Looting dead PCs

[Hisoka]

How do you other DMs feel about PCs looting corpses of other PCs after they die? If you don’t allow it how do you prevent it?

[Elkad]

Assuming instant reroll by the dead guy?

I'm going to limit his incoming loot on the new character somewhat, and I may nerf upcoming treasure until the party is back in line. Or make them deal with a horde of rust monsters.

What I don't do is try to limit the actions of the party. Looting one another is fine. I don't even care if they wait until the other guy is dead, or just do it while he's sleeping.

[SpicyBoi_Nezu]

Honestly, with all of the campaigns that I have run, I have rarely had a PC die. That may be because I tend to shelter my PCs from enemies that would be super difficult to defeat, but that is a different matter.

In the rare case that this has happened, the party usually gathers up their items, and either burns or buried the body. They don't do it with malicious intent, but most of the items are either sold, or used by another member of the party. I personally have nothing against looting dead PCs, but I believe that it shouldn't be a reward, because at that point, there really isn't anything preventing the Party from secretly killing any comrades and stealing their items.

One of the DMs in my party (Our party has 6 members, 4 of which are DMs, who rotate through campaigns) is more against looting comrades' corpses, because he is paranoid of us abusing the fact. The way he tones it down, is when we "Loot" the body, either half of the items are broken, or he only allows us to take the money he had on him.

[MisterKaws]

DMG says somewhere that items are buried with the corpse. Probably to avoid players trying to abuse each other's deaths.

[Segev]

Part of that loot is going to pay for any raise dead or resurrection for the PC, unless the party decides not to do that (or can't). How I would deal with it depends on the characters and situation, though, if a new character is joining. There are questions of inheritance, of whether the new PC is being introduced in a fashion that makes sense to leave him destitute and thus needing the old PC's gear, and other considerations that vary by circumstance.

Really, though, unless it becomes a running problem, the WBL impact of splitting one PC's gear amongst the survivors and the new PC getting a standard WBL allotment is going to be minor. Knowing me, they were probably behind the WBL curve; I often screw up by not handing out enough treasure. This might catch them up. If they got ahead of it, good for them. Unless they're enormously over-wealthy, they're probably not breaking the game. And if they are, well, I can let them take on tougher challenges or I can expose them to more thief plots with less guilt than I usually experience when interfering with PC builds.

[Bronk]

Part of that loot is going to pay for any raise dead or resurrection for the PC, unless the party decides not to do that (or can't).

That makes a lot of sense, unless the party has a group fund or something.


There are questions of inheritance, of whether the new PC is being introduced in a fashion that makes sense to leave him destitute and thus needing the old PC's gear, and other considerations that vary by circumstance.

I think I would want the PCs to pack everything up and send it to the next of kin, keeping only story related items.

I've had a few of my own characters killed, and it was extremely disheartening to see my stuff looted, divvied up between the living characters, then joining with a new character and not seeing any of 'my' stuff back. Maybe it would have felt different had I been allowed more than starting funds.


DMG says somewhere that items are buried with the corpse. Probably to avoid players trying to abuse each other's deaths.

This makes the most sense based on keeping the circle of lootable dungeons alive in the setting... You can't expect Elminster to fill all the old ruins with random magic items!

[Segev]

This makes the most sense based on keeping the circle of lootable dungeons alive in the setting... You can't expect Elminster to fill all the old ruins with random magic items!

Of course not! That's Acererak's job!

[Seto]

If it makes sense and they were behind on WBL, I let them. If the person was carrying a plot-important McGuffin, I'll let them take it of course. If not, and I feel it will throw balance out of whack? I tell the players. "Please don't loot the body, it'll throw WBL out of whack". And they don't. We get along well like that.

