Stealing

[Janx]

I'm amazed you all missed a key clue pointed out in the beginning.

It was stated that the player uses the forgetfulness of the other players against them. As in, "oh yeah, last game we divied the loot up, and I got the +1 sword" when it really didn't happen. Effectively, this player is cheating.

It's one thing, in the game, to roll some dice, state your intent, and steal an item from a CHARACTER. It's another to lie about where the gear is, so you can trick a PLAYER out of their stuff.

I'd be very wary of that kind of gaming. That's not role-playing. Heck, it's meta-game cheating. It's also not very social.

As a DM, you can advise players not to play that way for the simple reason that it intrudes on other players' fun. You're not putting his idea of fun over everyone else's fun. It's not fair. You can also advise the players that you will condone any reasonable action the party takes against an anti-social character. Since the typical party has no qualms slaughtering tribes of orcs, why would they have a problem with killing a traitor in their midst? If that's not enough warning to players to get along or else...

Some simple things you can do is to try Gear cards. I'm making some templates right now for my campaign. Basically, every item you hand out, goes on a gear card and it goes to the guy who picked the item up. This makes it very obvious and very physical as to who has what. Unless the thief is actually stealing those cards (which is against the rules as CHEATING), he's not going to be short-memory-tricking anybody. It will also be obvious that Mister-Fat-Stacks is hoarding stuff.

In addition, you can change the method of exposing treasure in the game. Start having less loot on the bodies, and more loot given as payment/reward by benefactors. Meaning that LootBoy can steal 1gp rings off the bodies all he wants. When the party gets back to town, LordDeepPockets can hand-out +1 swords to anyone he feels like. And LootBoy can't stop that.

Just a few thoughts,
Janx

 

[ARandomGod]

IMO, enriching yourself at the expense of others is pretty much the definition of evil. There may occasionally be justifications for it, and the character may have other redeeming traits, but in itself stealing is an evil act.

Your definition of evil, perhaps. There have been any number of alignment threads with just as many people agreeing with your position there as agree with mine (Mine would be that enriching yourself "at the expense of" others is pretty neutral, depending on your definition of "at the expense of others")RAW is very vague about alignments these days. Really, go back and read it. Anyhow, it's not MY definition of evil. For all that ... I do see the description of this character as likely to be evil, just not for stealing.

It's not the stealing (I agree with you there, actually), the general behaviour just seems plain NE to me, totally egoistic and self-centered).

Well, I have to agree with you there. He does seem NE. I was just saying that, depending, he COULD be also N or CN... or even CG (with some great depending going on there... and it certainly doesn't sound like it from this description)

Oh, and one more thing. Some of your suggestions are very metagamey (like giving out +10 Spot items ). I wouldn't go that far. I would just use what the PCs have available and give them a realistic chance and point them to what their characters would most certainly and obviously notice.

Then let them handle it.

True. I don't really have a big issue with the GM being metagamey though. In fact, I rather expect him to. As long as he'd not railroading the situation. I was thinking of a situation where noone wants to get rid of their character, but they all have say a low(ish) wisdom and no skills in spot. I imagine that the looter has maxxed skills in sleight, so there could easily be a situation where noone CAN "spot" him. Of course, there are other ways.

Also the cursed item... not something, that turns him into the most honorable and free-giving person. Just some cursed item. Nasty, sure, but not specifically tailored to the situation.

Actually, that was a referece to a particular "cursed" item already in a campaign. It's an intelligent item, and definitely does not turn a character into a giving person. Just the opposite, in fact. It's a greedy item that will encourage theft, gives a bonus to sleight, and will pick pockets on it's own sometimes when you're not looking. On the other hand, it's also highly jealous, and will make you drop or give away other weapons (it's at least partially a weapon), and will similiarly divest you of any other magic items if it get's jealous of your attention to that item.

Actually, it also makes it *very* hard for the character with the item to actually steal from the party, and it does this by conspicuous stealing! It forces the party to split up the loot that the player is carrying as well as any other loot. ^_^
(Other info, it's also definitely artifact level magic... it's one of those items that grows with the character, and given out in a relatively low magic realm. A neat ploy to allow good magic items for the character throughout all character levels without giving many items as treasure or allowing magic to be made/bought.)

 

[Aust Diamondew]

IMO (and as others have stated/implied) the other chracters in the party should stop being such wimps and demand their share of the treasure. I know if someone was taking more loot than his fair share from my PC he'd demand they make it fair or he'd dish out some swift justice (with the sharp edge of my falchion).

The other PCs should step up to the thief and stop being such yellow bellies IMO. If they don't know who the thief is (and he's been doing this for many sessions I'm guessing) the PCs are pretty thick.

 

[Wraith Form]

You could tell him up front that all items that he steals from the party will prove to be non-magical and worthless.

Non-magical and worthless to thieves, in particular, if you want to really discourage the behavior.

DM: "Stranglely, when you try to sell that Holy Sword you nabbed from the tomb, the fence won't touch it. Seems he's afraid of the holy order finding out and 'punishing' him. Oh, and all those gold coins? Counterfeits. Sorry."

 

[Hawkeye]

Stealing from the party can be fun and enjoyable for the entire party, if done in moderation. I play a thief in a LARP who will skim a little gold here and there as his "fee". He is the only character that I have ever done this with in nealry 25 years of playing RPGs. All of my friends know this particular character will do that and those that I haven't played with before I warn. I do not steal magic items, or large amounts of gold, but just a few coins here and there. I try very hard to balance my ideas of playing fair as a player with my character's larcenous nature. At that point, it becomes part of the game with the rest of the party trying to see me taking something. I was never caught, through a use of sleight of hand, misdirection and sometimes dumb luck. That is probably the best way to do "stealing" from the party. I have seen players take as much as they can and then it tears the party apart.

Hawkeye

 

[Doug McCrae]

It's got to be handled player-to-player, even if it does make you uncomfortable. You've got to explain to him that the way he plays is reducing your enjoyment of the game.

 

[ARandomGod]

It's got to be handled player-to-player, even if it does make you uncomfortable. You've got to explain to him that the way he plays is reducing your enjoyment of the game.

I agree, it has to be.

BTW, I'd like to request that you write an update and tell us how it DOES turn out. I wanna know. ^_^

 

[the Jester]

I agree, it has to be.

BTW, I'd like to request that you write an update and tell us how it DOES turn out. I wanna know. ^_^

I second this motion.

Good luck with it!