Large party loot distribution?

[Menji]

So my current party has 8+ people flowing in and out of it, which is handled via a clever artifact mechanic that prevents absentees from just having their characters hang around if the player isn't there that week.

In any case, with a large party full of characters with no pre-existing ties, the "let's just all get along and figure out what's best for everyone" means of deciding who gets what isn't feasible, as everyone has a different idea of what that'd be. Rolling randomly for each loot drop is suboptimal as well, as over the long term lucky characters can accumulate far more than unlucky ones.

We came up with a system by which everyone has an equal roll until everyone has an item, which would be one round of loot. Then ya move to the next round until it's full, etc. If something drops that's preferred and you're not eligible because you already picked that round, you can trade it back into the pool and restore your eligibility...in an iterative fashion.

Tl;dr - Has anyone encountered a magic item/loot distribution mechanism or party contract that prevents luck dominating and unfairly determining haves/have-nots, while limiting resentment/jealousy etc?

Pooling and selling and splitting profit would work in an extremely high magic environment with reliable access to markets, but that's rare enough to not be a universally applicable solution. Coming to some sort of consensus on the "best" person to take X isn't feasible in a large varied party either, especially when multiclassing and feats mean wizards can wear armor and so forth.

Any thoughts?

Thanks! :smallsmile:

[Unoriginal]

So my current party has 8+ people flowing in and out of it, which is handled via a clever artifact mechanic that prevents absentees from just having their characters hang around if the player isn't there that week.

In any case, with a large party full of characters with no pre-existing ties, the "let's just all get along and figure out what's best for everyone" means of deciding who gets what isn't feasible, as everyone has a different idea of what that'd be. Rolling randomly for each loot drop is suboptimal as well, as over the long term lucky characters can accumulate far more than unlucky ones.

We came up with a system by which everyone has an equal roll until everyone has an item, which would be one round of loot. Then ya move to the next round until it's full, etc. If something drops that's preferred and you're not eligible because you already picked that round, you can trade it back into the pool and restore your eligibility...in an iterative fashion.

Tl;dr - Has anyone encountered a magic item/loot distribution mechanism or party contract that prevents luck dominating and unfairly determining haves/have-nots, while limiting resentment/jealousy etc?

Pooling and selling and splitting profit would work in an extremely high magic environment with reliable access to markets, but that's rare enough to not be a universally applicable solution. Coming to some sort of consensus on the "best" person to take X isn't feasible in a large varied party either, especially when multiclassing and feats mean wizards can wear armor and so forth.

Any thoughts?

Thanks! :smallsmile:

I mean I wouldn't use that suggestion at my table, but one of the 3.X books suggested to solve this issue like that:

If two people or more want the same item, they can organize an "auction" of it, as in they each declare they are willing to give up their claim on X amount of loot for said item, and the one who offers to give up more gets the item, with what they've given up being shared among the rest of the group.

[da newt]

I've found everything of monetary value get's split evenly is pretty easy. Then if a group consensus cannot be easily agreed upon by all for individual items, an auction or barter works pretty well.

Most parties tend to want the party to succeed as a whole (this is not an individual contest after all), so consensus is usually pretty common, but when it isn't an auction/trade is about as fair as you can get.

I will also add - I don't believe it's the DM's responsibility to figure this out / arbitrate / make sure everyone get's something - that's for the PC's to figure out themselves - RP it.

[Man_Over_Game]

Each player gets one token for each item in the loot pool. Start down the list, each player "bidding" with their number of tokens.
You only lose tokens by getting the item you bid for (it's not an ante).

If there is a tie that isn't broken, that's when you roll.

Start with the most valuable stuff first. That way, the guy who didn't get much for his taste gets a bunch of Consumables while everyone else got upgrades.

You can even make tokens persist, only getting more when you get more loot, and make them tradable for favors.

[Droodicus]

Every session they attend to get a loot point. They can then spend these to bid against each other for items they can't agree on. It rewards people who turn up more frequently while also making sure everyone will get something eventually.

[Kane0]

From my last rotating-roster campaign:

The gold pool is split so if you were present within the last three sessions you get a share, if not you get a half share. One person was designated the lootmaster and made sure everyone got their proper share, and that person could not also the party chronicler (note-taker). If things didn’t divide nicely he took the remainder as payment for his services.

Magic gear was a little more complicated.
Stuff that only one character could use or wanted went to them.
Stuff that multiple people could use and wanted was a roll-off. If someone wasnt present they still had a chance to roll if they were interested. If your attunement was full and someone elses wasnt you were generally encouraged to let them have it, or trade something in exchange.
Stuff that nobody wanted was sold and added to the gold pool (or otherwise donated if the party figured that would be more worth it)
Stuff that was discarded by PCs (upgrading, running out of attunement space, etc) was put back on offer for others to take via roll-off or sold and added to the gold pool.
Consumables were generally split amongst whoever was present and could use them (consumables generally got used up fast in this campaign), anything left over often changed hands pretty quickly so they remained in circulation until used.

[Menji]

Each player gets one token for each item in the loot pool. Start down the list, each player "bidding" with their number of tokens.
You only lose tokens by getting the item you bid for (it's not an ante).

If there is a tie that isn't broken, that's when you roll.

Start with the most valuable stuff first. That way, the guy who didn't get much for his taste gets a bunch of Consumables while everyone else got upgrades.

You can even make tokens persist, only getting more when you get more loot, and make them tradable for favors.


Not bad. I'd certainly be bitchy about being the consumables guy but better than randomness.

How would this work across time? Meaning...there will almost always be fewer items at any given drop than players. If ya have 7 players and 4 drops, do the remaining 3 get priority somehow for next time, or...

I guess they could keep tokens and have more bidding odds next time.

