Stealing

[Ahrimon]

I think one of the other players should make a bully character. Then they can take his stuff. Or have someone in the party be a really good thief and take his stuff, sell it, and buy the party other good stuff.

Seriously though. Have another character that is played anal retentive, and as soon as the bodies have dropped, he is catologuing all of spoils. Besides, if something is obviously magical then the whole party would know about it. Probably because it was used against them. Otherwise how does this guy know he's taking the magical stuff? Is he casting detect magic? Have someone else do it too. Then they would notice all of the "extra" effects that this guy had and catch on. If he's ninja looting money and jewelry, well how much can he shovel into his bag without the rest of the party seeing/hearing? Shift some of the spoils to more obvious items. If the dead guy had a big cool sword around before the ninja got to him, this it's pretty obvious where this sword is. Don't any of the other characters get suspicious when this guy is walking around with tons of loot that no one found and still has cash to spare? It wouldn't take to long before the alarms went off with any attentative character.

I've had characters like this before, they skim off the top, but they can't get too much without the rest noticing. Unless of course he's managed to convice the other players that their characters would look the other way. Maybee your other players need to step up and say "No I won't go look in the corner while you take care of the body. You have a better search check, so you go look." Or something like that.

Some ideas

Ahrimon

[edit, some quick grammer changes]

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Ah, this seems to be the cousin of the "my character is greedy, so it's good roleplaying if I take most or all of the magic items for myself" one player used with his minotaur (that beast was too powerful for any of the other players to take on individually, and they didn't seem to be able to work together against him). He always played to win, and used player knowledge quite often. His minotaur killed that campaign in the end (though the DM's inactions helped).

I say there is a limit to everything. This includes "good roleplaying of my character" - especially if it will make the game less fun for *everyone else*.

My advice: Tell him to stop. Tell him you don't care whether it is supposed to be good roleplaying, because he's being a pest to the rest of you (though not necessarily with these very words).

 

[reanjr]

Going on the assumption that he is CN (it would seem so to me from what little I've heard), don't allow that alignment in your campaign anymore. Many people don't allow evil characters for this reason.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Loot is loot is loot, if your group does not have a contract for its gathering, selling and spliting I would say he is playing the game well. Now as a DM, I would look for ways to break him of the habit as it is causing conflicts.

One way cursed items, hell he found it...make it fun too, things like the fly paper map/item, bulky object sticks to the hand, my player was so pissed that he paid the magic user to hit him with dispel magic but he forgot to remove all his other items! The blood curse, some cult hunts the player (not bothering the others). Then you have taint, and just normal stuff.

 

[KenM]

Is he taking EVERYTHING from the people he loots? If so thats bad to the other players, and the other players should roleplay it out.
There is an art to stealing more loot from the party:
1. Don't take it all, leave some for everyone.
2. Don't steal from other players, just take it from corpes, chests, ect..

 

[Plane Sailing]

A PC of mine in a d20 Star Wars game is an atrocious thief - Meela will steal from her companions, accept money and forget where she put it, fail to repay debts, takes her own little "cut" from everything she sells for the others... she is a noble/scoundrel Twi'lek who can diplome like nobodys business.

The Players know that she does this, but their PC's are either taken in by her genuine manner or accept it because they know that they still get more from her selling their stuff and taking a cut than they could get on their own.

I find Meela is very enjoyable to play for a change of temperament.

My only question for you is this - is it the Player who is always secretly looting everything, or is it just this PC that the player runs? If it is the latter then I don't understand why it should be a problem in a, uh, role playing game.

My best suggestion? He sounds like he really gets into role-playing so ask him to make sure his next character is a paladin or lawful-nicey cleric or something similar. Something he can get his role-playing teeth into without skimming off treasure.

Cheers

 

[ARandomGod]

What are the other players doing about him?

If they always turn their backs so he can loot bodies why should YOU have a problem with it? They don't seem to.
The other players are effectively supporting his nefarious deeds. If they don't like him nicking all the loot why don't they do something about it? I know I would.

I don't see that you have one bad player, but I suspect you may have 1 "role-player" and a few "roll-players". Tell the others to buck their ideas up.

Well, whether or not HE encouraged the others to RP their reactions, YOU should. But then, if they're really not noticing, IE if he's really getting the items... well, I suggest a compromise. Sometimes the PC's really ARE easier pickings than NPC's. And skimming from the top really IS a valid view of a thief's perks in the game.

Especially if they really are allowing this "I must perform rights" or "I will be the one to slit their throats" behavior. Why would they continue to leave unlooted bodied unattended unless they approved of the action? Eventually they've got to (in character) wise up and start making spot checks... looting themselves, etc.

Another solition is to have the characters take a public inventory of all items in the group before and after a campaign, then let everyone grab whatever. Then the GM can roll each time to see what items the looter manages to conceal. Etc. (Roll in secret, of course) The properly roleplayed character/group can suggest this in character without making overtly suspicious noises towards any character. "Just to be fair" "To compensate for items expended or lost in the adventure" Etcetera.

You could have a group that will "pool their resources"... then the looter has to either share the items he has to join that group, or leave items he doesn't want to share behind.

Perhaps better for role play would be to just have the GM (Or you as a GM) be certain that the other characters get items that cannot be skimmed by the thief. Make the treasure more visible. While allowing the thief to loot some unseen as well. Have some items already on the character get better spontaniously rather than being improved through other methods (something that cannot be looted!) Thereby allowing everyone to have their brand of fun. Why deny him the right to sneak some gold and a few rings and amulets? Just don't have those items be magical unless you either 1) Before the NPC dies the good items become seen and obvious to the other characters, so that they will know that it was there, removing it from the catagory of "valid loot".
2) Intend that looter to be the recipient of said loot.

Give the other characters better deals on item creation or lucky better magic items when splitting up loot, thereby evening out the share without forcing his character to share in a manner that would be out of character for him.

Or, of course, the party can get fed up and boot him or kill him.


Or better, have him loot an invaluable magical artifact that is jealous of other items or valuables. The more valuable/useful the more jealous the artifact is. That artifact will occasionally make possession attempts to divest the character of other items. Make the first of these rolls in secret, so that he has to figure out where the items are dissapearing to.

That way he can uncharacteristically "give" items to other players, and wonder how they got it later. Or he could spontaniously loose or break items. That could add an interesting dimension to the game.

However you choose to do it (or have it done), I suggest that you try to even out the total party treasure somehow, and still allow him to be a skimmer, as that's what makes him happy. Either you (when you GM) or the GM should be able to do that without too much difficulty.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

If the guy isn't fun in the group why are you playing the game with him?

Our rules for character creation: No evil. We don't like Chaotic Neutral. All characters must be team-oriented.

Some people find this very restrictive and stifling, but we haven't had a character-squabble in over two years.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

I am baffled by the number of people in this thread who think stealing from the party is "a valid option for a PC thief." Do you guys also tolerate such a character if somebody else is playing him/her?

I recently got into this discussion with a party member in the game I currently play in. He regularly plays halfling thieves (though he picked a human ranger this time around). He too thought it was acceptable, even expected, for the party thief to steal from the party. He seemed stunned when I told him my characters--any of them--would kick such a character to the side of the road the instant they discovered it in-game.

Why would you risk your life with--and split your loot with--someone who is ripping you off? It doesn't matter if the PCs are easier pickings than the NPCs. The PCs are your companions, your co-workers--hopefully your friends. You don't steal from your friends, no matter how easy they would be to steal from. You break that trust...you're out. Simple as that.

[/rant]

 

[Fingol]

Thanks people for all your input.

You have given me a lot to think about.