D&D 5E Looting dead PCs

[zaratan]

There is any transmuter convention or something?

 

[Saeviomagy]

So, to summarize: Deadlier game. No opportunities to be a loot bandit. Non-random loot.

Deadlier game exacerbates the problem (because it's more likely for a character to die in the course of an encounter that is beaten). Non random loot doesn't make a difference unless all the characters have extremely niche magic item requirements OR they just have everything they could ever need. "The loot got eaten and nothing you can do can recover it" doesn't seem like it would deter anyone who actually went to any effort without some serious breaking of verisimilitude.

I would posit that looting the dead isn't happening simply because your players understand that you don't want it to happen, because I don't see any of these measures making much of a difference.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

Relatedly, I avoid the looting of dead PCs by telling the players I don't want them looting their dead comrades, having the group clearly mark all things that might inspire such looting as "personal" or "group", and establishing a table-rule and matching in-setting custom that the dead are buried with their personal items, and all group items simply stay in the possession of the appropriate group.

It also likely helps that any replacement character enters the campaign with equivalent personal items, so the players don't feel like the party has experienced a net loss of cool stuff.

 

[Saeviomagy]

Relatedly, I avoid the looting of dead PCs by telling the players I don't want them looting their dead comrades, having the group clearly mark all things that might inspire such looting as "personal" or "group", and establishing a table-rule and matching in-setting custom that the dead are buried with their personal items, and all group items simply stay in the possession of the appropriate group.

It also likely helps that any replacement character enters the campaign with equivalent personal items, so the players don't feel like the party has experienced a net loss of cool stuff.

That makes a lot more sense, and I suspect that this is happening informally in Shidaku's group.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I let them loot if they want (as have most GMs of my aquaintence). Less work for me.

 

[Sunseeker]

Deadlier game exacerbates the problem (because it's more likely for a character to die in the course of an encounter that is beaten).

Yes it means you're more likely to die, but it means you're substantially more likely to die if you don't work together. Stab your friend in the back in the middle of the fight and the enemy might just take advantage of it.

Non random loot doesn't make a difference unless all the characters have extremely niche magic item requirements OR they just have everything they could ever need.

I don't follow. Bob the fighter wants a magic sword. The next hoard has 2 magic items, and Bob gets his magic sword. Jeff needs a magic helmet. They can each get what they want, in this edition, you can only be attuned to 3 magical items and many magical items don't require atonement. So there's no point in hoarding those items and there's a cap on how many items you can actually use at one time. If someone starts hoarding: simple solution, no loot for them.

I would posit that looting the dead isn't happening simply because your players understand that you don't want it to happen, because I don't see any of these measures making much of a difference.

Possibly, maybe my players are just nice.

 

[iserith]

I think looting the dead is just fine. In fact, I'm generally inclined to making the magic items that are looted from dead PCs slightly better in some way and then giving them the name of adventurer who died. So instead of +1 longsword, it's now a the longsword of Yu which has an increased crit range against were-creatures (if, for example, Yu was killed by a werewolf or whatever).

 

[Saeviomagy]

Yes it means you're more likely to die, but it means you're substantially more likely to die if you don't work together. Stab your friend in the back in the middle of the fight and the enemy might just take advantage of it.

So don't do it? PVP is a totally different matter. Adventurers die, and it's a bit odd when their treasure hunting buddies leave a fortune in magical items just sitting on a corpse.

I don't follow. Bob the fighter wants a magic sword. The next hoard has 2 magic items, and Bob gets his magic sword. Jeff needs a magic helmet. They can each get what they want.

Right... but if Bob dies and Jeff loots his corpse, then Jeff now has a magic helmet AND a magic sword.

In this edition, you can only be attuned to 3 magical items and many magical items don't require atonement.

Yeah - so it's no good looting more attuned items than the 3 per character limit (well, except for selling them off again). But like you said - plenty of stuff doesn't require attunement, and there's no real reason not to stock up those items if you can.

So there's no point in hoarding those items and there's a cap on how many items you can actually use at one time.

There's no point hoarding attunement items (well - since some of them are specialized use, that's not entirely true). But there is a point in hoarding non-attunement items.

If someone starts hoarding: simple solution, no loot for them.

So the DM is involved in loot distribution too? Or do you just mean "if the players have too much loot, monsters stop dropping it".

Possibly, maybe my players are just nice.

Quite possibly. It's useful to know whether a system works because it's a good system, or whether it's working because the people involved in it are nice.

 

[leonardoraele]

I think looting the dead is just fine. In fact, I'm generally inclined to making the magic items that are looted from dead PCs slightly better in some way and then giving them the name of adventurer who died. So instead of +1 longsword, it's now a the longsword of Yu which has an increased crit range against were-creatures (if, for example, Yu was killed by a werewolf or whatever).

I usually take this or similar approach too. I remember when a wizard in my table died casting a fireball into an enemy next to him and take the damage of his own fireball. (because he—and the rest of the party—were just about to be wiped out, so he decided to "take the enemy with him") I described, instead of a fireball, that he grabbed the enemy and conjured a column of strong flames that swallowed both of them. He heroically defeated the enemy at the cost of his own life. After the flames extinguished, the only thing left were ashes and a strangely intact necklace. (the wizard's arcane focus, which had personal value to him—the last memory of his dead wife—, now a magic item) This was the most amazing death of a PC in my tables.

I never gave the name of a character to an item, though, sounds like a great idea.