I am the DM for a group of 12-year-old players who (thank you video games) want to search and loot EVERYTHING IN SIGHT!!!! They search every corpse and every barrel for loot, and they try to pickpocket everyone! I am running out of ideas for things for them to find... Does anyone have some good ideas or know of tables of random loot they can scavenge?
If it is becoming a big problem, you should probably just talk to them about it and how it might not be what their character would do. Also, on DMs guild there are some good treasure tables/loot options, and there is always the trinket table in the PHB.
Depending on who/what they're looting, I use a D20 for coppers, a D10 for silvers and a D4 for gold pieces. I may not always roll all of them if it's unreasonable for the character or item to have gold pieces. You can use Nat 20's as a trigger for something else and then just go off the normal treasure tables if you like.
I use the donjon random generator. The treasure and pickpocket generators have helped me quite bit. Not a table, but easy to have pulled up on a phone if you don't use a computer while you run games.
Loot is good. Loot is generally the whole reason adventurers are, well, adventuring. Don't sweat it too much.
If you want to limit it then make looting have a cost.
So they have found some barrels of lamp oil. Total worth maybe 20 gold. Cool. But each of them weighs 100 lb. What are their plans for getting it all back to town?
Looting the room and all the corpses might take 5 or 10 minutes. Do the PC's have that time? Are they racing to rescue someone from a horrible fate?
Those heavy barrels of lamp oil? It took the party an extra 2 days to drag them all back to town. What else could the party have been doing for those 2 days? Would it have earned them more than 20 gold?
Also, sometimes there is nothing there. "You loot the corpses, they are just goblins, nothing valuable. What do you do next?"
Pickpocketing
Usually, the best way to solve this is in-game (with an out-of-game warning, see below). If the characters visit the captain of the guard and one of them lifts her wallet, then she is going to be thinking, "Well, the only people I've met with are those mercenaries, they must have taken it!" She is likely to turn up at the tavern with a bunch of guards behind her, looking for her money pouch. Or maybe the next time the characters come asking for work, her answer is, "no". She complains about the characters at her usual watering hole so word gets around. Merchants talk to each other. "Yeah, you're right, after those guys visited my shop my change drawer was light!" Suddenly merchants start saying "no" to the characters. Reputation matters.
However, don't punish players all the time. If a player has put points in thievery skills then you should allow them some time in the spotlight.
Out of game, just tell the players, "If you pickpocket everyone then you will get a reputation as thieves and that will have in-game consequences. Your choice."
This is a table I made for the rogue in my party that does the same thing. This is my table for magical items. Reddit has some good tables too.... I would put this on there, but I can't figure out how to format it properly for a readable post.
1
A piece of rope that cannot be tied in a knot
2
A sewing needle that goes limp when threaded
3
A spool of thread that becomes invisible as it is unspooled
4
A spool of infinite thread
5
A copper coin... you can only see the heads side. Ever. Always. You cannot flip it over
6
A belt that when buckled, forces the wearer's trousers to fall to the ground. They cannot be lifted while the belt is buckled
7
A rope with a simple knot that cannot be untied
8
Small pebbles that float in water
9
A gold locket on a gold chain with a mirror inside, the mirrior shows you whomever you are currently thinking about (live)
10
A silver ring that gives the wearer an intense desire to smell everyone's armpits
11
Shelled peanuts that taste like earwax
12
A small knife that can only cut the flesh of a person who is lying
13
A box of matches that when struck, light at the end you are holding
14
A small vial of perfume that smells like vomit
15
A snuff box full of white powder, inhaling the powder makes you forget the last six seconds
16
A pocket watch that shows you the hour, minute, and second of your death
17
A handkerchief that exacerbates whatever mess it is being used to clean up
18
Handcuffs that can only be unlocked by kissing the person who is wearing them
19
A pearl-handled comb that lengthens any hair it combs
20
A small, black button that can fasten closed any item of clothing
21
A Piece of hardtack, one bite of which will satiate any hunger for one day
22
A fishing line and hook that will produce a fish on the hook whenever it is dipped into water
23
White, satin gloves that make the wearer unable to hold onto anything
24
