Skimming off the top

[megascorpion]

If you play a cheat rogue sort of character, do you or would you skim off the top when you sell the party's loot or pick things up..? I've been told by at least two people that they do/used to do this. Probably more that I don't remember to... Not trying to start a witchunt and I don't hold it against them, I just don't like it much Please don't think I'm mad at ya if you've done this without thinking much about it. Because I think some people might be doing it without really giving it much thought, as their chars are supposed to be thieving rascals

Now, there is no mechanic way to see what a person picks up when looting, and no mechanic way to see when a person is bartering with the merchant. So really, you could be stealing thousands of GP from people without them having absolutely no way of finding out IC or OOC.

Don't know if those people stole anything major, but I assume the theft rule apply even to this, so nothing above 500 GP. And I quote from the rules "theft needs to be roleplayed". Just as a reminder, I might just be paranoid And I've no idea how much they RPed it either, I've just never seen anybody RP anything like it.

I'm fine with a rogue say, slips a few coins into his own pouch when picking up things or dealing with the trader, as long as it's emoted and/or spot checks are asked for. Probably lots of other ways to cheat your party members, but just remember to RP it please >_> And be fair to your fellow players, taking their GP is as bad as taking their XP so if you don't like making people respawn without good RP to follow don't take people's lions lions without it

[EDM Entori]

Jan 31, 2010 23:43:06 GMT -5 megascorpion said:

If you play a cheat rogue sort of character, do you or would you skim off the top when you sell the party's loot or pick things up..? I've been told by at least two people that they do/used to do this. Probably more that I don't remember to... Not trying to start a witchunt and I don't hold it against them, I just don't like it much Please don't think I'm mad at ya if you've done this without thinking much about it. Because I think some people might be doing it without really giving it much thought, as their chars are supposed to be thieving rascals

Now, there is no mechanic way to see what a person picks up when looting, and no mechanic way to see when a person is bartering with the merchant. So really, you could be stealing thousands of GP from people without them having absolutely no way of finding out IC or OOC.

Don't know if those people stole anything major, but I assume the theft rule apply even to this, so nothing above 500 GP. And I quote from the rules "theft needs to be roleplayed". Just as a reminder, I might just be paranoid And I've no idea how much they RPed it either, I've just never seen anybody RP anything like it.

I'm fine with a rogue say, slips a few coins into his own pouch when picking up things or dealing with the trader, as long as it's emoted and/or spot checks are asked for. Probably lots of other ways to cheat your party members, but just remember to RP it please >_> And be fair to your fellow players, taking their GP is as bad as taking their XP so if you don't like making people respawn without good RP to follow don't take people's lions lions without it

I think it's fair to keep in mind the server has a 500 GP cap on stolen goods.. and I think this would count

[DM Grizwald]

Yeah and not emoting something is really cheating the players themselves too. Thats just how I feel about it.

[Spirit of a Phoenix]

Jan 31, 2010 23:43:06 GMT -5 megascorpion said:

Now, there is no mechanic way to see what a person picks up when looting, and no mechanic way to see when a person is bartering with the merchant. So really, you could be stealing thousands of GP from people without them having absolutely no way of finding out IC or OOC.

I kind of wish there was a way to know what the gather in the group picks up and how much the negotiator sells for. Just because if your character is there with the gatherer then you'd see what they pick up and if your near the negotiator you'd hear what they sell for.

lol anyways to answer the question, no I wouldn't have one of my characters do something like that just because of the risk of being caught in their minds. In my opinion I see it as ooc thinking to know that your allies couldn't see what was picked up and hear what was negotiated because of game mechanics.

[ancientempathy]

Jan 31, 2010 23:43:06 GMT -5 megascorpion said:

If you play a cheat rogue sort of character, do you or would you skim off the top when you sell the party's loot or pick things up..? I've been told by at least two people that they do/used to do this. Probably more that I don't remember to... Not trying to start a witchunt and I don't hold it against them, I just don't like it much Please don't think I'm mad at ya if you've done this without thinking much about it. Because I think some people might be doing it without really giving it much thought, as their chars are supposed to be thieving rascals

Now, there is no mechanic way to see what a person picks up when looting, and no mechanic way to see when a person is bartering with the merchant. So really, you could be stealing thousands of GP from people without them having absolutely no way of finding out IC or OOC.