[Menji]

From my last rotating-roster campaign:

The gold pool is split so if you were present within the last three sessions you get a share, if not you get a half share. One person was designated the lootmaster and made sure everyone got their proper share, and that person could not also the party chronicler (note-taker). If things didn’t divide nicely he took the remainder as payment for his services.

Magic gear was a little more complicated.
Stuff that only one character could use or wanted went to them.
Stuff that multiple people could use and wanted was a roll-off. If someone wasnt present they still had a chance to roll if they were interested. If your attunement was full and someone elses wasnt you were generally encouraged to let them have it, or trade something in exchange.
Stuff that nobody wanted was sold and added to the gold pool (or otherwise donated if the party figured that would be more worth it)
Stuff that was discarded by PCs (upgrading, running out of attunement space, etc) was put back on offer for others to take via roll-off or sold and added to the gold pool.
Consumables were generally split amongst whoever was present and could use them (consumables generally got used up fast in this campaign), anything left over often changed hands pretty quickly so they remained in circulation until used.


The issue we were having is that with a bunch of multiclassed chars, most people can use and benefit from most things. And until at least mid-Tier 3, attunement slots are either not full or at least not full of stuff that matters, so everything that does is a dogfight and people get resentful. Generally legit concepts though thanks.

[The_Jette]

In the longest running campaign I ever played in we had a system. Loot would go to the person who could use it best. If there was more than one person who could make use of an item, then a roll off took place. Everyone rolled a d20 and the highest roller got the item. If it was a tie for highest, those people would roll again, until there was only one winner. But, at the same time, if two people could both use an item but one had far fewer items than the other, that person would get it. As a monk, I rarely ever was included in these roll offs, as there was little that I could use that someone else could use, and if they could use it I couldn't. Although, I did get a few minor items that really ended up working out well for me.

[Man_Over_Game]

Not bad. I'd certainly be bitchy about being the consumables guy but better than randomness.

Thing is, that's his choice. He could choose to go all-in for a big item if he wanted to. If he doesn't, the item wasn't important enough to begin with.

[ImproperJustice]

Dude, I would totally wanna be consumables guy.
In a large party with large drops and hypothetically large amounts of such things, I would guzzle two potions, pour powder and oils over my Dude and go magical Super Saiyan as much as possible.

Giant Strength and Oil of Slipperness on my Dwarf Fighter sounds like a fun Tuesday night.

[Jon talks a lot]

I mean I wouldn't use that suggestion at my table, but one of the 3.X books suggested to solve this issue like that:

If two people or more want the same item, they can organize an "auction" of it, as in they each declare they are willing to give up their claim on X amount of loot for said item, and the one who offers to give up more gets the item, with what they've given up being shared among the rest of the group.

That was actually in the 3rd Edition PHB as well.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Sounds like what you need is a DKP system?

(Going from memory, it's been about 13 years.) Everyone gets points for attending sessions, bonus points for particularly difficult sessions or exemplary performance (in combat or RP or puzzles, etc.). Do a set number of points per session (maybe 3), with something like +1 or +2 bonus depending on circumstances. When there's loot, everyone puts in a secret bid and whoever bids the most spends one more than the second highest bid to take the item. The DM would be the one to keep track of everyone's totals, and give everyone a starting amount (around 4 or 5).

So if all but two people bid one, someone bids three, and someone bids six, the person who bid six will pay four and claim the item. Nobody can bid higher than one less than their current total, in case of a tie.

If two or more people tie, temporarily subtract that bid from each person's total and those people who tied will re-bid for the item from their reduced totals. The winner loses the amount originally bid plus one more than the second-highest re-bid.

Maybe do two pools, one for permanent items and one for single-use items, or just do a round robin for single-use items.

Also, everyone should have proficiency with an herbalism kit, and any sessions they miss put the in-game time toward crafting healing potions.

[Menji]

Sounds like what you need is a DKP system?

(Going from memory, it's been about 13 years.) Everyone gets points for attending sessions, bonus points for particularly difficult sessions or exemplary performance (in combat or RP or puzzles, etc.). Do a set number of points per session (maybe 3), with something like +1 or +2 bonus depending on circumstances. When there's loot, everyone puts in a secret bid and whoever bids the most spends one more than the second highest bid to take the item. The DM would be the one to keep track of everyone's totals, and give everyone a starting amount (around 4 or 5).

So if all but two people bid one, someone bids three, and someone bids six, the person who bid six will pay four and claim the item. Nobody can bid higher than one less than their current total, in case of a tie.

If two or more people tie, temporarily subtract that bid from each person's total and those people who tied will re-bid for the item from their reduced totals. The winner loses the amount originally bid plus one more than the second-highest re-bid.

Maybe do two pools, one for permanent items and one for single-use items, or just do a round robin for single-use items.

Also, everyone should have proficiency with an herbalism kit, and any sessions they miss put the in-game time toward crafting healing potions.


Interesting. Best one so far.

[DwarfFighter]

Thinking back I recall we did loot split in DnD with the basic set, and we did a more tongue-in-cheek approach with Hackmaster v4. But mostly the party would come to a consensus as to how to most effectively distribute loot, e.g. Magic longsword to the fighter, unless he already had something better.

Even with our fairly consistent group there would be infrequent players or drop-lute that drained the overall pool of loot efficacy.

With a high turnaround, as with OP's group, I would suggest that the GM stay aware of the issue and make sure there is a steady stream of new items to make up for the drain. Introduce weaker items that steady players are less likely to hoard, or won't break the game if they do. Push potions and single-use items that are less of a loss to the party if they end up on mayfly characters.

Part of the fun of playing DnD is getting cool gear for your character, and it costs little to satisfy that urge.

-DF