Brown, leather gloves that make it impossible to forcibly remove anything held by the wearer
25
A monocle that allows the wearer to see how long ago anyone they are looking at pooped
26
A tiny sundial that only works in the dark
27
A legitimate everlasting gobstopper
28
A piece of charcoal that writes in rainbow colors or produces rainbow smoke when burned
29
A small, empty, white leather pouch with a black skull and crossbones embroidered onto it - consumes forever anything put into it
30
Dentures that bite back
31
A chipped glass eye that always rolls towards it's long lost owner when set down
32
A rabbit's foot that is actually lucky (re-roll Natural 1's when in possession of the foot)
33
An eye patch that provides advantage on ranged attacks
34
A small silver key that plays music, but it's always a half-step sharp/flat - "off key"
35
A tiny sapphire that turns any body of water it touches into ice cubes
36
A tiny emerald that turns any body of water it touches into acid
37
A tiny ruby that turns any body of water it touches into lava
38
A beat up and rusted flask that turns any liquid inside of it to piss smelling strongly of asparagus that has been boiled too long
39
A wooden coin that looks like gold to everyone who does not possess it
40
A blank piece of parchment that will cause anything written on it to disappear after one hour
41
A blank piece of parchment that will read aloud anything written on it
42
A blank piece of parchment that can only be written on in blood
43
A tiny vial of healing potion (1d4 hp gained)
44
A tiny vial of poison (1d4 damage)
45
A pocket sized abacus that presents math problems instead of solving them
46
An ivory set of dice (2d6) that always fall "snake eyes" when rolled
47
A granite set of dice that always fall double 2's when rolled
48
A clay set of dice that always fall double 3's when rolled
49
An amythest set of dice that always fall double 4's when rolled
50
A garnet set of dice that always fall double 5's when rolled
51
An onyx set of dice that always fall double 6's when rolled
52
A human finger bone that always points NNW
53
A wooden carving of a currency symbol that can only be lifted by those deemed "greedy"
54
A baseball sized, green shrunken head that devestatingly insults whomever it can see
55
A marble sized brick of coal that looks like a diamond to anyone who does not possess it
56
A copper bracelet that makes the wearer's hand numb
57
A silver bracelet that causes the wearer intense nausea
58
A charcoal drawing on a crumpled piece of parchment of a small girl, 6 or 7, who waves at the viewer
59
An iron nail, that once driven into anything, becomes impossible to remove unless it is asked politely to remove itself
60
Lint. Lights on fire when blown upon by an elf
61
Gold hoop earrings that allow the wearer to hear plants growing
62
Copper stud earrings that cause deafness while worn
63
Silver dangly earrings that pick up sounds carried on the wind (+1 perception / -1 stealth)
64
A pack of playing cards bound in a leather pouch. The cards deal themselves when told what game to play
65
Several small, almost spherical, color candy coated chololates that will only melt in your mouth... not in your hand (or pocket)
66
A handful of small, multi-colored berries that turn the character's skin the color of any berry that is eaten for 1d4 hours
67
A quill that writes in a language you don't speak
68
An artist's paintbrush that talks incessantly about "happy little trees"
69
A pig's snout that squeals when within 100' of pixies
70
A pig's ear that glows in the dark
71
A crow's beak that screeches at a pitch that breaks glass when squeezed
72
A straightblade razor that moans suggestively when shaved with
73
A silver spoon that makes the food it touches taste like sweaty gym socks
74
A golden fork that makes anything it touches taste the like the character's favorite food
75
An everlasting piece of chalk
76
A non-descript ball of wax, that when lit, floats next to the person who lit it and provides ten feet of light
77
A pair of reading glasses that can read invisible text
78
A pair of reading glasses that make all text look invisible to the reader
79
An ink bottle whose ink changes color based on the writer's mood
80
A tiny bell that only orcs (and half orcs) can hear
81
A pan flute that can summon (1d20+5) rats. Summoned rats can be very simply communicated with for 1 hour
82
A small stone carving of a horse that gallups for 20 seconds whnever someone says "Giddyup"
83
A thimble. If worn, the wearer receives +1 to AC
84
A hard candy that gives whomever eats it horrendously bad breath for 1 hour
85
A miniscule tin of pomade whose lid reads "Finest Faries Wing Wax"
86
A leather pouch that will keep any beverage container placed in it cold indefinitely
87
A cork that causes the container it is placed in to leak
88
