DM Q&A: Acceptable looting containers for LG

[kottle]

Hi,

About a year ago there was a small discussion on grave robbing that unfortunately degenerated:

frc.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=ideasandsuggestions&thread=16822&page=1

I ask the following to hopefully get a good set of guidelines or a ruling. I may ask to clarify but I don't care to argue right or wrong here. I also am not aware of what loot containers look like now on FRC.

Which of the following would be wrong for LG to loot?

1. Graves/ coffins
2. Sealed graves/ coffins
3. Humanoid Bones not in a crypt
4. Humanoid Bones in a crypt
5. Chests in a crypt
6. Anything in a crypt
7. Dead bodies
8. Any corpse, animals included
9. Innocent people you have slain (kidding)

Cheers!

[DM Valkyrie]

Referring specifically to "graverobbing", I consider looting any coffin in a tomb, sealed or unsealed, to be graverobbing. You might wonder why I would include unsealed. Here's the thing, your character wouldn't really know why it is unsealed. Second, it's still a coffin, in a tomb. No doubt someone put it there, and did so with appropriate burial ceremony thus making it sanctified. That someone else less scrupulous came along after and unsealed it, doesn't make it not a grave anymore. It is fine to, for example, "look inside for a vampire" if you have good enough reason to believe they are around, but taking anything from it would still be graverobbing.

I also consider burial urns to be on this list, as those are the containers that hold the ashes of the dead. Poking through these ashes for a couple coins or a nice gem would be disrepectful to the dead who was buried there, via cremation.

But that's as far as I would take it. Humanoid bones, chests, dead bodies lying outside a burial container, undead your character just put down, or loot just lying on the floor wouldn't be "graverobbing" as they are not tied to a santified burial. For all any character would know, they came from other adventurers that didn't do so well in thier exploration of the crypt.

And those are my thoughts.

[Savoie Faire]

+1 Valkyrie

[Munroe]

I have to disagree on some points. Any empty unsealed sarcophagus shouldn't count as graverobbing in a legal sense. If you're in a crypt full of undead, you're not robbing the sanctified dead, you're robbing undead. If they leave stuff in their former graves, that's loot you're taking from the undead's lair.

In the case of sealed crypts/coffins/sarcophagi, opening them and taking the stuff would be graverobbing, but if it's not sealed and there's undead all around, you're not robbing the dead, you're robbing the undead. Undead, in the case of Cormyr, don't legally own property, so you're not even robbing them, you're reclaiming valuables they've acquired, either through being buried with them or taking them from their victims, and how are you to know which is which?

So what's lawful? If it's a possession claimed by undead it is fair game. Undead have no legal rights under the law.

[offduty]

+ 1 to Dm Munroe

[DM Valkyrie]

I understand your point, and can see where you are coming from, however, just because a treasure is in an unsealed coffin, doesn't mean the undead in the area would have put it there neccessarily. It could still have been a part of the original burial, it may not even belong to the undead, but the family of the formerly deceased. I am just posing possibilities.

I will concede this. It would have to be up to the individual character to decide based on the situation. Some PCs don't care either way if it is graverobbing or not, loot is loot. However, for the LG folks, 1) consider where you are, if you are on holy ground, there's a good chance those coffins are sealed and/or sanctified, 2) consider that undead have no property rights in Cormyr, and 3) consider there is always the possibility that whatever you may take, there may be a vengeful ghost or living descendant that -might- learn you have desecrated thier family burial plot. (OK, that last one is iffy, but you never know....)

[Razgriz]

Oct 19, 2012 18:18:32 GMT -5 DM Valkyrie said:

the LG folks, 1) consider where you are, if you are on holy ground, there's a good chance those coffins are sealed and/or sanctified,

So then taking the loot that was inside the coffin or sealed tomb can be considered an evil action?

I guess that if the character can't figure if the crypt is sanctified or not, then just leaving it alone is the better choice.

[arisnorman1]

if you are in a crypt i would think any LG person wouldn't want to touch it seeing as it is grave robbing.

[StabbingNirvana]

Wouldn't going into a crypt and taking anything be grave robbing? I always just looked at loot containers as a game mechanic that gives out rewards. Cept coffins. Coffins are serious business.

[Muse]

I don't know when DM Valkry moved this to the DM Q&A thread, so out of context the other people could have replied before that point in time. But being as it is in this thread now, this is just a friendly reminder that this is not a typical forum thread discussion for those who may come along in future and feel tempted to toss in a reply. Thanks.

A suggested thread to post into, if you wish to partake in this discussion, is found here: frc.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=roleplaydiscussion&thread=18492&page=1

[kottle]

Thanks for the responses!

[ramen]

I don't think you can apply such a Human-centric point of view to a fantasy world where we are not the only sentient beings.

For instance is every ones favorite, happy-go-lucky Hin... Let's call him Poboi Undershoe. (The Hin, if I remember correctly, racially have an almost militant "you can't take it with you" point of view.) an evil person for checking every nook and cranny for shiney's ? I'm sure from Poboi's point of view, Mister Paladin McSacredtomb went on the next great adventure and left him a present.

That's my two cents, and you're welcome to dig it out of my urn when I'm gone

EDIT: I failed to read the last two letter (LG) of the original post. Don't I feel foolish. Carry on

[Muse]

This is a DM Q&A thread, and is not subject to general discussion. Please be careful and read which forum you are in, before clicking the reply button. This is one of the few forums that are publicly available to observe and read, but are not open for public replies and discussion.

The purpose of this forum is so that people wishing to speak directly to staff and not the player base, can do so without the thread filling up with general discussion opinions. Only DM's and the person who started the thread may post.

If a person wishes to respond to a subject brought up in a DM Q&A post but they didn't ask the question to the staff themselves, they are welcome to start a new thread of the subject in the appropriate forum. Popular forums are "General" "Ideas and Suggestions" And "Role play."

This particular thread has a lot of people chiming in when they should not have.

Thank you.