[jintoya]

In my games, it's not uncommon for a player to have a mimic on their person, most of the time it was immature at the time you looted it, so it grows up as you go about your business and seeing as you are the only thing it knows... It doesn't attack you... But the party member letting your stuff.... That's another story

[Segev]

In my games, it's not uncommon for a player to have a mimic on their person, most of the time it was immature at the time you looted it, so it grows up as you go about your business and seeing as you are the only thing it knows... It doesn't attack you... But the party member letting your stuff.... That's another story

While cool flavor, that's going to come off as a jerk move by a DM who springs it fairly clearly as a reason to keep parties from looting dead PCs. Especially since most groups I've been in (possibly because I'm in them) would want to try to recruit the mimic as a party pet/ally (depending on intelligence, which is actually pretty high in 3.5).

[Kyutaru]

Players looting players gets disgusting when near TPKs happen or the levels are so high that item wealth is extreme. You don't want a single character with all the magic items. Heck, I've had parties donate their items to the fighter so he COULD have all the magic items. Not like Wizards even need clothes to work.

But for every imbalance there's a DM lever. Rust monsters, beholder rays, and Mordenkainen's Disjunction serve well enough to reset excessive wealth on a character.

Don't be greedy. Karma will get you. And by karma I mean me.

[jintoya]

While cool flavor, that's going to come off as a jerk move by a DM who springs it fairly clearly as a reason to keep parties from looting dead PCs. Especially since most groups I've been in (possibly because I'm in them) would want to try to recruit the mimic as a party pet/ally (depending on intelligence, which is actually pretty high in 3.5).
You can tame them and recruit them, if you catch them early and nurture them... And I don't use them for that... But it dose come up whenever one player says "oh, just get a torch out of my bag, it's over there"
A mimic can be tough to handle in my games if you aren't prepared, so my players check gear often to nip it in the bud, extra items (if small) are usually handled with care and handed around the party so that if it's a mimic, it won't attack any of you... But players who don't, could have dormant mimic in their bags.

My worlds mimics are like parasites that infect items, so weapons, armor, bags, lesser magic items... All could become a mimic if forgotten in the bottom of a bag that has a diminutive size mimic spore.

[Roninblack]

I had issues with a player repeatedly choosing death so he could play the next cool thing, and I had an ooc conversation with the group about how it was throwing WBL off, and they started burying members with their gear, sometimes talking to the players is all it takes.

[Hisoka]

I had issues with a player repeatedly choosing death so he could play the next cool thing, and I had an ooc conversation with the group about how it was throwing WBL off, and they started burying members with their gear, sometimes talking to the players is all it takes.

I like how our DMs handles things when we get tired of a character or find a really cool idea we want to play. We just Have the old character go off and then we play a new character. In one game I’m in right now I have 2 characters I can switch between depending on which I want to play that night. That way we never run into that issue and it also helps if there’s a PC death cause that player can just switch to the other character and there’s no awkward introductions.

[icefractal]

WBL is exponential in 3.x and 4e (and undefined in 5e). For example, it would take 3-4 fully looted dead party members before one of the survivors has, say, a +6 weapon instead of the +5 they would otherwise have.

So IDGAF about that kind of looting as GM. Unless you're running a real meatgrinder, it's not going to significantly skew things ... and if you are, the PCs might need the help.

Also, disallowing taking the items only works if the PCs are accounting and splitting anything they find immediately. IME, we find a powerful sword in the course of adventure, it's immediately going to the best wielder, but it isn't owned by them, it's still a party item until we get to town and divide things up, and in fact it may remain as a party item forever if the utility of having it available outweighs the gold value.

[Segev]

I had issues with a player repeatedly choosing death so he could play the next cool thing, and I had an ooc conversation with the group about how it was throwing WBL off, and they started burying members with their gear, sometimes talking to the players is all it takes.

WBL is also a recommendation, not a guaranteed right or chargen instrument. All they're technically entitled to is level 1 starting gear. If a particular player is the issue, you can just start making his newbie characters come in woefully under-wealthed, and have to talk the party into letting their new 6th ranger use some hand-me-down gear until they can sell and restock. And if the new guy dies before he really integrates enough that the party feels he "deserves" the old PC's stuff, well, the next new guy gets as much access.