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Hey all, So if this is has been covered before I apologize but in my session last night the party was in a city ruled by a pirate lord (this is a home brew setting) now the Quartermasters for the various vessels set up shop in this city when they are docked to sell their loot and in general improve the quality of the pirate fleet. There are non pirates in the city as well as dignitaries from the other two pirate lords.
Now with that set up the rogue in my party decided to steal from a Quartermaster he had met earlier in the day. After successfully getting past the security on the Quartermasters stall and getting inside he handily stole the quartermasters gold chest (it was just his on hand gold no more than 100-200 gp worth) and managed to break into the wares safe from which he took a mithril dagger, a iron wood dagger, a staff of some kind and a sword. Now of these items only the iron wood dagger is magical.
What should I do with this player? should i make him pay a in game cost for stealing a couple thousand gp worth of items? should i just settle at having the pirate company out for his head? what are your suggestions? and any suggestions for handling in game theft from NPC's?
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I would have the pirates want his head. Because if you think about it why punish him for getting past the DC checks? Doesnt make much sense but on the other hand in a real world there would be a man hunt for the items so if he shows them off the have the pirates go after him otherwise give him a clap on the back and say GJ man.
Certainly the pirates will be trying to find the culprit but my question is does the pirate company have any reason to suspect it was him? If not then I say let him have his ill gotten booty. After all thieves get away scott free everyday and if he's clever enough to make this happen then good on him.
If you think it's going to be a serious WBL issue then jigger the next few instances of loot to have things tailored more towards other party members.
- Torger
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Do the pirates even know who took the stuff? If not, I can't see them wanting his specific head unless the items are discovered. And the quartermaster may not want to risk his own reputation by letting the theft become common knowledge. He may want to do some investigating himself. Some opposed Bluff/Sense Motive checks may allay or arouse suspicion.
The PC overcame a challenge and gained a reward. Why do you want to do anything about that in the fist place?
If one is inclined to punish a roguish thief, ala' "You can steal from whoever you want, but you NEVER steal from the Family," don't forget that NPCs can use divination magic too!
The local water oracle or cleric of the sea god or mean arsed diviner uses spells such as locate object, divination, augury, etc. to locate the thief. Particularly, because that magical iron wood dagger actually was intended as a gift for the pirate lord's girlfriend... And nobody steals from baby, nobody!!
I also love doing stuff like that to help establish the flavor of a city and the politics of a cutthroat place (my campaign features Riddleport quiet a bit).
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The PC overcame a challenge and gained a reward. Why do you want to do anything about that in the fist place?
The problem is though while he did overcome a challenge I dont want this setting a precedent cause it will make wealth by level all kinds of wonky.
but i do enjoy the ideas that every one else has but forward.
As Jeffrey Palmer said, Locate Object would find that magical Iron Wood Dagger easily enough, I am sure it is pretty unique...
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So... lotta angles to this....
First, if the rogue's alignment isn't consistent with this action, I'd want to explore that.
Second, instead of making this a player action issue, I would do my best to make it an NPC action issue. The theft is a cause. What's the effect? I use divination a lot for stuff like this. But I also use mundane detective activities too.
Depending on the Pirate Lord, and their relationship with this particular quartermaster, the consequences could range from the Lord having the quartermaster publicly lashed for allowing the theft, to the Lord publicly proclaiming the theft and putting a reward out for the capture or killing of the thief.
I might even turn this into a plot hook. The dagger is not merely magical, but is part of a set of clues to find an ancient treasure.
All I see here are opportunities... not problems.
Is there a caster capable of divination in the party? Wouldn't it be interesting if an agent of the Quartermaster came to the party to ask them to divine who stole the items? I'd like to see where that development goes, when the rogue has to tell his wizard buddy to fake a divination for him :)
This is why I love it when the players do interesting things! A "normal" loot the store can become a hook for treachery, treasure hunting, backstabbing, bounty hunts, angry pirate lords and drama. God, I love role-playing games...
