Greedy Player/Loot

[Euryx]

So we have a rogue in our party who likes to be greedy. Anytime something beneficial drops he wants it for his character. The main item he takes are heart crystals that drop from bosses which increase your health by 1d6. I got irritated today because we have a meat shield in our party who the health dice havent been kind to and needs the crystals badly. I did get the crystal today however the rogue lied to my character saying a priest he works for is looking for them and since our chars have been traveling together for a long time my character has no reason to suspect him. Also the rogue is the only one who knows what the heart pieces do and hasnt shared that knowledge with the group. I got a little ticked because he doesnt even utilize them by being in the front lines cause well hes a rogue. Anyways, im a little off on what action should be taken. I dont want him to feel like he cant rp his character but also i dont want another player to have less fun because of it.

[Sir Chuckles]

Tell him that he's being a butt, hampering other people's fun, and making poor tactical decisions. If your character's roleplay is "I'm going to steal from the party", it better be either a very allowing campaign, party, and DM or be retired as a villain. This is actually a very common OOC problem that groups have, especially new groups, and the best way to solve it is to talk to him as a group and ask him to stop.

If he claims that "It's my character, it's what I have to do", then you'll have to ask him to change character, or at least alter it. I've played thieves and liars, but only the worst or the dumbest would steal from the guy twice his size who is the only thing standing between him and being eviscerated and eaten by kobolds.

If, even then, he does not stop, you'll have to work with the DM is either put him on time out, kick him (especially if this persists), or (bad idea) fiat the party finding out.

[Segev]

Yeah, this has become an OOC problem. If the player won't change his behavior, talk to the DM about ways for the PCs to find out what the crystals do that bypasses the Rogue.

Also, everybody in the party should start rolling sense motive; I normally don't encourage metagaming, but in this case, it's not, really: the PCs get Sense Motive whenever anybody lies to them, so you're not metagaming to roll it. Somebody probably will succeed eventually and realize the rogue's fibbing about something.



And again: try to get the player and the DM to realize this is an OOC problem that they as friends should work with you guys to fix. If the rogue's player won't, he may need to be asked to leave the game. If the DM won't, then it may be time to find a new game.

[Dalebert]

2nded on the sense motive. If anything, I think a circumstance bonus on the roll is warranted considering they've gotten to know this guy pretty well. Also, why do you default to trusting a rogue? Every rogue-ish type should get detect thoughts on them as soon as the ability is available along with a tactful interrogation discussion about treasure to bring any thoughts to the surface. Cast it discreetly, of course, like go away and cast out of ear-shot and come back. Really a character with DT should use it on everyone at some point just to vet out their partners unless they have a moral impediment to doing so. I can see some lawful characters feeling that way depending on what their code of behavior is based on.

These sorts of threads keep coming up. "Our rogue is stealing from the party!" Whenever I play an evil character in a (mostly) good party, I remind myself that evil /= stupid. I know better than to poop where I eat. Don't steal from people too close to you. You're bound to get caught eventually and these relationships are valuable even from a completely selfish standpoint. Explain that to him OOC. That way he has an in-game reason not to act that way along with the IRL reason that it makes the game suck for everyone.

[Euryx]

Thanks for all the advice guys, ill make sure to talk to the dm about what was said and to the player as well