Three small beans that when presented to someone as part of a barter, convince that person that they are worth whatever they need to be to accept the trade
89
A bar of soap that makes the user dirtier the more they wash with it
90
A wooden butter knife that generates the perfect amount of butter when touched to a slice of bread
91
A scrap of paper with only the punchline of a joke on it... the paper laughs histerically when anyone reads the punchline
92
A small, red potato... it has actual eyes
93
A broken piece of white chalk that leaves black marks
94
A small lump of drawing charcoal that leaves white marks
95
A feather that falls to the ground like a stone
96
A stone that floats to the ground like a feather
97
A ball of yarn that drives away cats
98
A small candle that lights or goes out whenever someone claps twice
99
A small jar of sand. If touched the sand makes it feel like you constantly have sand somewhere uncomfortable (mouth, shoes, crotch, etc)
100
A wax stamp that creates a seal which can only be opened by the person the letter is addressed to
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I am the DM for a group of 12-year-old players who (thank you video games) want to search and loot EVERYTHING IN SIGHT!!!! They search every corpse and every barrel for loot, and they try to pickpocket everyone! I am running out of ideas for things for them to find... Does anyone have some good ideas or know of tables of random loot they can scavenge?
Thank you!
The DMG has random tables for such things: https://www.dndbeyond.com/compendium/rules/dmg/treasure#TreasureTables (assuming you have teh DMG unlocked here on dnd beyond.)
I feel your pain on the loot everything. I DM for my brother and his 12yo & 9yo who are used to video games.
My Homebrew Backgrounds | Feats | Magic Items | Monsters | Races | Subclasses
If it is becoming a big problem, you should probably just talk to them about it and how it might not be what their character would do. Also, on DMs guild there are some good treasure tables/loot options, and there is always the trinket table in the PHB.
I stole my pfp from this person: https://mobile.twitter.com/xelart1/status/1177312449575432193
Depending on who/what they're looting, I use a D20 for coppers, a D10 for silvers and a D4 for gold pieces. I may not always roll all of them if it's unreasonable for the character or item to have gold pieces. You can use Nat 20's as a trigger for something else and then just go off the normal treasure tables if you like.
I use the donjon random generator. The treasure and pickpocket generators have helped me quite bit. Not a table, but easy to have pulled up on a phone if you don't use a computer while you run games.
Loot is good. Loot is generally the whole reason adventurers are, well, adventuring. Don't sweat it too much.
If you want to limit it then make looting have a cost.
So they have found some barrels of lamp oil. Total worth maybe 20 gold. Cool. But each of them weighs 100 lb. What are their plans for getting it all back to town?
Looting the room and all the corpses might take 5 or 10 minutes. Do the PC's have that time? Are they racing to rescue someone from a horrible fate?
Those heavy barrels of lamp oil? It took the party an extra 2 days to drag them all back to town. What else could the party have been doing for those 2 days? Would it have earned them more than 20 gold?
Also, sometimes there is nothing there. "You loot the corpses, they are just goblins, nothing valuable. What do you do next?"
Pickpocketing
Usually, the best way to solve this is in-game (with an out-of-game warning, see below). If the characters visit the captain of the guard and one of them lifts her wallet, then she is going to be thinking, "Well, the only people I've met with are those mercenaries, they must have taken it!" She is likely to turn up at the tavern with a bunch of guards behind her, looking for her money pouch. Or maybe the next time the characters come asking for work, her answer is, "no". She complains about the characters at her usual watering hole so word gets around. Merchants talk to each other. "Yeah, you're right, after those guys visited my shop my change drawer was light!" Suddenly merchants start saying "no" to the characters. Reputation matters.
However, don't punish players all the time. If a player has put points in thievery skills then you should allow them some time in the spotlight.
Out of game, just tell the players, "If you pickpocket everyone then you will get a reputation as thieves and that will have in-game consequences. Your choice."
I just recently found the donjon generator, I'm going to try it during our next session! Thanks!
This is a table I made for the rogue in my party that does the same thing. This is my table for magical items. Reddit has some good tables too.... I would put this on there, but I can't figure out how to format it properly for a readable post.