How to handle a campaign where looting might not be practical?

[Concrete]

I am currently working on a campaign where the PC's are contracted as a special auxiliary task force for the watch of a large city. Imagine a police procedural in a high fantasy setting.
I've run into the problem of acquiring new gear and wealth.

While someone in the service of the law might run into wealth and magical items, those items are often stolen property, or straight up illegal. Hell, half the reason a city watch exists is to return such things to their rightful owner, or the authorities.

Still, I figured that part of this problem can be solved by:

1: Letting the PC's receive gear from the guard armory.
(This also lets me give the PC's some of those nifty alchemical weapons and items that only really work on low levels, but most low level characters can't afford to buy.) They might even like the challenge of having to do things with limited resources, or resources they usually don't use.

2: Rewards and bonuses.
Since they will be working for the watch, but not really being a part of the watch, they should be able to accept rewards from grateful people who'm they have helped. Also, bonuses might be in order for solving harder cases.

3: Bribes and theft.
The temptation of taking bribes and bagging parts of stolen property for themselves should be present, and a balance between risk and reward is always interesting. Will the smuggler who paid them to look the other way turn out to have brought a potent disease into the city? Will someone recognize that stolen amulet the fighter pocketed?
But of course I don't want to force the PC's to rely on such means.

4: Straight up looting.
Sometimes a gang of criminals will have weapons and gear that don't actually belong to someone else, and after having been processed, whoever handles evidence might let them have it.


Does anyone else have any ideas how this could be handled? Have you ran a campaign in a similar manner? How did the PC's react to it?

[Shackel]

They could get a paycheck from the guard which allows them to build up and personalize their gear beyond just city watch armory standard. It also helps keep track of just where the party is WBL-wise when they basically have pay stubs.

[Geddy2112]

I like all of those. Some of the evidence might go "missing" and they could get bonuses for jobs well done(not always in gold), reduced prices on items(the mil-spec good stuff normal civilians don't get access to).

Likewise, are they guards 24/7? Freelance work is a thing, and some people might offer additional rewards for doing their jobs. Some of these rewards might be intangible.

Who says they will not be crooked? Planting contraband, stealing and not entering things into evidence?

Sounds like you have it pretty well down.

[Telonius]

In this situation, I'd probably go with 1. If their commander knows they're going up against something that's very strong, maybe he'll allow them the full riot gear. If they're just working the usual beat, regular equipment. Maybe allow them some sort of reputation check (DMG2 has details on that sort of thing) to requisition higher-level equipment.

[dascarletm]

Two ways I have handled this.

1. You give the characters a stipend which goes to their "work gear" and set this to WBL. You can them let them have a paycheck for personal use that would go towards non-gear related stuff.

2. You set up a system where each job/mission/case gets a requisition value of X gold. Players will then each pick out their gear for that mission. It would benefit single-use items, so maybe if you want to get into the nitty gritty you could break up WBL so half is permanent standard issue gear, and you give them another bit of WBL as requisition per mission.

Two is definitely more complicated, but it gave a more... I'm working for an organization feel. Both games were cyberpunk and the players were working for a government institution.

[TheIronGolem]

Automatic Bonus Progression (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/other-rules/automatic-bonus-progression) can reduce or eliminate the need for magic items.

Alternately, you could have a friendly crafter NPC (perhaps an artisan in the watch's employ) who will make items for the party on an as-needed basis.

[johnbragg]

First thing I thought of is inherent magic items. If the barbarian can get DR/1 by leveling up, it shouldn't break versimilitude for characters to get inherent magic items when they level up. The WBL tables are in the book. Tell the players to make a shopping list using whatever books you're allowing.

So the 5th level fighter at 10,500 gp, any armor he puts on is +2 (4000 gp), any melee weapon he picks up is a +1 flaming weapon (4000 gp), he can duplicate the abilities of a hat of disguise (1800 gp) and he has 700 gp in cash, or to spend on one-shot items.