Don't know if those people stole anything major, but I assume the theft rule apply even to this, so nothing above 500 GP. And I quote from the rules "theft needs to be roleplayed". Just as a reminder, I might just be paranoid And I've no idea how much they RPed it either, I've just never seen anybody RP anything like it.

I'm fine with a rogue say, slips a few coins into his own pouch when picking up things or dealing with the trader, as long as it's emoted and/or spot checks are asked for. Probably lots of other ways to cheat your party members, but just remember to RP it please >_> And be fair to your fellow players, taking their GP is as bad as taking their XP so if you don't like making people respawn without good RP to follow don't take people's lions lions without it

I approve of everything said ;D

[ConcreteSequential]

Just going to echo the mechanics concern of this particular issue.

If someone was to cheat the party knowing that mechanics prevent them from being caught, I would think that would be crossing that PC vs. player divide into something ugly.

Roguish PC, or whatever the reason, I'd be really thoughtful about how to play it out, and take the time for some OOC discussion with all involved on how to properly handle it prior to the event so that it doesn't become an OOC issue later. JMO

[Lady Frost]

I think it depends on what is happening IC.

If you are looting and the rest of the party is close and there is a chance they could see you, its poor form to me to just take something or not sell what you picked up and keep it without some sort of interaction / rolls / something. However if the party wanders off around the corner and leaves you to collect things I see no reason you should have to emote slipping coins or items into your pockets / pack or taking coins from the collection sack and putting them into your pockets. In the end there are so many situations where the collector could snatch something out of sight that if they really want to they're going to have a hard time getting caught. Sometimes its just good to be the collector.

[The Flying Ve]

Depending on char, I have skimmed the occasional thing off the top. Never really much(or, for that matter, often) and never without emoting it. It's usually something that would be sold otherwise, but my char could use, like ,say, a tanglefoot bag. Those go into traps, in the end, which get set to help the party survive. Ergo, I RP my rogue and no one gets hurt(apart from the next spawn or two), or so I figure.

[Deleted]

If i find myself in a party with a sneaky and gutternipe kind of rogue...and that rogue finds themself in posession of the loot and in charge of the dealings... I am expecting to be robbed.

~Sio

[Savoie Faire]

It is entirely possible to play a thieving rogue who skims off the top without actually skimming! You can roleplay as if you had skimmed but then fairly split the loot. This way players who appreciate your roleplay can 'tip' your pc by actively permitting the skim while players with a more anal bent can snatch their coin without ruining your roleplay.

This is not a requirement of any kind; it's just an idea tossed into the ring. Feel free to play your thieving rogue, (within the guidelines and rules, of course,) as you wish. Players should be mature enough to realise that stealing is what thieves do.

[828stingstingneo]

Here's how I cheat with my greedy characters: If the lions come out odd, I keep the extra lion. My less greedy characters give the extra lion to the other party members. Oo, I'm so bad. . . .

[The Flying Ve]

Feb 1, 2010 9:04:25 GMT -5 Savoie Faire said:

It is entirely possible to play a thieving rogue who skims off the top without actually skimming! You can roleplay as if you had skimmed but then fairly split the loot. This way players who appreciate your roleplay can 'tip' your pc by actively permitting the skim while players with a more anal bent can snatch their coin without ruining your roleplay.

This is not a requirement of any kind; it's just an idea tossed into the ring. Feel free to play your thieving rogue, (within the guidelines and rules, of course,) as you wish. Players should be mature enough to realise that stealing is what thieves do.

Hmm, I might try this.

[EDM Neo]

When selling things that she wasn't part of the group that helped acquire it, Rose always takes ten percent off the top as her fee, but she doesn't make a secret of this... she offers her services as an appraiser for a hire regularly.

She'll also sometimes further advantage herself: for example, if someone asks her to sell an item to Garrot, and her appraise roll is such that she gets offered 900 lions, she might offer to buy the item for 1,000 and then resell it to another merchant for 1,100 later. I usually remember to ask permission first, but admittedly have sometimes forgotten or just not bothered. I'll try and make a point of always having her ask or at least throwing out an emote to hint at it in the future... presuming they didn't just trust her enough to let her take their things and didn't come to watch themselves, of course, then all bets are off.

