Players misplacing PC equipment

[Elf Witch]

If it is not on your character sheet then you don't have it. This is our rule and it bit me in the butt once I had transfered to a new character sheet and had not written everything down. I knew I had a rope but I forgot to transfer it so when we we needed the DM ruled since it was not on my sheet it was not with me.

I was fine with that.

I have played in games where the DM didn't care and it aways amazed me how someone alsways had on hand anything that was needed. :\

 

[BSF]

I expect the players to keep track and if they don't have it written down, they don't have it. I have even handed out props and explained that if the players didn't have the prop when they try to 'cash in', the PCs must have lost the item at some point.

 

[Ellie_the_Elf]

I give my players an index card for each item in their possession. Arrows, bolts and other stuff they carry in bulk all go on one card. If they sell, use up, lose etc. an item, they give me the card. If they buy or upgrade items they get a new card or write the upgrade onto the old one. I got them all a little plastic wallet to keep their cards in.

If they don't have the card, they don't have the item- end of story.

There's an added bonus in that you can also write descriptions, add pictures etc to the cards, and players can write magical properties on the item's card as they're discovered.

You can put codes on the cards to help you remember what the items do if they don't get identified for a while. I tend to make an envelope for each treasure-bearing foe or room and hand the envelope to the players and let them go through it, which saves time in game.

I can't claim credit for this idea, but I highly recommend it

Ellie

 

[Quasqueton]

Now, what if during the next week, one of the Players finds the equipment list (was left at home last time) -- does their PC have it now? [Assume there is no cheating of any kind.] This is a situation I may have -- one of the Players thinks he has it at home.

Do you let the items back in? Or do you say no?

Quasqueton

 

[Crothian]

Now, what if during the next week, one of the Players finds the equipment list (was left at home last time) -- does their PC have it now? [Assume there is no cheating of any kind.] This is a situation I may have -- one of the Players thinks he has it at home.

Do you let the items back in? Or do you say no?

Quasqueton

Depends. If the party is in a situation where they can go bacvk and find what they lost, then I'd allow them.

 

[Aeric]

I guess it depends on the reason why it wasn't written down. If it was an honest mistake, if the player said he'd write it down and then got distracted or something, I'd still give it to them. If they were flippant about it and said "I don't need to write it down, the DM will keep track of everything for me," then I'd probably yank it. DMs have enough to keep track of without having to manage players' stuff too. That's what character sheets are for.

Luckily, the people I play with are generally good about this sort of thing. We even have one guy who is in charge of keeping a list of everything we loot for the purposes of divvying it up later. So this situation rarely happens in our game, and when it does it is either an oversight or an accident.

 

[William_2]

I give my players an index card for each item in their possession. Arrows, bolts and other stuff they carry in bulk all go on one card. If they sell, use up, lose etc. an item, they give me the card. If they buy or upgrade items they get a new card or write the upgrade onto the old one. I got them all a little plastic wallet to keep their cards in.

If they don't have the card, they don't have the item- end of story.

There's an added bonus in that you can also write descriptions, add pictures etc to the cards, and players can write magical properties on the item's card as they're discovered.

You can put codes on the cards to help you remember what the items do if they don't get identified for a while. I tend to make an envelope for each treasure-bearing foe or room and hand the envelope to the players and let them go through it, which saves time in game.

I can't claim credit for this idea, but I highly recommend it

Ellie

This is very cool, and an excellent solution, I think, if there is a problem. For me, mixing up player record keeping with the actual game world is just awkward. If it makes no sense at all that a character would not have taken the flaming greatsword, but the player did not write it down, I prefer an out-of-game reminder to keep better records, or even a penalty of buying Doritos to something that makes the campaign world into nothing more than a game board, rather than showing a little more interest in internal logic. I can see how having problems with this might lead to drastic solutions, though.

 

[Wolv0rine]

If it doesn't happen TOO often, I say use it. Yeah, the bag and everything you guys had in it's gone. Looks like you guys wuz robbed. If the Ranger makes a DC: 15 Search check there's some footprints leading away from the last place you guys made camp...

The stuff's still gone, lost to the shady reaches of however the thieves guilds turn loot into profit, but now there's a lead to a side-adventure (or maybe a big one).

But yeah, I'd make exceptions when it seemed like no more than an honest slip ("Yeah Jake, we all know you had 12 arrows +1 and a ring of warmth, it's cool"), but that'd be about it.

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

Now, what if during the next week, one of the Players finds the equipment list (was left at home last time) -- does their PC have it now? [Assume there is no cheating of any kind.] This is a situation I may have -- one of the Players thinks he has it at home.

Do you let the items back in? Or do you say no?

Quasqueton

So long as it does not invalidate previous decisions based on the assumption of however you dealt with it, it would be fine. If otoh it make previous decisions nonsensical & verisimilitude suffers then it would be a "no sorry, tough luck".

 

[Hand of Evil]

What happened to the character sheet, don't you know that dead characters go to the NPC folder for use later! Gee.


If you do not recorded it, you never had it. The other side of the coin is that two or more characters end up with the items. I have the use of a 'will' system for my players, in game there is a family/guild/church/state that recieves the stuff or money from its sell before the other players, yea, this is all an aligment issue but it keeps the dead player from from haunting them.