Treasure Division Policy - Feedback Requested

[vostygg]

Suicide Kings

Thanks, that's useful!

That said, D&D is not WoW. I caveat most of my opinions here with "...but this is just the way I play; you do you." However, if you are having "bitter loot disputes" I would posit that you are, in fact, doing D&D wrong.

Did I say 'bitter'? I probably meant 'spirited'. We are a bunch of old guys who are picking up D&D again after a nearly forty year hiatus.

 

[vostygg]

The best way to do this is in character. Generally, the PCs do not know item rarity and may not be able to appraise the value of everything. That means it can get tricky to be fair.

In the past, when PCs ran into trouble with treasure division, the best method I've encountered was to divide a small amount of the coin evenly during the adventure (for expenses), but to hold the items, jewelry, gems, art and coins to divide after an adventure. Someone might test out an item during the adventure, but it goes back in the pool at the end when it is time to divide up the treasure.

Then, at the end, all of this treasure is identified (if they can), appraised (as best they can) and laid out. The coins are divided into 10 equal amounts. The small gems, jewelry and art are divided into groupings about the same value as the coin stacks where possible, but if the individual items are worth more than the coins, they go into a separate one item group. All magic items are a separate group. Obviously, they have to guess value if they can't appraise, so there can be some discussion there - but later steps make it fairly irrelevant if they get this correct or not.

Then, the PCs take turn adding to stacks. They take either one of the items, a group of coins, a group of gems, etc... and add to an existing stack, or they start a new stack with it. This means that you'll have at least 10 groupings to add to the stacks from the coins, but you usully have more than 20. However, you may just have a handful of stacks if they make them big, or a lot if they keep them thin. If there are powerful items, the stacks tend to concentrate to equal out the values. If not, they can spread out or stack up... it all tends to even out pretty well.

*After everything is in stacks* the characters determine a random 'draft order' and then proceed to draft stacks in a snack draft (1,2,3,4,5,5,4,3,2,1,1,2,3,4,5...) until it is all gone. Before they draft, they occasionally 'trade draft picks'. (Bob, if you give me your first pick, you can take all the rest of my picks after the first round).

If a PC wants a particular magic item, they'll put it in a separate stack (generally) and hope it is there for them to draft. Sometimes someone will set up a stack that they think nobody else will want, but find another PC drafts it to sell (either to the PC that wants it or to an NPC).

All of this can be done in character. It uses the information the PCs have rather than book information. It is also (usually) fun.

As this is done in character, there may be cheating. The rogue might attempt some slight of hand to manipulate the random choice of draft order or move something from one stack to another. The wizard may lie about what an item is after identification. The appraiser in the group might fudge the value of a gem.

However, it is all in character.

There are modifictions that can be agreed upon. Sometimes the PCs agree that an item is best for the group when in one PC's hands and give it to them outside this process. Sometimes they all agree a PC can 'buy' an item from the pool before this process begins at an agreed upon price. Spell scrolls are often lent to the wizard to copy into a spellbook before thy are divided up. If there are a lot of coins they might divide them into more than 10 groupings. Sometimes a PC was off the charts awesome in an adventure and the group lets that PC get an extra pick or get to choose their place in the draft order.

This system has been used a lot over the decades, but it is not the most common system I see. Most often, we just divide the coins/jewels equally and talk trough who should get items. It is not perfectly equitable, but it is what is best for the team.

This is fantastic! Thank you so much for sharing.

 

[vostygg]

IMO it's best to have a formal agreement that everyone agrees to before a campaign begins. For example, I my group is very communal, with an even cash split (players can buy art objects before they're sold) and magic items are given out by need/usefulness. I'm not a huge fan of this, because it does create a huge disparity in magic items (one player might have 3-4 magic items, while another has none), but that's their preference and I deal with it when I'm a player.

I think your system is pretty fair, but offer a few suggestions:

Allow a party pool of funds for communal expenses. This can be used for rations, inn stays, as well as spell components that are useful for the group. Augury is a good example of this, but my group also includes Revivify (your group might have the cost deducted from the player who died, however).

Figure out how your group handled missing players. Some groups don't want players to get any loot for sessions a player misses. If so, you have to track that separately, which can be a bit of a pain in the ass.

Magic items are tricky, and I'll offer two suggestions. Your option is fine, but you might require someone who is getting a new magic item to give up an existing magic item to someone else to balance the overall number of magic items (I'd ignore rarity, because it's not a really good measurement of power in 5E). Alternately, you can create a number of shares of treasures equal to twice the party, where a consumable magic item is worth 1 share of treasure and a permanent one is worth 2 (thus you get less/no money for getting magic items), and choice is made by rolling lots at the end of the adventure.

These are great suggestions. Thank you!

 

[Blue]

I've found that some groups handle this in-character,a dn some groups handle in player-side. With very different results.

In one game I play it is:

• We divvy up when we have a chance to convert gems and art and such to coin.
• Magic items go to whomever it will make the best improvement / needs it the most, with the caveat that the best for party might be a cascade - giving the bets melee fighter a great magical weapon and they pass on their good magical weapon to someone who will make some use of it but not as much.
• Some effort is made to balance item distribution within the party.
• Some items are held for the party - passed around when needed, or is something that is for party benefit but someone needs to hold it. Those don't count towards "your items".
• Money is divvied up in a party+1, with the extra share being party funds. In addition to the obvious, party funds are used for things like diamonds to cast revivify to raise dead, etc. Also some expenditures everyone would make (like horses at a particular location) are often party funds.

On the other hand, another campaign is in-character with one merchant-type character controlling the purse strings.

• One guy is playing a rather coin-oriented character (merchant background, not super-greedy). He's been fanatical about keeping track of treasure so the rest of the party hasn't bothered.
• Whenever coin, gems, or the like comes in, he writes it down.
• Whenever a cost comes up, like staying at an inn, he pays for it.
• Whenever another character asks for money, he's given it to them. No one asked for an amount that he's said no to, and there has been some pretty large requests though nothing outrageous.
• He sometimes spends money on investments, businesses, or high-value supplies for where the party is going. The party spent a good chunk of the campaign traveling with a wagon with no complaints. The merchant has increase the money a good deal by having it available for things like this.
• No one except him has any idea how much money the party has.
• Magic items on the other hand are passionately discussed in character.
• The merchant may or may not be making notes who is taking what items and "billing" it against their share.
• No one (not even me as DM) knows if he's keeping close track of everyone's share and their remaining balance or just doling out money whenever asked. The player gets more than a little satisfaction from that.

 

[aco175]

There is player vs. player dividing and PC vs. PC dividing. I have players who play fair and think about what is best for the party. They tend to give items to those that can use it best and may trade items if they think they have more power than the others. They play to have fun for everyone. PCs on the other hand have goals like gaining gold and taking power. I found the biggest problems are when some players are thinking like players and other players are thinking like PCs.