[Gnaeus]

You could also set up a special system like Vow of Poverty, which gives them certain benefits based on level. You could either make it a vow (so that if they betray their oaths or take bribes they lose benefits either permanently or until they atone) or just a special blessing by the city wizards which duplicates some or all VoP benefits. VoP is generally a dog with fleas, but since you would be tailoring it to campaign, since most or all players would have it, and since you could allow a certain amount of personal wealth on top of it, it might work here, at least as a starting point.

[Nibbens]

So here's a thought - take a tip from the old James Bond movies. Have a quirky inventor wizard working directly with the armory who allows the PCs to pick out certain value items as rewards/supplies for upcoming or past missions. So, once the PCs level gets high enough to allow +2 weapons, they get a choice of a flat +2 weapon, or a +1 (and +1 enchantment) weapon.

Sure, it's a bit more controlled and not quite as exciting as the "Oh! Look at this new weapon I looted, whoo-hoo!" but it does allow you to make personalized magic weapons that aren't in the norm (and perhaps special functions, because your wizard is quirky)

Maybe instead of a +1 shocking club, your PCs gain access to +1 club that does 1 point of electricity damage on a hit, and once per day you can activate the club to stun your target... because who doesn't like a stun baton?

Using specialized items like this, you can get really creative with your item sets despite the party's lack of exciting finds in loot piles.

[dascarletm]

Automatic Bonus Progression (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/other-rules/automatic-bonus-progression) can reduce or eliminate the need for magic items.

Alternately, you could have a friendly crafter NPC (perhaps an artisan in the watch's employ) who will make items for the party on an as-needed basis.

Oh yes, that I also recommend highly for this kind of campaign.

[Red Fel]

You could always privatize them. Have their actions as a special auxiliary force draw the attention of a wealthy backer who offers them a retainer to perform an independent investigation for him. If they succeed, his backing is sufficient to set them up as a private investigations and enforcement firm. That means they deal with clients who pay them directly, enabling them to spend money as they like. They still don't necessarily loot, and are paid by the case, but it gives them more freedom to handle wealth as they like.

This also opens up bonus avenues. Being independent of the police department, but formerly affiliated, they can either have good relations with official law enforcement (leading to help in investigations and a Sherlock Holmes kind of camaraderie) or poor relations (leading to obfuscating bureaucrats, difficult police officers, and possible plot hooks dealing with investigating crooked cops). Similarly, you can have them turning around to investigate some of their patrons. You can also have some of their clients be recurring figures, such as the eccentric inventor who sells them gear at discount, the wealthy genius playboy who tricks them into some of their more outlandish adventures (but always pays well), or the severe and shady noble who dislikes the PCs, but appreciates their effectiveness.

Basically, it means more recurring NPCs and more plot threads. Also, you've probably seen a dozen TV shows with a similar concept, which means lots if ideas upon which to draw.

[FocusWolf413]

Looting still works. If a crime is committed with an object, technically, that item can be claimed as evidence. If a crime is committed in a car or in a house, even if it's stolen or without the owner's knowledge, the owner's claim to that car or house is forfiet. The police sell stolen cars all the time. This should be no different.

[johnbragg]

Looting still works. If a crime is committed with an object, technically, that item can be claimed as evidence. If a crime is committed in a car or in a house, even if it's stolen or without the owner's knowledge, the owner's claim to that car or house is forfiet. The police sell stolen cars all the time. This should be no different.

The Police *Department* sells stolen or impounded cars all the time. If a *cop* is selling stolen cars or drugs, he's a dirty cop.

Now the cops might repaint those stolen cars in PD colors, which is why you see some small-town PDs with some very sweet rides, giving out traffic tickets from a Ferrari. The cops themselves, however, aren't supposed to claim those as their property.

And in a sorta-medieval setting, people rich enough to own goods worth stealing, and sending the cops after, are likely to have enough political pull to want and get their stuff back.