeers, and laughter.

If any of the characters investigate the sign it simply reads, "Hit the target, take a prize."

At this point their gear has been dispursed among the populace, possibly available for sale back to the PCs.

The dwarf has retrieved his gear, he's had his revenge, and a little harmless fun as well.

Gotta love that earthy dwarven humor.

If the theif tries and steal their gear back from the townsfolk, well it's going to be hard for any of them to blend in with the crowd.

 

[The Dungeon Nazi]

This sounds like the perfect opportunity for the thief to delve into the seemy underbelly of society (and take the rest of the party with her).

As she begins levelling up, she should be gaining more influence and respect anyway. She can go into hiding, living on the lam, making contacts with other seedy characters and forging connections that she'll need to stay one step ahead of the dwarf and his cronies. Perhaps once she grows confident or powerful enough, she and the party can start staging raids on the dwarf's home, commission her own thieves' guild, striking back.

Maybe the other characters might want a level or two of rogue, though, if they're going to be tagging along, but I'd say that a great game may have just fallen into your lap.