Sharing out the loot...

[panaikhan]

I have a question about sharing out the material gains from murder, looting and grave-robbing adventuring, which relates to a completely different problem I'll come to in a moment.

In our group, we've always split the "cash-value only" stuff equally between the characters, and kept anything magical as a "party item" to be used by whoever most benefits from it.

This said, I've recently had to replace one of my characters who died.
Now, our DM is loathe to introduce 'extra' magical items into a campaign, so we basically said my new character inherited the magical items used by my old character (both could use them, so no problems there).
The problem comes down to cash. My new character should, by rights, have a certain amount of weath (in money/items)according to their level. Do I simply inherit my old character's wealth, or should that money go into the 'pot' and the new guy brings with him his level's-worth of dosh?

Any help would be appreciated (and any discussion on division of wealth is welcomed).

[Stompy]

I would say inherit it. Talk to the DM about this (because he/she is the only one who can rule on this) but I would assume your money/art/liquid wealth would port over with your magical items for simplicity reasons.

[Snake-Aes]

Wealth by level is a measure of power for the player. The character isn't entitled gold by some Great Will of the Universe. If he was broke when he met the party, then he was broke and Reality Itself doesn't care. Let him inherit the previous character's wealth and suddenly all players remain on the same wealth range.

[Aetolus]

All of your old character's wealth is divided amongst the party.
Your new character starts with his own wealth appropriate for a character of his level.

What rp event could possibly justify giving all of a dead party member's wealth to a never before seen person?

Even if this new character is the son/brother/father of your old character, and therefore the rightful heirs, what motivation would the party have for actually telling you what he had on him as opposed to dividing it up amongst themselves?

[Snake-Aes]

All of your old character's wealth is divided amongst the party.
Your new character starts with his own wealth appropriate for a character of his level.

What rp event could possibly justify giving all of a dead party member's wealth to a never before seen person?

Even if this new character is the son/brother/father of your old character, and therefore the rightful heirs, what motivation would the party have for actually telling you what he had on him as opposed to dividing it up amongst themselves?

"You're with us so take this hat so you don't get manhandled by the next hag we find."
Distributing previous gold is harder to justify, but the items themselves is easy, if the character is trusted enough to do so

When you know you can track him down and torture him to death for a month with little effort, and he knows that too, it's very easy to trust him.

[Stompy]

What rp event could possibly justify giving all of a dead party member's wealth to a never before seen person?

"The DM thus beckoned, lo, I am the DM. I am mightier than all your gods and goddesses put together. I am the one who slew Pun-Pun, and thou shalt obey my commands. You are to give [Subject A]'s entire material wealth to [Subject B] or else face my wrath!"

Honestly, I can see where this DM is coming from, and while there is no good rp reason for this, it is simple to just transfer the gear, and it solves the PC "getting more magical gear than they need to" issue. It even solves PvP munchkining to a big degree.

[panaikhan]

The magical items are already covered.
"All magic is the property of the party, not any individual within it"

I'm just trying to weigh up the RP problem of the 'party' suddenly gaining a 6th level character's monetary wealth (the old char dying) and the new guy turning up with that same amount in his pockets, vs the new guy turning up broke and getting all the old guy's worldly goods.

[Snake-Aes]

The magical items are already covered.
"All magic is the property of the party, not any individual within it"

I'm just trying to weigh up the RP problem of the 'party' suddenly gaining a 6th level character's monetary wealth (the old char dying) and the new guy turning up with that same amount in his pockets, vs the new guy turning up broke and getting all the old guy's worldly goods.

Why does the new guy even have to have any gold? "because of wbl" will only make further rping harder.

If your party doesn't trust him, then they keep their gold and turn a little richer for a while, and that's it. If you really are concerned with stabilizing wealth, what's to say you don't get robbed or who will guarantee you won't fornicate with a rust monster while under influence of Pixie Dust?

[sdream]

If anything replacing a character is a priveledge, not a right, and so there should be some minor costs to YOU involved.

If the old char dies, the party may well have spent his wealth trying (and mysteriously failing, because he prefers heaven) to ressurect him.

Some of his key items may have remained with the party, and their new recruit may bring some gear of their own, but the party as a whole should not be enriched in any way by the death of one of their own.

[Roel]

I like to keep things as plausible as possible. A newly introduced character with the same items as the deceased one is unlikely. I'd let you buy new equipment according to the appropriate wealth level (or DM descretion) and make you beg for the items. Good roleplay opportunity if you'd like to convince the party you must use the magical sword the party's deceased comrad left behind.