[Pookey]

An interesting take on looting and stealing from the party can be found here.

www.talesofthesilvermarches.com/forum/index.php?topic=1723.0

To summarize: If you plan to steal, let everyone know OOC so they have a chance to object or allow it.

When dividing loot, skimming degrades the contributions of the other players (not the characters), who presumably pulled their weight during the adventure and thus deserve their fair and equal share of the rewards.

Finally, if you don't trust the person who is collecting, then you should object to them collecting and give the job to someone you trust. If no one trusts anyone else, you're clearly in a party of evil aligned characters and you should fight to the death for the privilege! :-P

[EDM Entori]

Feb 1, 2010 13:00:52 GMT -5 Pookey said:

An interesting take on looting and stealing from the party can be found here.

To summarize: If you plan to steal, let everyone know OOC so they have a chance to object or allow it.

When dividing loot, skimming degrades the contributions of the other players (not the characters), who presumably pulled their weight during the adventure and thus deserve their fair and equal share of the rewards.

Finally, if you don't trust the person who is collecting, then you should object to them collecting and give the job to someone you trust. If no one trusts anyone else, you're clearly in a party of evil aligned characters and you should fight to the death for the privilege! :-P

your link doesn't work pookey

[EDM Neo]

Fixed the link in my quoting of Pookey:

Feb 1, 2010 13:00:52 GMT -5 Pookey said:

An interesting take on looting and stealing from the party can be found here.

To summarize: If you plan to steal, let everyone know OOC so they have a chance to object or allow it.

When dividing loot, skimming degrades the contributions of the other players (not the characters), who presumably pulled their weight during the adventure and thus deserve their fair and equal share of the rewards.

Finally, if you don't trust the person who is collecting, then you should object to them collecting and give the job to someone you trust. If no one trusts anyone else, you're clearly in a party of evil aligned characters and you should fight to the death for the privilege! :-P

[soulfien]

I remember back when a certain player was low level and new to the server and we went adventuring into the bramble to kill off some ettercaps.

This person had plenty of strength and so was elected to loot. Knowing that the places we went that day normally pulls in quite a bit of gold collectively, I was a bit shocked when I was handed my share of 53 gold!!! 3 of us in the party and that's all we get?

No bluff roll, no spot check, nothing and the player had been collecting stuff for about 2 hours.

Needless to say after two times of this I quit adventuring with the person.

[Lady Frost]

Feb 1, 2010 13:00:52 GMT -5 Pookey said:

An interesting take on looting and stealing from the party can be found here.

To summarize: If you plan to steal, let everyone know OOC so they have a chance to object or allow it.

When dividing loot, skimming degrades the contributions of the other players (not the characters), who presumably pulled their weight during the adventure and thus deserve their fair and equal share of the rewards.

Finally, if you don't trust the person who is collecting, then you should object to them collecting and give the job to someone you trust. If no one trusts anyone else, you're clearly in a party of evil aligned characters and you should fight to the death for the privilege! :-P

Heh. That reminds me of when Sharteel wanted to wrestle Ailren to see who collects.

[dirtysloth]

a good thief will simply neglect to pull objects from the bag during sale to skim from the top
now you can watch over him while he does this but being as most people don't look over the shoulder of the collector while he searches the dead its going to be difficult to verify the contents
so if you feel a bit like your bag is light why not ask "this is all?"
three words that may demand a bluff check of some sort to reply
unless it was simply a bad day and that's all you get
just because one day you collect a large sum doesn't mean the same location won't be a wash out next time
at 5th or 6th level I cleared the kobold cave with 2 others and we came out with 2100 to split three ways now I can clear it alone and come out with less than 800 quite often
pretty well you must emote watching over the collector and physically watch over the trade otherwise your gonna have to verbally draw out the information you seek
to force the rogue to openly state when he intends to cheat someone is opening a can full of metaworms
suddenly no one will let the matter past until they manage to push to find it IC

I'm sure anyone here that regularly rolls the d20 has experienced a time they wished to follow another PC and the instant you state this to the DM suddenly your opposition wishes to throw down dust of tracelessness and go to further extents to hide himself than he has ever used in the lifetime of the character

why give a character OOC information they do not wish to RP to earn?

[wicked]

As an aside I have personally added money to the pot when collecting to make parties I've led LOOK more successful. My reasons for doing so were definitely rp based as I wanted people to think that I was particularly lucky/good at leading groups. hehehe