Locate object
Wizard level 3, 2nd level spell, x 10 = 60 gold to cast the spell.
Sorcerer level 4, 2nd level spell x 10 = 80 gold to cast the spell.
Cleric level 5, 3rd level spell x 10 = 150 gold to cast the spell.
The Object needs to be withing range, or object is not located.
3rd level wizard = 520 foot radius circle.
4th level Sorcerer = 560 foot radius circle.
5th level Cleric = 600 foot radius circle.
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If your worried about the players, making a habit out of it. Just talk to the players, and let them know, not to make a habit out of it.
They will either agree, problem solved.
They will either disagree, let the traps, pits, ghosts, cursed items, or rust monster come there way :D, let the fun begin :)
So, thieves (not Rogues) should always flee a mile from town? Noted. :P
The one point I want to stress to you as a GM is that this sort of activity, however lucrative for the player in question, was a waste of valuable game time for the rest of the group, so even if no consequences ensue you should probably let the player know that you won't be GMing this sort of thing often because the others deserve an equal share of game time.
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It’s simple. You are either a Adventurer where you gain your wealth thru loot and rewards, or your are a Professional Thief where you make your wealth thru your Profession rolls. Which does the player want to be? Also note that the loot he got is his WBL for several levels, explain that stealing like this does not increase your WBL.
And most importantly- D&D is a cooperative game. Just make it clear you aren’t going to run one on one games. Lincoln Hills is 100% correct.
Does the Player know the iron wood dagger is magic? If no, then just skip the magic part.
Unleash Izchak's Wrath upon him!
I would let a player get away with this if he or she were clever about it, but I'm going to get tired of dealing with it every time the group spends the night in town - if that becomes the case. It would not be a big deal if it takes as much time as another player getting the spotlight while they interact with an important NPC, follow up on a personal quest, or research spells/craft items. The time investment is important. It would also not a big deal if the criminal activities are prompted by fun rather than greed. I see it as a great opportunity if it is fun for the other players too.
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All great advice. Yea no one saw him take it other than a drunk pirate who was supposed to watch the store and he was too drunk to remember much. Also it should be slightly easier to sus out who done it since this is a psionics campaign and arcane magic doesnt exist yet. But yea the pirate lord is not pleased after hearing about the dagger and has decided to flog the quartermaster and leave him strung up out side the city for several days as punishment. he has also sent a tracker on the trail of the dagger which means investigating the store and using his powers to track it down. (the traacker is a mulit-classed ranger/ cypher prestige classed into sighted seeker all from the dreamscarred press material.) so yea it will be fun to see how the players react to this especially since the dagger is now a key to finding a council of druids that they are hunting for.
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It seems rather counter-intuitive to tell a rogue that stealing won't do anything to help his WBL. It's like the GM saying "I don't like how you play your character, so I'm PENALIZING YOU." The rogue now has to risk his life adventuring AND then stealing on the side just to make the same amount of wealth his fellow party members do? That doesn't make any sense at all. A rogue can be a professional thief AND an adventurer at the same time. You don't necessarily need to go into nitty gritty time wasting details on every sojourn the rogue takes, that is what profession checks are for. It's like the healer going to temples and making a wage off of healing that week. If it is something worth considerable gp, then it becomes part of the story, or stealing comes with cause and effect. No rogue can go around every single town, stealing everything in sight without slipping up and landing himself in jail or worse, and then that becomes part of the story.
Adjusting loot tables to deter good roleplay sounds like you as the DM are wasting your time because you're hung up on "fairness" in wealth. If the game was fair in terms of wealth then everyone would start with the same gold at character creation. Playing a rogue should mean your skill and wit garners you more access to blackmarket items, plus more money, etc. If that is the type of rogue the player wishes to play.
Everything you're worried about getting out of hand can be fixed by roleplaying, adding awesome story elements to your campaign or simplifying it down to a skill check. The rogue doesn't need to be punished.