Handling character death, and the legacy of loot

[furryblueelf]

I would be interested to see how DM's handle this particular issue in their games.

Depending on the player, event, or economics, character death is not something that can be come back from. Based on these events, the player can also leave behind a trove of goods that some players will claim before the corpse (or decision thereof) has hit the metaphorical floor.

I find that this quandary exacerbates the farther into a campaign you proceed. If a new character is introduced, generally they will start with some higher quality items, but the old characters items have already been absorbed, inflating the power or resources of the remaining. And you dont necessarily want to penalise the player who has the new character.

So do you:
a) have all new characters introduced with nothing outside the mundane, hoping the party will magnanimously gift them goodies on joining
b) have all owned magic items on the old character destroyed on their permanent death
c) just go with the increase of goodies in the game

Any thoughts would be appreciated :D

[Grek]

Have the new character start with as much as the other players had prior to the death of the old character. Then let the party (including the new character) take what they want from the old character, with the explicit (tell them OOC) understanding that whatever they take counts against them when you decide treasure placement for the next few encounters.

[Reversefigure4]

It can be borrowing trouble to spend too much time dwelling on it in advance. I've never ended up with it as a problem actually coming up, as most players aren't keen to have their characters vulture-pick the dead man who was their dear friend whom they trusted with their lives.

When the dead PC's loot has come up, I've asked the player of the dead character. "Sir William the recently deceased knew his life was dangerous. What sort of will did he leave behind, or wishes did he make known off-screen to the other characters?"

Generally, the money and goods have been given to charity, passed along to the dead PC's family, etc, clearing the slate. The only exception is blatant plot objects ("The Sword of Villain Killing"), which get picked up and retained by another character.

[Greywander]

"Sir William the recently deceased knew his life was dangerous. What sort of will did he leave behind, or wishes did he make known off-screen to the other characters?"
This was what I was going to bring up. What sort of will did the dead PC have?

Now, this obviously depends a lot on the players and what sort of feel the campaign is going for. Murderhobos are going to desecrate their deceased friend's corpse faster before the body is even cold. The new character should probably start with nothing, with the understanding that the existing characters will need to redistribute their magic items in order to operate at optimal levels as a team.

If the players are more inclined to have proper backstories and even lightly RP, then they should have family or friends off-screen that they might want their items to go to. Of course, they'll still probably leave some of their stuff to their party members, because they know how dangerous their journeys are, and there may yet be important unfinished business. Heck, you could even make it a sidequest to deliver Sir William's magic sword to his teenage son in the remote village of Nowhere.

In these cases, new characters should start off with a few magic items according to their level. This can also be a flavorful way to add some backstory to them. How did they come across these items, specifically? Page 135 of the DMG shows a small table of magic item rarities and how they correlate to both character levels and gold. You can use this as a guide when determining what level of rarity a new character should be starting with as a particular level. In fact, you can just give them a gold budget based on level and let them buy as many magic items as they can afford, with prices set by rarity.

[Malifice]

Always hilarious watching a band of noble heroes looting the corpse of their comrades.

Notably they then leave said corpse to rot.

Most parties comprise a Cleric also for exta lols.

'Ashes to Ashe.. dibs the magic ring'

[DarkKnightJin]

Always hilarious watching a band of noble heroes looting the corpse of their comrades.

Notably they then leave said corpse to rot.

Most parties comprise a Cleric also for exta lols.

'Ashes to Ashe.. dibs the magic ring'

My Cleric hasn't had to bury a party member yet, but considering hos deity, he'd make sure they're actually buried and given last rites.

My Sorcerer would probably take what he could use, and leave the rest to the part to distribute.

My Paladin has had a party member die. He took the guy's gold and arrows, and gave the Longbow to the (Valor) Bard, along with some arrows to use with it.
Then again, he's a Naga from a nomadic desert tribe, so lingering on the dead isn't something he tends to do.

[Chronos]

Maybe you'll eventually bury the guy's armor with him, or hand it down to his niece, or something. But meanwhile, there's a a world that still needs saving. Worry about things like that after it's saved.

Depending on the circumstances of the character's death, it might or might not be possible to give them a proper funeral/burial. And what counts as one of those can vary widely from culture to culture, anyway: A druid, for instance, might well prefer to be left to feed the vultures, instead of being put in a useless hole in the ground.