Scavenging and Loot

[the Jester]

So, not only do the other party members get more treasure than they should at their level, the next character starts with nothing? The deceased PC's gear is normally worth more than the starting wealth of a new character of the same level or below, is it not? Or have I misunderstood?

Well, theoretically if everyone was a jerk this would happen.

Instead, in practical terms, the party rarely loots their dead, except for "plot items" (which I don't penalize the new pc for) or things like that.

This also helps to explain why all that loot is in all those old tombs.

I'm leery of relying on metagame logic for a solution. Not only is it a bad habit in general, it leads to inexplicable behavior. How, for instance, would these characters explain why they're willing to loot the bodies of anyone but the PCs?

Well, the bodies they loot are usually those of enemies rather than their friends and boon companions. They want to honor their dead pals, and burying them with their gear is one way to do so. They have little or no desire to honor most of their foes (though there are exceptions, most of whom the party has had a very difficult time killing as yet). As to relying on metagame logic to solve the problem, I wouldn't do it for most things. But in this case, it seems to have worked well for us.