Just wondering if any players have dealt with this issue - and if so, how it went down.
I'm trying hard not to metagame, but it's difficult to sit there while the rogue character does sleight of hand to steal stuff off of dead monsters, which then don't go into party treasure. Last session, I sat there while he tried to do UMD on a wand, and burned 5 charges off of it, when I could identify the thing for free. Of course, my character doesn't even know he has the wand.
How would you handle this situation?
Have a discussion with the group (out of character) and see how they feel about it.
Is the rogue evil? (If so, then I'd let it happen...)
If he's just ninja'ng your loot because he is a greedy player then I'd be irked. Not cool to be taking stuff from your fellow party members.
I think he's neutral. There are no evil characters in the party, as far as I know.
The other players aren't too happy with this behavior, either.
Thanks for the advice.
To answer your question - he found the wand by doing a quick search of an NPC that died. My character didn't have a line of sight. The only one who did, failed her spot check.
I've talked to the DM. My character is going to rummage through his stuff. I already have cause not to trust him. He was caught wearing my uncle's signet ring, a ring of spell storing, which would be very useful to me since I can cast a few divine spells. I can put a few heal spells in there that could save the party. But he obviously planned to keep it, even though he can't cast spells. OOC, I know he has a couple of items that can be traced to a specific place - items that he ran into the other room and took while the rest of us were fighting badguys.
Which raises another issue. He's useless in a fight - not because he can't fight, but because he generally chooses not to fight (doing a full defense action when he already has the highest AC in the party, for example).
I really like the guy on a personal level, and he doesn't always act like this. This is just "what the character would do." Of course, the rest of us would probably kill him if we caught him doing this - it seems like everybody is out to get us, and we're probably a little paranoid right now. I don't think it's a stretch to think the guy who's stealing from us is a mole,planted by one of the groups out to get us.
In my Shackled City game the rouge pockets treasure when no one is looking too. The players know she's doing it because the player doesn't try to hide it. But the characters have no idea she is. Of course, she is a NE drow so, as DM, I don't tell her not to do it.
It's a matter of the player's motivation for doing it. If the player is just being greedy that's not cool. However, if the player is just playing their character and not trying to be a jerk out of game then I don't see a problem and it should be handled in the game. Of course, if the other players are starting to feel like its not cool to be doing then there's no reason not to talk about it at the table and see if everyone can come to an agreement. Perhaps the player can curb the stealing from party treasure but still do other things to play their character the way they see fit. Ultimately the DM should have final say, however.
It *is* in character for this guy to do that, I suppose. But it is total greed. The ring is a prime example. He can't even use the thing, but my character can definitely use it for the benefit of the party. The rest of us have very little gold - to the point where I'm counting my gold to see if I can scribe a couple of low level scrolls - and he's taking everything. It's really gimping the rest of our characters and interfering with our ability to be an effective party. In my view, this puts us all in danger.
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As a DM, I've seen this done before, but then party members start catching on, by either being around the character in question all the time or by telling said character to shape up or ship out.
If you confront the character in game to find this stuff out, try to use the forgiving touch, i.e. We caught you at this but we are willing to forgive if you agree not to do this again and sign a contract of of mutual benefit.
It isn't the best solution but it may make the player see that his character's actions is really starting to cause friction. This also tends to cause Non-game friction as well.
Thanks for the advice.
And nice avatar, by the way.
If you confront the character in game to find this stuff out, try to use the forgiving touch, i.e. We caught you at this but we are willing to forgive if you agree not to do this again and sign a contract of of mutual benefit.
That's a really good way to handle it. Great advice.
In our game, we were on a ship. The thiefy guy had duty in the crow's nest. Before our session, I told the DM that next time he was up there, I wanted to go through his stuff. I knew he had three particularly valuable items that were unique, and could be traced to a particular time and place. So, I took them.
About an hour into the session, he went into his pack to pull one of them out to barter it, and it was gone. He argued for about half an hour with the DM about how it could have been stolen, since now, claiming he carried all of his equipment up into the crow's nest every day (unlikely, and I certainly don't remember him saying that).
About an hour of real time went by, and after we finished the mission were on, my character brought up the fact that we needed to discuss how we were going to divide treasure. And I admitted to having stolen the items, and brought them out. That led to another discussion for half an hour, and I think we finally came to a resolution. But I wanted to make sure this guy knew that if he wanted to play that way, the rest of us could do it, too. I also told him that if he wasn't willing to conduct himself in a way that the rest of the party could trust him, he was free to go on about his own way. So, I think we have a resolution now. We'll see... if nothing else, his stealing should at least be more secretive, which is fine. If he's going to steal from us, I'd just rather not sit there for an hour while he roleplays the theft and selling the items.
There's a certain personality type that plays rogues so that they can do this kind of stuff.
I hate games that end up like:
Player 1: I wait for Player 2's character to go to sleep.
Player 2: No, I wait for Player 1's character to go to sleep!
DM: O.K., nobody sleeps all night and you're exhausted the next day.
Thanks for the advice.
To answer your question - he found the wand by doing a quick search of an NPC that died. My character didn't have a line of sight. The only one who did, failed her spot check.
I've talked to the DM. My character is going to rummage through his stuff. I already have cause not to trust him. He was caught wearing my uncle's signet ring, a ring of spell storing, which would be very useful to me since I can cast a few divine spells. I can put a few heal spells in there that could save the party. But he obviously planned to keep it, even though he can't cast spells. OOC, I know he has a couple of items that can be traced to a specific place - items that he ran into the other room and took while the rest of us were fighting badguys.
Which raises another issue. He's useless in a fight - not because he can't fight, but because he generally chooses not to fight (doing a full defense action when he already has the highest AC in the party, for example).
I really like the guy on a personal level, and he doesn't always act like this. This is just "what the character would do." Of course, the rest of us would probably kill him if we caught him doing this - it seems like everybody is out to get us, and we're probably a little paranoid right now. I don't think it's a stretch to think the guy who's stealing from us is a mole,planted by one of the groups out to get us.
Honestly, the party melee characters would definitely give him quite the beating, and the party would make sense "Interrogating" him as apossible mole or traitor given the intense circumstances. It could actually play out for a cool storyline if done well.
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I would wait until the Rogue says he is going to start to loot and steal then just casually mention to the GM that you watch him. You spot him doing the theft. From that point on you notify your party and they watch him carefully. If he tries to steal again, you manhandle him, strip him down and claim anything of his that you want.
All perfectly good in game playing. No discussions needed with players of GM. No chance of hard feelings. Straight up roleplaying.
Give the sucker ten lashes across the back for stealing from party members, kick him in the A$$ and tell him if he does it again you'll let the Paladin have his way with him...
...How would you handle this situation?
My group has gone through this, too.
Thankfully it wasn't a problem for us. My PC would steal things (sometimes directly from other PCs). It was funny, and everyone laughed. When my character was caught and punished, I laughed with everyone else.
The important thing is that my behavior wasn't at the expense of others.
It sounds like your player is messing up things for others. D&D is a social game, and there is a shared responsibility for each others' enjoyment. If he can't compromise a bit to insure the fun of everyone at the table, the DM needs to take steps to modify his behavior or remove him.
IMO :)