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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jbear" data-source="post: 5195746" data-attributes="member: 75065">That's a big topic right there. A wiser man than me said: "Money is the root of all evil." If money and gaining things is the primary motivation you use to hook your PCs into stories, they are already standing on a slippery slope before the game begins. Treasure being gained by other means than robbing, pillaging and murder, is an interesting option. Initial Gear the PCs already carry (their 'normal old longsword' for example) refluffed initially as Non-magical hierlooms they have inherited via their backstory or hooks into campaigns/adventures . As the PC gains levels the weapon/object begins to 'awaken' and increase in power. And so the need to remove the boots from the dead is somewhat eleveated. But if this is going to be the chosen method of treasure distribution, then I think you have to let the PCs know they don't need to thieve and murder if it doesn't fit in with their character concept. You need to say explicitly that You, as DM, will make sure they have access to their fair share of 'rewards' appropriate to their level via more noble means. Otherwise, where are they going to find 'cool stuff'? Either on the cold cadavers of their enemies or hidden in some hard to get to corner of the world with a horde of monsters to hack through standing in their way.  Most of the players in my campaign are unaligned, self-declared ruthless mercenaries who do not take prisoners. The 'good' characters assure that their death is swift and painless. Here I think you have to take into account the fundaments of the world that one lives in, in order to begin to define good, evil and appropriate. On the few occaisions they have crossed what I considered a line of 'appropriate' character behaviour, I've pulled them up on it and asked them to justify their actions considering their professed worldview.  But in anycase, why can't characters be like people? Changeable, coloured with many shades and contradictions. I am everthing I am and I'm the opposite of it too. I have days when i'm more like the me I aspire to be, the me I imagine in my head, the ideal me, and other days when I'm something totally different. And those swings can happen quite quickly, influenced by something as basic as my hunger levels. Imagine the state of my psyche if I woke up on a daily basis with dry blood beneath my fingernails and dragonhunting on the mind.</blockquote>

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