[Lysander]

There are many ways to roleplay around this. There is the heir option someone mentioned above, the new person can be a friend or family member entitled to the cash. Another option is to say that the money is merely a loan from the other PCs so their new associate has the equipment he needs. Eventually he can pay them back, several levels later when that amount of money is fairly trivial to everyone. Perhaps the dead PC's will asks that his money be given to his non-adventurous NPC family, and then if the party obeys his wishes you can forget about the money and introduce a new character with the appropriate WBL.

[Telonius]

"Hmm. Well, the bloodstains would decrease the value of this on the open market ... tell you what, if you don't mind the toothmarks and uncomfortable indentations from where the Gray Render got Bob, you can have his armor."

[Diarmuid]

If you're allowed to bring in a new character if yours dies and all the old char's wealth stays in the party and the new guy brings in an equal amount of wealth, then that really doesnt do much for incentive to not die does it.

In our games, when you die..you come back at least 1 ECL behind the rest of the party and are usually given the barest of items (assuming you arent introduced into the party in a dungeon/cell/etc where you would likely be found naked.

If the old char somehow needs to be worked out of the game (balance factor, RP issues thru no one's fault, etc), then that char would generally be expected to take his share with him/her on the way out so as to not upset the balance and you would likely bring in a char at around the same ECL as the party and have a commensurate inventory, though at the DM's discretion.

[panaikhan]

If anything replacing a character is a priveledge, not a right.

Ok. So, my character dies (druid with 20HP max vs explosion doing 32 damage from 6D6), and I'm not 'priveledged' enough (or don't have the 'right') to replace him. I walk away from the group and the campaign. Does that sound fair enough?

[Stompy]

Ok. So, my character dies (druid with 20HP max vs explosion doing 32 damage from 6D6), and I'm not 'priveledged' enough (or don't have the 'right') to replace him. I walk away from the group and the campaign. Does that sound fair enough?

No. Just talk about making a new character and what happens with the previous character's items and money with the DM. I have never seen DMs refuse the "privilege" (quotes bolded) to players unless they are extremely rude and disruptive to the other players.

[valadil]

What the party does with loot is determined in game. Some have contracts, some pass loot around freely. Your GM is not a member of the adventuring party and shouldn't be influencing how they pass out loot.

Your GM should however be watching the party to see what they do here. Did they strip your old character of his gear and pool it in party loot? Or did they bury him in his armor? If there's loot waiting for your character, it's probably fine if you come into the game without gear. If there's nothing there, you should be given your own stash of gold.

Personally I'm of the opinion that it's okay if the group gets a little GP bump at this point. They just lost a PC. That means they're probably underpowered compared to the challenges they're facing. It also means they likely burned through some consumables during the battle that killed the PC. I don't have a problem with making up for that by bringing in some more loot. If it gets out of hand, reduce loot for a couple levels until you're back to WBL.

[Telonius]

If it gets out of hand, reduce loot for a couple levels until you're back to WBL.

This. It really isn't that much extra effort for the DM to change the next bad guy's +3 sword into a +2 sword.

[Snake-Aes]

This. It really isn't that much extra effort for the DM to change the next bad guy's +3 sword into a +2 sword.

Nor to put them high as kites on pixie dust.

[Marnath]

What rp event could possibly justify giving all of a dead party member's wealth to a never before seen person?

Even if this new character is the son/brother/father of your old character, and therefore the rightful heirs, what motivation would the party have for actually telling you what he had on him as opposed to dividing it up amongst themselves?

Gee, maybe the answer is that not all of us play greedy backstabbing bastards? Just maybe, some characters give the stuff to the son/daughter/brother etc because the pc wanted them to, and/or it's the honorable thing to do?

[Aroka]

I'm just trying to weigh up the RP problem of the 'party' suddenly gaining a 6th level character's monetary wealth (the old char dying) and the new guy turning up with that same amount in his pockets, vs the new guy turning up broke and getting all the old guy's worldly goods.

It's irrelevant, especially at those levels. If the campaign is close to WBL, dividing a dead PC's wealth among the survivors will net them something like 5-20% over their WBL, which will be subsumed in 1-2 levels by their regular gains. The net gain for the party is insignificant and disappears very quickly. It doesn't matter one bit either way whether your new PC has WBL or doesn't.

[ericgrau]

The recommended Player's Handbook method for treasure is to split everything by cash value, including magic items. But you use the sell price of magic items not buy. The costs of ressurections and other misfortunes are split by the party.

The DMG solution for a party death is for the old PCs equipment to NOT be given to the party. It should go to the new character, like you said, or to the old PC's family, or etc. The party shouldn't get richer every time someone dies.