| Callan MacKinlay |
Best way to deal with loot:
"Sell" all items obtained at half-price, per the rules. I say "sell" because you should leave a list of all items sold in order to know what items the party can purchase back for half-price.
Once all items have been "sold", anyone in the party can purchase items at the price they were sold at.
As an example, a party of four has 1,000gp each. They obtain 4 items after combat: a +1 cloak of resistance; a +1 ring of protection; a +2 headband of bear's endurance; and a +1 bracers of armor. They sell the items for 500gp, 1,000gp, 2,000gp, and 500gp, respectively, for a total of 4,000gp, which means each character gets an additional 1,000gp. PC1 buys the bracers of armor, meaning he has the bracers plus 1,500 gp. PC2 buys the headband for 2,000gp, leaving him broke. PC3 buys the cloak and the ring, leaving 500gp remaining. PC4 doesn't buy anything.
This means actual value of all party members remains equal, because items are only worth what you can sell them for.