Stealing

[Eltern]

I hope this is in the correct forum, if not, could a Mod move it, please?

In my campaign that I DM I have a player that has dumped a lot of skill points into move silently, bluff, hide, diplomancy, tumble, and use magic device (not disable device) and is going all willy nilly stealing things from stores, then selling them to other stores, using his diplomancy and bluff skill to get the best price possible. At the present time he is -significantly- ahead in net worth compared to the other characters. I am just now seeing how the thieve's guild and other organized crime rings can stomp down on some of this, but are there any suggestions for how to curb, or at least control, this? Traps, guard systems, security systems, extradimensional storage places, whatever. I just have trouble making up significant (but not necessarily impenetrable; he -has- put effort into this) defenses on the spot, and definitely not hard and fast numbers.

Suggestions?

Thanks,
Eltern

 

[BigFreekinGoblinoid]

first thing to tell us: is the PC in the/a local guild?

I'm assuming "No" with this suggestion:

Word gets around! If he had done this several times in the same town, the story will get pieced together, and his description/m.o. will be known. ( Where are the ranks in disguise? )

You can do several things that do not invlove expensive traps or systems, the simplest of which will be that; the word on the street is not to do business with him as his goods are probably stolen.

You can then escalate to involving the thieves guild, sending him a clear message to knock it off, or else. And by the way, you MUST now join the guild and pay us an initation fee and a % and and and and and

 

[Foundry of Decay]

A trap could be set by the local authority in several of the stores that weren't hit.

Chances are that stores buying merchandise from other stores are part of a merchants guild, and might catch on after a while when a fellow guild member finds items with his stamp/mark on them in another shopkeepers inventory. It might even be likely that said shopkeeper would remember the thief's face, or mannerisms.

Guilds can be powerful. Even if the Thieves guild doesn't get involved, the merchants guild might spring for some serious power to come in to curb this rogue serial theft.

Items stolen might also have be set aside, or were being held for local barons/lords/wizards/power-groups by the store owner. Heck, if he was a crooked shopkeep, he might have been holding items for the thieves guild, or assasins guild, and they certainly don't take kindly to being stolen from, especially if said shop was under their protection.

 

[Harlock]

Use the old Standby - An intelligent item with a voice.

Thief: "I swipe that really expensive looking brooch and sneak away."

DM: "As you pick it up it starts screaming, 'Help, thief! He's getting away, quick, save me, save me!!!' Every eye in the market square turns and looks dierctly at you and you see the merchant you stole it from out of the corner of your eye as he bounds over the table with a nasty looking dagger in hand. Roll for initiative."

Once the guy is discovered he either has to start disguising himself, move or simply decide to be a little more choosy and less sticky-fingered.

 

[reapersaurus]

yeah - relying on just the rolls and his skill ranks in this arena is DM suicide.

Why should he think that he can't get caught? What kind of an arrogant SOB player is he?

If he's stealing a lot, it's almost a guarantee that he will get caught - there SHOULD always be people of varying level in your world, some of which should be better than him, or have cirumstances which let them catch him.
Then when this happens (not IF it happens), he gets his comeuppance, and probably will understand how it's not a sure thing.
Especially if somehow you steal away from HIM, evening out the treasure levels. There are many plausible, and helpful to the story, ways to do this.

 

[Terry Edwards]

Where does he get the time to do this? Send this party on a long series of adventures where there aren't any stores to steal from.

 

[RSKennan]

Scenario 1

A high level rogue is in the store when your player's character tries to do his thing and catches him, reporting him either to the store owner (to shield his own theft), or the thieve's guild, with all that entails.

Scenario 2

The store owner he hits next is actually heavily involved with either the authorities (a son or nephew in the city guard) or the Thieve's guild itself.

Scenario 3

He steals something that is too valuable to sell (obviously not on a shelf- maybe a rich person brings in a mysterious ring or brooch to have it cleaned/repaired, and absentmidedly the shopkeeper leaves it unattended for a few moments) or cursed, and which causes him more trouble than it was ever worth. This can also be set up as a sting- whereby the authorites are nearby, scrying or merely waiting for the rogue to leave. This last idea only works if his reputation has gotten out ot at least 1 other person outside of the party.

Just a few ideas.

 

[Dirigible]

Why should you curb it? What right do you have? If you'd said 'help, one of my players bought Focus and Specialisationa dn Improved Critical and now he kills a lot of monsters?", you would be renowned as mockworthy.

Did you say at the beginning of the game 'you can't play a Chaotic Criminal (one of the unnoficial alignments that abounds in D&D) character'? If not, how can he be doing anything wrong?

 

[maddman75]

I'd go with the thieves guild myself. See, all the merchants in this town have paid "protection money" to the guild - guaranteeing they won't be stolen from. Now that someone is swiping stuff, they think the guild is double-crossing them and don't want to pay. The guildmaster has seen a lot, so he starts sending his boys to keep an eye on different places to see who is muscling in on his territory.

As for what they do then, well do you ever watch the Sopranos? >

 

[S'mon]

I think the key here is the stores he's selling stuff to - they'll quickly know the goods are stolen; they'll either pay less and less for the goods - requiring higher & higher Diplomacy checks to offload the stuff - or simply turn him in to the authorities. If this is a typical medieval type city it's more of a village by modern standards, word gets around and he'll soon come to the attention of the authorities, the merchant's guild, the thieves' guild etc. He's likely to either be arrested and jailed/maimed/executed, or forced to skip town, possibly taking him out of the campaign.