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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Man in the Funny Hat" data-source="post: 2591978" data-attributes="member: 32740">I'd point out again how people are noting this can and is done without bothering to inform the DM.  When a PLAYER is given responsibility for tracking party funds it does not mean that the other players are giving his CHARACTER a license to steal if he feels like it.  At the VERY least the DM needs to be informed what the character is doing.  NOTHING the characters do is EVER allowed to be kept secret from the DM.And again, note also the reactions frequently being suggested for the other players - kill the character, nearly kill the character, evict him from the party, etc.  These are things that can VERY easily spiral out of control and not just disrupt the game but create angry players.  It is something that the DM needs to keep on top of.Because it is clear that players consider this to be a free benefit of merely playing a rogue or even just a greedy character it is clear that they are NOT thinking about the larger consequences.  Again, IME, mature players have frequently experienced having treasure stolen from their characters by other PC's and know that is does NOT generate responses of, "Oh you're so clever and roleplaying so well I welcome the opportunity to let your character get richer at the expense of all the other PC's including mine."  No, it generates responses of, "You jerk!  That's MY 100 gp's!  I'm killing his character in his sleep on the next watch."  "Oh no you're not!  I insist on a chance to wake up before he can do it - or better yet I insist on a bluff/sense motive check so that my character figures out what he's up to and kills HIS character before he can kill mine!"That's what I mean by "immature".I'm not saying they MUST be.  I'm saying that that is the BASIC level of understanding in D&D - the PC's cooperate and like each other.  Variations and even direct opposite approaches exist but when they do it is a VERY different game.  Once again I reiterate that if you're going to allow that approach to play then AT THE OUTSET, right when PC's are created and introduced into the game it must be clearly stated and understood that the basic assumptions of trust and cooperation among PC's do not apply.Just because your players handle the fallout maturely doesn't mean it's all that good an idea in the first place, or that it isn't a significant potential problem for others.Again, not all character concepts are equally valid.  For the same reason that players are not allowed to throw an Evil PC into a party of Good PC's and then start killing them simply because his alignment allows it, simply declaring that your character is greedy does NOT give you freedom to potentially disrupt the game by denying other PC's their due treasure.  Just because your PC is greedy doesn't mean that you have a RIGHT to roleplay that greed in a way that is unnecessarily disruptive.Start with a PC.  The PC has good diplomacy and negotiation skills and is thus allowed to do the buying/selling/deal-making for the party.  Accordingly it is quite common that the player of that PC is given responsibility for keeping track of the cash.  It's simply practical from a meta-game perspective.  Now the player realizes that because as a PLAYER he controls the cash for the party he can simply play accounting tricks AS A PLAYER in order to embezzle moeny rather than, say, tell the DM what he intends to do.  Naturally, a good DM would then have to reply to the player that he can't just start marking off money as long as the other PLAYERS don't notice.  If the PC is truly doing this IN-GAME, then the actions must be handled IN-GAME.  Other PC's are thus not ASSUMED to be blindly trusting of this PC who it is repeatedly noted is "Greedy".  The DM then gets to decide if the stealing PC is able to keep his theft secret, if other CHARACTERS are given any cause to be suspicious, and so forth.  Just because a PLAYER can easily get away with it doesn't mean the CHARACTER gets to get away with it without any in-game indications other than "My character is greedy/a rogue".That's what I mean by meta-gaming.Yeah all that's as may be, but then you're doing exactly what I said was necessary - providing an in-game impetus for the character to steal from other PC's.</blockquote>

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