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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sigg" data-source="post: 3122559" data-attributes="member: 30546">I think many are assuming looting defeated enemies is a routine thing. I don't agree with that because there are many potential consequences of looting. My opinion hinges on the group actually using stuff like needing to ID magic items and using encumbrance rules and such. I can think of only one reason to make looting a SOP event... pacify irritated players who forget to loot.I can think of many reasons to not make looting an SOP event...1) Part of the loot could be cursed2) Part of the loot could be poisoned3) Part of the loot could be trapped4) The act of looting could trigger an encounter by more/different monsters/npcs5) Taking all the loot could encumber one or more players, potentially requiring more retconning because they might not have escaped their last encounter where they ran away (for example) or have required them to pick and choose what the take and what they don't6) The act of looting might have led them in a different direction than they have currently taken (potentially requiring even more retconning)7) Carrying looted items could have an modifying effect on the reactions of encountered npcsI'm sure, given time, many more potential consequences of looting could be added to the list. I treat looting like I do searching for traps... they both have possible negative consequences. I allow a SOP for HOW traps are searched for and loot is gathered, but not WHEN. As has been already stated, the characters are just as fallible as the players and can forget to do something that can be considered routine. I've locked my keys in my car before, or forgotten to grab them on the way out the door. Hell, if it wasn't for Sir Kay forgetting to belt on his sword, Arthur might never have become king <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> .Outside of MMORPGs, looting can hardly be called routine, and even in the only MMORPGs I've played looting isn't automatic. I still had to go up to the corpse and click on it. Did I ever forget to do that? Absolutely.</blockquote>

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